'It'll stand for another 100 years': St. Peter's Church fully restored
A star shines above the now-fully restored St. Peter's Church.
The stars above the altar at St. Peter's are accompanied by symbolic medallions that decorate the entire ceiling.
A mosaic of Jesus decorates a prayer alcove at the church.
Another alcove has a mosaic of Mary and the baby Jesus. Leader photos: James S. Rosien
Construction crews work on repairs to the tower of St. Peter's Church earlier this year as the tower had become structurally compromised. Photo courtesy of Judy Gallagher.
Now here's a blast from the past: Page 1 of the Oct. 14, 2016 Anaconda Leader witnessed the beginnings of the story of the restoration work to the historic St. Peter's Church. Rev. Dougald McCallum is pictured above holding a chalice that had belonged to Monsignor John Pirnat, the first priest at St. Peter's. Eight years later, the story has come full circle. As for the rest of that story from 2016, the jump page reads "anniversary as a deacon last year, and next year will celebrate 20 years as a priest. He said his intention is to stay in Anaconda until he retires. 'This is home,' he said." Indeed.
What began eight years ago with a call to action to raise funds for a much-needed re-roofing of St. Peter's Church and soon became an effort to restore the historic church's exterior and interior alike has fully come to fruition – right down to the pipe organ that's been re-tuned and is ready to go for Christmas Eve Mass.
The church's now-familiar red brick exterior has been back in place for several years now, and likewise has the work to beautify the sanctuary, transforming it into a more symbolic space for reflection on matters of faith.
This year, though, saw the completion of a critical piece of infrastructure work on the church's bell tower that will preserve the house of worship for generations to come.
"What was happening with the wooden structure that was holding up the bell, the beams were rotted out," said the Rev. Dougald McCallum, pastor of the Anaconda Catholic Community, explaining that when the original brick was painted over in the 1950s the paint had trapped moisture within the brick, causing it to deteriorate.
"We had to replace over 500 bricks in the tower. We had all the beams replaced. We made sure it's structurally solid," McCallum said. "The entire structure was compromised to the point where we had to use a modern technique – we had to use a fiberglass cylinder within the tower so that structure would hold and prevent it from falling apart. So it should be good for a very long time, 100 years at least. The engineer looked at the building and said it'll stand for another 100 years at least."
That's the interior you don't see, the structural interior. The spiritual interior, however, is very clearly visible – if you know where to look, with some of it at least.
"We incorporated a whole bunch of symbols at St. Peter's," McCallum said. "We drew from period designs so that everything will be period correct."
Much of the symbolism can be seen if you just look up at the ceiling, where medallions painted by Sara Schaefer, an Anaconda native now living in Missouri, feature 32 panels she designed to be in parallel with the theme of the altar piece, with flowers, vines and gold paneling.
Within those panels are "little Easter Eggs," Schaefer said, that reflect aspects of the Catholic faith, St. Peter's Church and the community it serves. Those include the symbol of St. Hubert, the patron saint of hunters, the three keys of St. Peter, the symbols of St. Helen in honor of the cathedral in Helena, and a four-leaf clover to honor Anaconda's Irish heritage.
"All these different symbols are hidden in one of the panels and it was so special to have people come up to me saying, 'Oh I found this hidden symbol today, before Mass," Schaefer said.
Similarly are a pair of alcoves, used for quiet, private prayer and reflection, each of which contain a mosaic of Jesus – one as an adult, another as an infant in the arms of Mary.
There are still a few smaller projects left to go, but for all intents and purposes the historic High Victorian Gothic-style church is back to its former glory. And as the newly-re-tuned pipe organ resounded with the familiar Christmas carol "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" to conclude the service on Sunday, these are indeed tidings of comfort and joy.
Christmas Eve Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, Dec. 24 at 7 p.m. at St. Peter's Church, which is located at 401 Alder St. in Anaconda.
A brief history of St. Peter's Church
The following is from the Montana History Wiki's entry on St. Peter's Church:
"Anaconda Architect W. W. Hyslop designed St. Peter’s Austrian Roman Catholic Church, constructed in 1898. Its contrasting colors, pointed arches, side buttresses, tall pointed steeple, ornate terra cotta panels, and rose window reflect the High Victorian Gothic style.
"Built as an alternative to the Irish-dominated St. Paul’s Church, St. Peter’s primarily served Anaconda’s Croatian, Slovenian, and Montenegrin community. For Slavic smelter workers and their families, whose home countries were then part of the Austrian empire, the church helped ease the transition to America.
"Father John Pirnat, himself from Slovenia, was instrumental in convincing the diocese to construct St. Peter’s. He served as the church’s pastor for over fifty years, raising funds for the 1902 rear addition as well as for many other Anaconda Catholic institutions.
Father Pirnat often preached in Serbo-Croatian, performed traditional Slavic funeral and wedding services, and led the church in celebrating such ethnic holidays as Mesopust (a pre-Lenten carnival). In doing so, he made St. Peter’s a pillar of Anaconda’s Slavic community and an important bridge between the old and the new worlds."
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