September 16, 2009

A priest’s chalice: cleric’s father labored two years on son’s chalice

By Father John Kauffman

One night in 1972 while I was a student in Rome, I had a dream about a chalice. Before light, I got up and drew a preIiminary sketch of it. The sketch was detailed enough that when I sent it to my father he was able to duplicate what I saw in my dream. One of the things I recalled “seeing” was that the back side of the chalice was visible through pierced carvings to the reverse side of the chalice cup.

My dad had an antique store and at one time had purchased an old dentist drill with all the bits. He had a left-over 1 1/8-inch thick piece of rosewood about 3 feet long by 8-inches wide that he was drying for some possible future project. He decided to use it for the chalice.

After deciding where the major cuts should be, he cut up the piece of wood, then glued it back together into two  blocks—one for the chalice and one for the paten. When all the wood had been cut and reassembled the pieces remaining only filled the palm of one’s hand! It took two years working nearly every evening to carve the details of the chalice and paten with the drill.

When I had the dream in Rome, the chalice I envisioned was multi-sided but round at the top. The shape and height were clear in what I saw and later drew. On the side, I saw instruments of the Passion, the Holy Spirit, a fish and anchor, the Paschal Lamb, the Alpha and Omega, and the cross disguised in an Anchor of Hope. Each symbol held meaning for me. When my parents received the drawings, they went to work. They divided the outside into nine panels: six of the panels were what I drew and they added three more panels to separate the above images by a cross and an I.H.S. My dad was really surprised that he made it all the way through the carving without once slipping and cutting off one of the delicately carved pieces. “My hand was guided,” he said.

There are many parts to the chaIice besides the body of the cup. The gold cup that is the bowl of the chalice is the cowling from the headlight of a Model T Ford. There are two ring pieces above and below the knob in the center. The rings are pieces used in making lamps, as is the base piece. The lamp base that forms the chalice base was modified so three wedding rings could be placed into the bottom—my mother’s, my grandmother’s and my great-grandmother’s.

I used the chalice in nearly every Mass I celebrated until I retired. The paten was dropped and broken once, but was repaired. The chalice has never been damaged, but was re-plated in the late 80s.

Father John Kauffman is a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Denver who assists at parishes across Colorado. He resides in Cañon City.