BRIDAL VEIL, OR (09-28-2022) – The Most Reverend Alexander K. Sample, Archbishop of Portland, anointed the new altar at the St. Michael Chapel of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist in Bridal Veil on September 18, 2022. The sacred ritual of anointing sets aside the structure for one purpose, the celebration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The anointed item is no longer a piece of furniture but a sacred table to be reverenced and respected. The ceremony of anointing included the Archbishop’s pouring of chrism on the altar and rubbing it over the entire surface of the altar top. He then set a brazier on the altar for burning incense. As the incense rose up, the Archbishop used a censer to incense the altar from all sides. The altar cloths were then placed on the altar by Mother Miriam Seiferman and Sister Mary Margaret Delaski, followed by the candles, and sacred items for the Mass.
The Franciscan Sisters of Bridal Veil were honored by the presence of Mother Miriam Seiferman, FSE, Mother General, for the occasion. Those who had been a part of the process of the altar’s creation – from the cutting of the cherry trees near the house, to the milling, air drying, kiln drying, and sanding of the wood, to designing and final fabrication – were in attendance. The wood for the altar came from the Sisters’ land. In 2018, the roots of five cherry trees were endangering a retaining wall and needed to be cut down. The cherry wood became the source for the altar as well as for other furnishings of the chapel. After a period of time of being somewhat abandoned and exposed to a wet Oregon winter, surprisingly, the tree trunks were found to be intact and usable. The wood was milled at Kaster Kustom Cutting and then returned to Bridal Veil for months of air drying. When ready, the wood was transported to the workshop of Murray Ferguson, a master builder who fashioned the altar.
The new altar is at the heart of the chapel which the Sisters have been renovating gradually over the last nine years by replacing the original chairs, adding prie-dieus and installing blinds on the windows. The altar contains relics of four saints, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Clare, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, and Saint Maria Goretti.
