Stations mosaic preserves SPM history

By Bill Doyle | CFP Correspondent

St. Peter-Marian Junior/Senior High School is closed for good and is scheduled to be torn down to make room for a retirement community.
But an important part of St. Peter-Marian will live on.
St. Peter-Marian and Holy Name, the two diocesan
central catholic schools, merged last year to form St. Paul Diocesan Junior/Senior High School at the former Holy Name building on Granite Street.
Athletic trophies, whiteboards, desks and equipment were moved from St. Peter-Marian to St. Paul, but, more importantly, so were a large mosaic of the Stations of the Cross and stained glass windows, all of which once adorned the SPM chapel.
“I think this is a nice way of continuing our efforts to preserve the history of both communities,” said David Perda, Superintendent of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Worcester, “but for St. Peter-Marian in particular because they didn’t get to keep the building.”
“We felt it was important to retain that historical legacy and bring it over to the new school, St. Paul,” said Michael Curtis, chairman of the steering committee for the merger of St. Peter-Marian and Holy Name. “Not only are they religious artifacts, both of them are beautiful pieces of art.”
The mosaic and stained glass windows were installed in the chapel when the school was known as Marian High School, an all-girls school.
Mr. Curtis said the stained glass windows are worth about $400,000 and the mosaic is worth several tens of thousands of dollars.
With the help of scaffolding, Michael Martino, owner of Martino Stained Glass Studio in Uxbridge, and his workers centered the mosaic on a side wall in the Burke Auditorium at St. Paul last week.
The mosaic had been mounted to the chapel wall at St. Peter-Marian by drilling holes behind certain tiles and attaching anchors. Nikolai Bruinsky repaired and reglued several tiles after the mosaic was anchored at St. Paul.
After a fundraiser is held, the stained glass windows will be attached to the opposite wall of the auditorium. The St. Paul chapel is too small to accommodate the mosaic or the windows. For now, the windows are being stored at Mr. Martino’s studio.
Michael Clark, St. Paul’s Head of School and Associate Superintendent, believes the mosaic and stained glass windows most likely date back to the 1963 opening of Marian High School on Grove Street. Marian High merged with St. Peter’s High School in 1976 to form St. Peter-Marian High School.
“It’s such a rich part of the patrimony of both Marian High School and St. Peter-Marian,” Mr. Clark said of the mosaic and windows, “and as far as the legacy component of St. Paul is concerned, I don’t think we could be without them. It’s an absolute must.”
Mr. Curtis said the plan is to install the stained glass windows, which are nine feet high and 27 feet long, with backlighting on the wall opposite the mosaic. Previously, the walls were bare.
“So this is going to bring life to the auditorium,” he said.
Mr. Curtis estimated that thousands of students viewed the mosaic and stained glass windows at Marian High and then St. Peter-Marian.
“So we felt, ‘OK, let’s take that legacy and bring it to St. Paul,’” he said, “so people for generations can view it again and the St. Peter-Marian community of students at St. Paul and the alumni have something to say, ‘Hey, that came from our school.’”
“We look at it as a unification effort,” Mr. Curtis said. “Bring all those alumni and all those associated with those schools in the past, bring them together and help support the new school - St. Paul.”
St. Paul senior David Sullivan was impressed with the mosaic and stained glass windows at the chapel when he attended Mass as a St. Peter-Marian student and he was glad to hear that they’d be installed at St. Paul.
“That’s awesome,” he said. “Those are super nice. It will be good to have a memento from St. Peter-Marian in the new school, for sure.”
Mr. Martino has been working with stained glass since he learned his craft working in a studio in Italy from 1971-74. He said he hadn’t seen a mosaic like the one he installed at St. Paul and when he was in Italy recently another craftsman agreed with him that it was an interesting and unusual work of art.
Normally, a mosaic is made of several pieces of pre-cut colored glass or ceramics, usually a centimeter square, and placed together next to tile. This mosaic is composed of larger, clear glass pieces that appear to have been hand painted, shaped and kiln baked.
“It’s a very well-made, well-designed, well-executed piece of art,” Mr. Martino said. “It is an interesting piece.”
Mr. Martino couldn’t find a signature on the mosaic so he can’t know for sure who made it or where it was created. Judging by the style, he believes there’s a good possibility it came from Europe, but it could have been made by a U.S. craftsman who had been trained in Europe. He is certain that the glass is West German.
The stained glass windows depict four scenes: The Annunciation, the Nativity, Jesus at the Temple and Mary looking on as Joseph and Jesus work on a carpentry project.
The sale of the former St. Peter-Marian building to Goddard/Homestead, a local nonprofit senior housing agency, is under agreement.
Goddard/Homestead plans to tear down St. Peter-Marian and build an over-55, three-story, 145-unit continuing care retirement community.
“That project continues to move forward,” Mr. Clark said.
Goddard/Homestead runs Goddard House on Main Street and Homestead Hall on Homestead Avenue.