GALENA—The Cologne Cathedral in Germany captivated St. Mary parishioner Ron Fox a few years ago.
He talks in awe of the commitment it took for artisans to build that mountainous cathedral without the advantage of modern machinery.
A second trip overseas introduced him to the myriad artistic details of the churches in Rome.
The beauty of those details, Fox says, inspired him to give even more care to projects he builds in his custom woodworking business — especially any work he does for the Church.
Seven years ago, Fox says, he started doing more of those dear-to-his-heart church projects. His works can be found in St. Mary and St. Michael churches in Galena, Holy Trinity in Scales Mound, and St. Mary and St. Joseph in Freeport. From side altars to ambos to remaking a reliquary into a tabernacle, much of his work has been done to match existing church pieces.
Fox’s most recent project is one he says was completed “by God’s grace”: an ambry for his parish, St. Mary in Galena. Ambries hold the holy oils used at a parish throughout the year for baptisms and other sacraments.
His more than 400 hours of work has resulted in a piece that “when it was brought in, a lot of people thought they’d found it” somewhere in storage at the church, Fox says, expressing his happiness that the ambry so effectively blends in with the church’s more-than 100-year-old side and back altars.
But looks are deceiving.
The only piece of marble in the ambry is its gray-white, shelf-like top. That marble is a story in itself, the result of an extensive search that finally brought in a piece from the same quarry as the even-whiter marble of the back altars.
The rest of the ambry, from the columns below to the arch above the holy oils, is made of wood, which Fox painted to look like marble. Part of the credit he gives to God is that he was able to create that effect, which is often attempted, but not always successfully done in homes and churches.
The glass tiles for the mosaic in front of the ambry are smaller than what is easily found. Once again, detective work led to a woman in Texas who pointed Fox to someone in Massachusetts who was in contact with the same family in Italy that still produces the tiny tiles found in St. Mary’s altars.
“By the grace of God, things came about,” Fox says, explaining he got a sample board of the tiles and was able to pick what he needed from that, even getting a single tile to repair an open spot on one of the old altar mosaics. He notes that a dozen parish families kindly donated to the project and made the ambry possible.
It took about a year from the day Fox showed his pastor, Father David Reese, life-size drawings of the proposed project until its completion. The week before Holy Thursday, just in time to house the 2016 oils blessed at the diocesan Chrism Mass, the ambry was installed in its home directly behind the baptismal font.
Members of Fox’s family have been parishioners at St. Mary Parish in Galena for some 100 years. Fox hopes this labor of love can be in service in the church for the next 100 years – enjoyed by parishioners as far into the future as possible.
“It’s a real honor and privilege,” Fox says, “to (do this) work for the church and to know it will be used for God’s service.”