ROCKFORD—St. Rita Parish, here, unveiled, blessed and celebrated its old-made-new Stations of the Cross on March 28.
Father John Evans, parochial administrator, and Father Timothy Barr, pastor of St. Mary Church in Freeport, led a comfortably-filled church in prayer as the purple cloths that covered the stations were removed, one by one, and the paintings incensed.
Almost two years ago, Kathleen Behrens, office manager at St. Rita, was sent to Freeport by Father David Peck, then the pastor at St. Rita Parish, to retrieve the painted stations.
The stations had been removed from St. Mary Church when it was remodeled in 1964-65 and were stored in the rectory basement.
The stations had been purchased by the St. Mary’s Married Ladies Sodality for $600 from the firm of Kurz and Allison in Chicago. That company built its reputation on large prints depicting the American Civil War, and the large size of these stations reflects that specialty. The stations can be seen in pictures taken when St. Mary Church was consecrated by Archbishop Feehan in 1895.
St. Rita Parish purchased the stations from St. Mary’s with proceeds from its Lenten fish fries. Donations from parishioners covered restoration, mounting, framing and lighting.
Len Lassandro, an art conservator from this area who now lives in Madison, did the restorations, and talked about the process to interested parishioners at the March 28 blessing. Some years ago, he had been called upon when the St. Mary rectory basement had flooded. A lack of funds then limited his work to stabilizing the two most-damaged stations.
This time around Lassandro -- who mostly assists historical societies, universities and libraries in this part of the Midwest -- had plenty to do before retouching could begin. For example, he used an ultrasonic vapor to clean the paintings and a hypodermic needle to squirt adhesive behind bubbled areas to again adhere them to the wood base. The initial work also included flattening the stations that had warped and removing impurities. “Most everything we find has bacteria and mold on it,” he said matter-of-factly, adding that he also treated the fibers of the canvases to “reinvigorate” them.
Lassandro used oil paints for the retouching, mixing some of them himself to get the right shade. A “very tough” lacquer seal that is scratch-resistant and provides UV protection completed the process, although he anticipated returning soon to check each station and retouch any scuffs.
He admired the new frames, made by Michael Upchurch, and the lighting that helps make these old stations appear to be made for the 1984-built St. Rita Church.
They are, says Behrens as she quotes Father Peck, “the stained glass windows we have never had.”