Sign of hope: A cross restored

by Peter Finney Jr.

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

Ever since Hurricane Ida in 2021, when historic St. Augustine Church in Treme had its roof ripped off and its 1840s-era crucifix bent at half-staff, parishioners and visitors have worshiped in a tiny parish hall, adjacent to the church, which seats 130 people.

While the parish continues to wait for final damage assessments from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) and from insurance carriers to make the needed repairs that would reopen the closed church, Oblate Father Bill Mason, the St. Augustine pastor, is rejoicing over two recent signs of hope.

First, the 13-foot, 120-pound wrought iron and cast iron crucifix that was twisted 90 degrees at its base by Ida has now been restored and reinforced by a local blacksmith and will be raised once again atop the steeple at the corner of Henriette Delille and Gov. Nicholls streets.
New devotion at tomb

Second, the parish will launch a new devotion this month, scheduled to be celebrated three times a year, at the Tomb of the Unknown Slave. The first devotion will be held Saturday, Nov. 16, at 7 a.m. and noon. Future annual dates are planned for the first Saturday in Lent and for the
Saturday after Mother’s Day.

The cross was sandblasted and repainted by Darryl Reeves of Andrew’s Welding and Blacksmith. Reeves, a fifth-generation blacksmith, primed the sandblasted crucifix with an epoxy primer and two coats of silver-colored paint using the flood method.

“That means those were very thick coats that got into all the nooks and crannies of the cross,” said Brook Tesler, senior historic preservation manager of the archdiocesan Building Office.
Father Mason, who became pastor on Feb. 1, said the cross-raising will give his parishioners an spiritual and emotional lift. They are yearning to get back into their church.

“Everybody’s always asking, ‘When is it going to happen?’ and I say, ‘When the kingdom comes,’” Father Mason said, laughing. “But we do have our cross restored. The insurance company will pay for the part of the damages to the cross that the hurricane did, not for the wear and tear on the cross for over 180 years. We left it in the church for a while so people could see it, and we made some money to get it restored. That’s a sign of hope for us.”

The restored cross was placed on a table in front of the altar in the parish hall “so that people were able to see it and touch it – before they put it back up,” Father Mason said.
The parish has some funding to begin restoration of the church, but actual work is on hold until FEMA makes its final damage assessment.

“After Ida, which ripped the roof off, they put a roof back on, but during the hurricane, all that water got in,” Father Mason said. “So, what we need is a ceiling, and then we need repairs on the walls. And, the electrical system has to be checked. Then there will be the cleaning.”

Ironically, Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2021.

“That’s the day after the feast of St. Augustine,” Father Mason said.

While the church regularly attracted scores of tourists to its Sunday Gospel Mass, the numbers have decreased over the last three years because of the forced move to the parish hall. Funerals for parishioners have been celebrated at St. Peter Claver Church a few blocks away.

“Everybody tells me once we get back into the church, more people will come back,” Father Mason said.

The devotion in honor of the Tomb of the Unknown Slave will include prayers of remembrance of the deceased family and friends “on whose shoulders we stand” and also prayers for healing.

“Part of it is remembrance of our ancestors, so the ritual will be people coming forward, like for Communion, and there will be charcoal and incense in the front near the altar,” Father Mason said. “A person will take a pinch of incense and put it on the charcoal. As the smoke rises, the person will call out the names they want to remember. We’re going to end it by remembering Mother Henriette Delille, and we’ll have a prayer card and pray for her canonization.

“The second part of the ceremony will be for healing. Since it’s the Tomb of the Unknown Slave, we’ll be asking for healing of divisions and personal healing. The ritual will include coming forward and getting your hands anointed, and, as you do that, you call out the names of people you think need healing. I’ve also created a litany of the healing Jesus. We’ll petition Jesus to heal some of ‘isms’ – like racism, sexism, addictions. My thinking is that these ‘isms’ can’t be healed by argument or preaching. They can only be healed by prayer.”

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