Work began this week washing away years of grime and detritus accumulated on the 100-year-old Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Naperville.
The Rev. Brad Baker, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, hired Chicago-based Marion Restoration to clean and restore the Catholic monument patterned after the famous grotto in Lourdes, France, where 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous saw Marian apparitions in 1858.
The Naperville grotto features statues of St. Bernadette and the Virgin Mary.
While the cemetery dates to 1846, church history shows the grotto was designed and built by Paul Baumgartner and Arthur Miller in the early 1920s.
Baumgartner was known for constructing small grottoes in and around Naperville, and Miller built the stone house at 406 E. 4th Ave. from fieldstone, river rock and boulders gathered by hand from area fields.
The restoration is the fulfillment of a dream of lifelong Naperville resident Carolyn Lauing-Finzer, Miller’s granddaughter.
“I’ve been waiting for it for almost 10 years for something to move forward on it. I am not a fundraiser. I am an artist; I am a gardener,” said Lauing-Finzer, who has maintained the gardens surrounding the structure for decades to honor her grandfather.
“These men were artists in their trades, and they knew how to select and fit just the right stone for a composition such as the grotto. And it was not a cookie-cutter project,” she said.
Marion Restoration’s founder and owner Mario Machnicki said the work, which will take four to six weeks, entails cleaning the stone, repairing the damage caused by movement over the last century, and reinforcing arches and the wing walls.
Details are important to Machnicki, who was chosen for the job because he’s considered one of the country’s foremost masonry experts and was recommended by Naperville preservation groups.
Because the grotto structure so old, finding mortar to match is difficult, he said.
The plan is to deconstruct a sample of the original mortar to determine the type of aggregate and binder that was used and create a mix to match, Machnicki said.
The other problem will be replacing missing limestone.
Machnicki brought piece of stone from the grotto to experts from Bromberek Flagstone quarry in Lemont. He said the family-owned company has been in operation more than 100 years and is well-versed in rock formations in the region.
Bromberek indicated the stone Machnicki came from a quarry in Kentucky, but it closed four years ago. The company still may be able to find enough fix the dome at the back of the structure, Machnicki said.
Another lead, Lauing-Finzer said, came from Gary Baumgartner, the grandson of the other original mason.
Gary Baumgartner said his grandfather, who was born in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and moved to Naperville in 1911, built the chalet home at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Brainard Street.
Included in the yard design was a stone walkway and fishpond made from limestone like what was used on the grotto.
When the side yard was remodeled, Baumgartner said he saved wheelbarrows full of stone, and he’s willing to donate it all to the restoration project.
“The bigger pieces I took to my house as a memento,” he said of the stone around the flagpole at his home. “But I could give that up too.”
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Church historians believe the grotto was built in the early 1920s, though some details can’t be verified because of a June 4, 1922, fire that destroyed the church and many of its records.
Michelle Dellinger, the parish’s development and communications manager, said parish financial accounts show expenditures for stones and freight in 1920, and the largest expenses for labor and statues were made in 1921.
Final expenses were recorded in August 1922 so the assumption is the grotto was finished that summer.
A dedication Mass typically would be held upon the completion of a monument like the grotto, but parish archivists Judy Chapleau and Marjorie Peters can’t find records to prove it.
Dellinger said any celebration likely was canceled after the fire.
Lauing-Finzer said it’s been difficult to see the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto damaged over the years by vandals climbing on it or defacing the stone and patio brickwork.
While the church always works to repair the damage, she said, the restoration underway this month will return it to its original splendor.
Once it’s complete, Lauing-Finzer said she is looking forward to seeing the grotto featured at the annual Memorial Day Mass and the return of the outdoor luminary Mass traditionally held as part of the Columbus Day holiday.