Monday’s hail and wind storm, which caused some damage around South Baltimore with downed tree branches and broken windows, knocked down an iconic symbol at St. Mary Star of The Sea Catholic Church in Federal Hill – the steeple’s cross with a lighted star in the middle.
St. Mary Star of The Sea opened in 1868. In the late 1800s, the cross with the star was erected and served as a beacon to ship traffic to the Inner Harbor and was an official landmark on mariners maps of the Port Baltimore. It was originally lit by candles and later using electric power.
Pastor Josh Laws and his team at the Catholic Community of South Baltimore were able to get a crane contractor out yesterday to have the cross removed from the top of the steeple.
Pastor Laws told SouthBMore.com in an email: “We are talking with contractors about getting the cross and star back up on the steeple as soon as possible. They will likely use scaffolding and take a thorough approach to the repairs which provides us with an opportunity to address some other structural repairs on the steeple itself. This is work that needs to be done and I’m confident our community will rally to get our cross and star back up and shining for many years to come.”
While removing the cross, the contractors found two bags filled with envelopes inside the base of the cross. On the envelopes were the names of everyone who had contributed to a restoration project in the 1960s or 1970s. Pastor Laws said they are figuring out what to do with the envelopes, but said they could go back into the foundation when the cross is reinstalled, together with the names of a new generation of parishioners.
Photos courtesy of Catholic Community of South Baltimore
via https://www.southbmore.com/2020/04/14/mondays-storm-knocks-down-the-cross-and-star-at-st-mary-star-of-the-sea/
No comments:
Post a Comment