JOURNEY FROM TREE TO CRUCIFIX

The long awaited week finally arrived when the Crucifix we will see each time we enter St. Pius X is now in place. This BLOG will show the story which began with logging one of our oak trees. If you read the December 23rd posting "What A Difference a Year Makes" you saw the video of a tree that nearly landed on the Building Chairman and Project Superintendent. The reason I took that video is that this tree provided the wood for the crosses that will be over both of our altars. I will take you on a pictorial journey from tree to Crucifix.

The photographs below show the plank that was used for the cross being sawed into a board and placed on a truck to be kiln dried. Tim Samelak, a parishoner, took this wood and built three crosses for us. One cross is being used over the main altar and the second one will be used in the Day Chapel. Since we had enough wood, a third cross was also crafted. More on that later.



We did an extensive search in order to find the perfect corpus for the cross. After over a year of searching and trying to find a corpus that we could rescue from another closed Catholic church we settled on the corpus hand carved by Demetz, who is the most famous Italian wood and statue carver. The corpus is chestnut wood and the detail is fabulous. This photo shows Scott Knox holding the Body of Christ after opening the crate upon its arrival at Priba Funiture.


After the corpus was mounted on the cross, we see workers from Rentenbach, including Todd D'Andrea (Superintendent) and Johnatan "Doodle" Kilby ( Assistant Superintendent), begin this journey as they carry the crucifix into our church.



Once the crucifix arrived inside, the process of connecting it to the pulley system that had been attached to the beam began. We had to raise the crucifix twice. The first time was to get the exact measurements for the cable. Below you see Todd D'Andrea do some last minute work in order for the cable to be attached to the cross-member, then you see the crucifix as it's attached to the pulley system which will lift it in place. As Superintendent, Todd went over and above the call of duty in staining the cross and making all the connections necessary.





Once the crucifix has reached the appropriate height, the first photos show the 3/8 inch steel cable which will hold it in place. You then see the first cable being attached to the steel beam.





This video shows a portion of the Crucifix being raised. Due to the slow process and limitation on the size of each video I was only able to capture a portion of the process.



As we conclude this writing, I'll end with several photos showing what we'll be enjoying for years to come. The crucifix is 33 feet in the air... the number of years that Jesus walked on earth.