Century-old artwork shines with like-new radiance

“The first thing we do is make two rubbings,” says Caleb Penic of Cathedral Crafts in Winona. “That way we know for sure we can put the window back together exactly the way it came in.

 

“Then we put it in water.”

 

Penic is field operations manager for the stained glass company now in the process of reinstalling refurbished windows at Waseca’s Sacred Heart Church. The century-old windows were removed last spring and have each been taking their turn over the past months being recorded (the “rubbings”), disassembled, cleaned, given new lead at every joint, and then placed back in their original wooden frames.

 

While it might seem church windows wouldn’t get very dirty, Penic can name a long list of sources his company has encountered. Some are a bit of a history lesson, including soot from coal or even wood furnaces used long ago to heat the church, smoke from candles or incense, and the everyday dust of enclosed spaces. 

 

The outdoor sides of the windows are subject to all the hazards of weather and blowing debris. Penic points out that, thanks to insurance company requirements that began in the 1970s, most stained glass windows now have exterior coverings of either glass or another clear glass-like substance: But the enclosed spaces present complications of their own, including greenhouse-like temperatures that “bake on” the dust and dirt which does get in.

 

“There are an amazing number of pressures on these windows,” says Penic. “It speaks to the quality of their construction that they’ve held up so well.”

 

He is also quick to compliment their beauty, saying many elements of the windows at Sacred Heart are equal to the quality of windows in European cathedrals.

 

Being bathed, cleaned and professionally reassembled, Penic said, not only gives the windows a like-new appearance, it makes it possible to remove residue which might otherwise remain tight up against the joints while also making the joints tighter. Along with that, subtle reinforcements are added, both to repair cracks in individual pieces, and to increase the structural integrity of the window as a whole. 

 

“These windows have been a source of joy and inspiration for the past four or five generations,” Penic comments. “We want them to be just as inspiring for another 100 years or more.”

 

Cathedral Crafts works all over the United States and even sometimes Europe. The 16-employee company has refurbished windows for three Waseca County churches: North Waseca Lutheran, All Saints in New Richland and Sacred Heart in Waseca.

 

Penic mentions that the company received an invitation to bid for work in refurbishing Notre Dame Cathedral in France after its catastrophic fire, but declined to do so because of the size of the project.