Before and after of the Stations of the Cross refurbishment
Sculpting a Path of History and Community through the Stations of the Cross
A special collection of sculptures depicts the Stations of the Cross along the outer path of the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon cemetery. The tradition of praying the Stations of the Cross can be traced to medieval times. The practice has evolved through the years, but it is a uniform journey today through 14 scenes of the Passion of Christ. The scenes of the Stations are typically arranged in intervals along the walls of a church or are set in open air along pathways. While many artistic interpretations and materials are used to convey Christ’s journey, the scenes begin with Jesus being condemned to death, progressing to Mount Calvary, and concluding with his body lying in a tomb. The tradition was developed for Christians who could not journey to Jerusalem but wanted to experience a spiritual walk with Jesus.
The Stations of the Cross at The Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon knit together history, community, and faith. These stations are a reflective experience for individual people as they walk the path alone or together as a group, especially during Lent. The Sisters pray the Stations of the Cross as a Community on Ash Wednesday. You will also find individual Sisters praying the Stations in the Motherhouse chapel or along the path in their picturesque cemetery, often on Fridays during Lent. Many Valley Catholic High School students also pray the Stations of the Cross during Lent.
Stations of the Cross Donated
The original Stations of the Cross arrived at the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon Motherhouse in the winter of 1933. Sister Stanislaus Fox received the crates from the DaPrato Statuary Company in Chicago. The company, founded in 1860 by the four DaPrato brothers, worked in stone. They immigrated to the United States with very little money, but had wonderful skills in sculpture. They were from the Tuscan town of Barga, where statue-making flourished. As the family-owned company evolved in the states, it specialized in supplying churches with altars and statues and was recognized by His Holiness, Pope St. Pius X, in 1909. Promotional material from the 1920’s highlights their tradition of following the old masters and traditional artisans. It also shows their forward-thinking development of light-weight materials. This allowed their craftsmen to carve and mold details that were appreciated as much then as they are today.
The DaPrato statues were installed in the first-floor chapel of the Motherhouse in February of 1934. These Stations of the Cross were inspired by the traditional ecclesiastical images of Christ and their design complimented the Motherhouse chapel’s Romanesque style architecture that was then under construction. They were a gift from Eddie Vancoelen, a nurse from Buffalo, New York, who donated the statues in memory of his mother, Anna Vancoelen. He had been a pupil of the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon at Holy Cross Institute in Portland, where 140 Sisters have ministered. Sister Stanislaus Fox oversaw the Stations’ relocation to the main chapel in October 1936, they would remain there for more than 35 years until they were relocated once again to the perimeter of the Sisters’ Cemetery.
In the early 1970s, the Archbishop of Portland, Robert Joseph Dwyer (1908-1976), gifted new Stations of the Cross to the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon. Sr. Elizabeth Sohler, celebrating her 75th Jubilee this summer, shared her memory of the original stations, “The classical style of the Stations of the Cross was appreciated by many of the Sisters. I liked the statues. They were colorful and fit nice in the space with the frame, they had a presence. Then they were gone and replaced with something modern,” said Sr. Elizabeth Sohler. The new Stations of the Cross in the Motherhouse chapel were created by Gertrude Stöhr, (1915- 1984) a renowned enamel artist from Vienna, Austria and they remain there today.
Relocated Outdoors
The original Stations of the Cross were painted white and secured in outdoor display boxes along the path of the Sisters’ Cemetery. In the years following their relocation, the Stations of the Cross served as an outdoor pilgrimage for prayer as well as admiration by many people who strolled the grounds of the campus for about 50 years. One of those admirers is James Van Dyke. Mr. Van Dyke, a Hillsboro native, former math instructor, and retired college administrator, has a long connection to the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon. In his childhood, he attended school at St. Matthew, where 28 Sisters ministered in the years he was enrolled there. Later in his life, his wife Carol became a resident of Maryville. She loved the piano and her walks around the campus.
“We would go out to the Stations of the Cross, because the open air was good for her, but we noticed the Stations were in disarray,” said James Van Dyke.
“Some of the displays had broken glass and mold was growing on some of the statues.”
In the years since Carol Van Dyke’s passing in 2018, Mr. Van Dyke, like Eddie Vancoelen nearly 80 years before him, sought an opportunity to give back to the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon. As he considered a contribution, he thoughtfully shared, “I had Sisters from St. Matthew who taught me lying in peace there in the cemetery, and they have these deteriorating Stations surrounding the main walkway.” Ultimately, he decided to support the residents of Maryville with a refurbished piano in honor of his wife Carol, and the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon by restoring the Stations of the Cross.
Restoration Began
When the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon connected with a restorer about the work, Jason Jones felt an immediate pull to the project. Mr. Jones operates Jones Sculpture Studio & Conservation Lab. As an Oregonian since 1987, he has established himself in the painting conservation and sculptural restoration industry. The one-time math and philosophy major in college gradually transitioned a natural curiosity, interest in the arts and broad ability, as he says, “to learn with lots of folks about fixing old things.” He also had a natural intuition for antique art. In addition to his love of the work, decades ago, he worked with Sister Rose Dolores Costello to restore marble statues for the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon. While Sister Rose Dolores passed in 2009, he recalled the wonderful time they spent on that project, and it motivated him to bid on this work immediately.
“It was an honor for me to come back to the church, walk the campus and pay my respects to Sister Rose Dolores at her gravesite,” Jason Jones said. At the same time, he added, “it was also very difficult. The Stations had already been packed in boxes, and I did not realize how badly they were damaged until we got them into the studio.”
Mr. Jones has a long-time appreciation for work that came out of the DaPrato studio, “I have two angels that are three-quarter life-size with wings gloriously painted on display in my studio,” he said. As Mr. Jones explained, “One of the innovations of the DaPrato work was their technique in using this plaster with straw as the binding-rebar or strengthening material with the matrix of the plaster to create lightweight delicately detailed sculptures. However, this medium loves water and draws it out of the atmosphere. These enclosures in the Pacific Northwest, where spring rains are followed by the sun allowed for condensation and humidity to build inside the housing for the stations. It was almost like replicating a swamp, making it an ideal environment to promote mold growth.”
To mitigate the damage, Mr. Jones took his own pilgrimage between statues – thoroughly cleaning them. Each sculpture went through a cycle with a Hepavac, light brushes and second cleaning with sponges. They removed the mold with concrobium. Additionally, they used a small Italian palette knife to get underneath the enamel and scrape off anything that was not supposed to be there. Then the statues were soaked in materials designed to prevent future mold growth while strengthening the plaster. Where the mold had compromised the material too far, they had to recreate those areas with plaster, resculpting the lost details. Finally, the statues were primed with a shellac that Mr. Jones described as an “invincible primer.”
The work was completed last fall, and the Stations of the Cross were returned to the campus. Considering the future of the statues, the SSMO Ministries Maintenance team built new watertight housing for each statue, enabling the Stations to continue to stand strong against the test of time.
As we commemorate Good Friday and reflect on Christ’s sacrifice and love through the Stations of the Cross, may we also consider the world’s influence on us and how God’s love can be our invincible primer that enables us to leave a lasting legacy for others to follow.
Through the Sisters’ vocations, their love of Jesus and Mother Mary, and their campus community’s reciprocation of both, the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon have reflected their ideals for nearly 140 years. The Stations of the Cross are just one physical representation of that experience.
