St. Anne- It's the synthesis of the sacred and the soaring. A carefully crafted confection of precious hardwoods, native stone and enduring faith in the god form whom creation sprang. And generations hence visitors to Sacred Heart of Jesus Chapel of Lemont's Our Lady of victory Convent will gaze upon Steve Remmert's graceful furnishings of faith and recognize them as legacy. His statement in praise. A masterwork. That's the hope of 39-year-olf St. Anne artisan, whose home workshop this year gave birth to the unique, custom-crafted suite of chapel furniture that adorns the sanctuary of the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago. The order operates 17 nursing homes and related facilities in a several state area, basing operations in the peaceful precincts of the western Cook County hamlet of Lemont. The product of months of preparation, including an evolution in design guided by the select committee appointed to oversee the project, the furnishings took several more months to complete. The pieces are crafted from hand-selected Honduran mahogany, Lemont limestone and St. Anne crafted virgin brass. The commission's major pieces include a tabernacle tower of nearly 11 feet; and Ambo, or table on which the Holy Bible is displayed; and an altar, at the center of which is a brass reliquary containing bits of the remains of St. Francis and St. Clare, who were, as the Franciscan Sisters note, the "models for the Franciscan Order." And the front features a basin crafted from Lemont limestone, a local resource the nuns insisted upon despite Remmert's considerable difficulty in procuring a perfect piece to bear the stresses of machining. The shaping and hollowing was done by and outside firm at the ponderous cost of $5,000, Remmert notes. The brass globe, or tabernacle, which lives at the heart of the
tabernacle stand and which contains the Host, was custom crafted
for Remmert by St. Anne machinist Myron Wendt. "Praised be You, my Lord, though Brother Fire, though whom You light the night and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong." Therefore, throughout Remmert's Chapel suite, the pieces mimic the undulating contours of open flame, its color, its warmth, its riveting attraction for all who behold it. They, and attendant pieces of the suite, were dedicated during special services for the new chapel held in October. Yet the dedication marked far more for Remmert.
It was the welcoming doorway that lay at the end of an odyssey.
A creative journey he'd
set out upon decades earlier, inspired by the wonders he discovered
in the embrace of his grandfather's rural Metamora farm shop. "Being
in that shop and smelling all that fresh cut wood…I think it
has something to do with it," he says of his career choice,
which has seen him eschew the teaching profession he once practiced
in favor of the decidedly less secure but deeply gratifying existence
in the aromatic and tactile world of wood. "Wood is not a hobby. Not a job. It's a passion! I cannot think of myself being disconnected from wood." But the price of passion meant the Remmert must be willing to walk away from his teaching career. To put aside the job for which he'd acquired a Boston College bachelor's degree in religious education. To education and the master's degree that followed it. All of it shelved in order to "roll the dice" in a start-from-scratch custom furniture shop, appropriately located in the over-arching trees of White Oak Subdivision. Yet after stints as religion teacher at a catholic girls' school at Nauvoo and his years as industrial arts teacher at the Kankakee Area Career Center, that later at Peotone High School, Remmert surrendered to the passions of the dusty, occasionally cluttered and always aromatic woodshop and began business in the converted garage of his home. That was 2 1/2 years ago and it's worked well. His wife, Chris Lord works as director of the music ministry at Maternity BVM in Bourbonnais. And the home-based furniture shop means that Cassie, 13, Chet, 11, Patrick, 8, will find dad home and waiting when they arrive from school. Being home when the kids arrive has been a life choice this creative couple made years age, Remmert notes. "Early on, when the kids were small, we kept the ethic of trying to parent with out daycare. So we took on part-time positions," he notes adding that he and Chris actually split one full-time position in order that one of them might be home with the kids at any one time. Has his selection by the Franciscan Sisters as the artisan for their home chapel changed his outlook? Remmert will admit that it has. The creator of numerous custom pieces of furniture, cabinetry (particularly in the prairie style he seems to prefer) and even dulcimers (and instrument he built and sold with regularity in college), Remmert is nonetheless compelled by the thought of creating religious furnishings. "Church furnishings is, I think, the niche I'd like to specialize in, and I do have another chapel that we're in the process of doing the design work on right now." The Franciscan sisters are the patrons for the commission, as well, notes Remmert, adding that it's part of their aim to use the work of regional artisans and local materials to the greatest extent possible. Still, the one-time teacher of religion to the Catholic girls of Nauvoo finds the elements of "calling" in his passion to create-particularly creating for religious institutions. "There is and element of faith involved in this," he says, after pausing briefly to reflect on a writer's question. "There's a sense of mission. But can somebody really have a mission to be a woodworker? To feel called?" he asks, then laughs. Yet who could doubt it? To the faithful, his talent represents a divine gift purposefully given. His renderings, therefore, are the fruits of that talent purposefully returned. |