Findlay woman sews rich vestments for priests and deacons |
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Written by JEANNIE WILEY WOLF, The Courier Staff Writer
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Friday, 29 January 2010 00:00 |
Editor’s note: This story was originally published by The Courier newspaper in Findlay Jan. 12, 2010. It is republished here with permission.
FINDLAY—Charlene Spitan’s presence can be felt during every Mass celebrated at Findlay St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church.
Charlene Spitan has made more than 100 vestments that are worn by priests and deacons at Findlay St. Michael. (Photo courtesy of The Courier, Findlay)
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That’s because the longtime member has made more than 100 of the vestments that are worn by the priests and deacons of the parish during services. Her work, which hangs according to the colors of the liturgical year, including white, green, red and purple, fills several large cupboards in the sacristy at the church on Bright Road.
“I enjoy it. It gives me something to do,” said Mrs. Spitan, who retired in 2005 after working 28 1/2 years as the fiscal officer for Hancock County Job and Family Services.
“And I’ve always been involved in the church a lot, pretty much all of my life,” she said.
Her sewing skills date back to high school.
“Of course I took home ec, but I only made an apron,” she said.
Mrs. Spitan’s mother also sewed and helped her.
“I don’t sew many other things,” she said. “I used to make some of my clothes, but I don’t sew clothes anymore. Pretty much what I sew are vestments.”
A lifelong Catholic, Mrs. Spitan grew up in Bethlehem, Ohio, in the same parish as Father Michael Hohenbrink, who is the pastor at St. Michael.
“When he was young, before he went to seminary, I used to take care of the altars, and sometimes he’d help me,” she said. “So when he came here, I was really surprised.”
Prior to moving to Findlay, Mrs. Spitan lived in Cloverdale for 10 years. During this time, she began making outfits for the infant of Prague, a statue of the infant Jesus that is displayed in some Catholic churches.
“I thought, well, I can dress priests instead of a statue,” she said.
Mrs. Spitan moved to Findlay in 1978 after marrying Shukri Abu Spitan, a man she had met two years earlier while she was touring the Holy Lands.
“I was from Bethlehem and he was from Jerusalem, and he always said, he was my souvenir, what I brought home from Jerusalem. It changed my life,” she said.
The couple celebrated 28 years together before he died in 2007.
Mrs. Spitan said she began making vestments as gifts for friends who were priests.
“Years ago I had made one for the priest I worked for. And when he died, he was buried in that,” she said.
To date, she’s made about 250 vestments, including the more than 100 garments she has made and donated to St. Michael Parish. She began making vestments for the Findlay parish in 1998.
“It was basically right after the first of the year,” she said. “This is basically a good time to sew after Christmas when everything is dead.”
“I thought, I can do something like this. I didn’t really ask them (the priests), I just started making some, and I was pretty sure they would probably want to have some,” she said.
Mrs. Spitan said she got encouragement from the priests.
“I didn’t really have a pattern. I was looking around trying to find a pattern and finally I just took a vestment that they had and cut a pattern. I’ve been using that ever since,” she said.
Mrs. Spitan made vestments for the dedication of the downtown church when it was refurbished, and also for the dedication of the new church which was completed in 2003.
“I made a lot for that,” she said. “I think there were about 12 alike and four deacons to match.”
Mrs. Spitan has also made several special vestments for the bishop of the diocese to wear when he visits the parish.
“It’s always kind of a neat thing to see them all in the things I’ve made,” she said.
Church officials wear different garments, according to Mrs. Spitan. The outermost garment worn by the priest is called a chasuble, while the deacon wears a dalmatic. The dalmatic has a modified sleeve and is actually more work to make, she said.
Each of the garments also has a stole, which is a long strip of material. The priest wears the stole around his neck, while the deacon’s stole is worn over the shoulder.
“I have made a number of sets for St. Michael’s that have three chasubles and a dalmatic to match since on some special occasions, all three of our priests and a deacon may celebrate the Mass,” she said.
Some of the material is plain and some is very decorative. Mrs. Spitan gets fabric and trim via catalog from places like New York, California, Wisconsin, Canada, Damascus, Syria and Italy.
The material can be costly, said Mrs. Spitan.
“But sometimes the trim is more expensive than the fabric,” she said.
Mrs. Spitan also buys material whenever she visits Israel. She made her most recent trip, her 14th, to the Holy Land in November.
Mrs. Spitan keeps scrapbooks filled with photographs of all of her vestments, some of which are worn worldwide.
This year, she’ll make a set of vestments in the liturgical colors for the new Magdala Center being built in northern Israel along the Sea of Galilee.
“Having vestments scattered all around the world is a heartwarming experience,” Mrs. Spitan said. “It gives me much joy to know that my work will be used in so many places to give praise and glory to God in the sacrifice of the Mass.”
Two seminaries, St. Meinrad in Indiana and the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, have vestments she has made, along with at least 30 priests in the Diocese of Toledo and one in St. Louis.
A former St. Michael priest who is now a priest in California also has 10 vestments made by the Findlay woman.
“It makes me feel good to know people enjoy them,” she said.
Making vestments isn’t the only thing Mrs. Spitan does for St. Michael Parish. She volunteers in the parish office and sings in the Archangel Choir, the funeral choir and various ensembles at church. She also plays organ for the 7 a.m. Mass on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as well as for Mass at Birchaven.
“The church is my life,” she said. “Since I lost my husband, it’s kind of lonely for me. So the church is everything to me.”
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 26 May 2010 13:31 |
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