St. Raphael's new stations of cross a moving experience

At St. Raphael Catholic Church in Naperville, co-director of music & liturgy Robert Frazier has seen people lingering more after Mass to study the church's recently installed stations of the cross.

The 15 relief sculptures done by artists Anna Koh Varilla and Jeffrey Hanson Varilla of Chicago depict the very human emotions of those who witnessed Christ's passion.

Jesus' own face registers suffering as he shoulders the heavy cross. Sorrow fills the face of his mother, Mary, and a single tear rolls down her cheek as she watches her son's death. Pilate's hands pause over a basin of water while he declares himself innocent of Christ's blood.

People viewing the sculptures connect with Christ's journey from his condemnation to his resurrection as they pray the way of the cross, Frazier said.

"A lot of people have been drawn to them," he said. "They relate to them personally and are touched by them."

The approximately 15-by-20-inch sculptures replace paintings of the stations of the cross the church used to put up during Lent. Installed in February, the sculptures were featured when the stations of the cross were conducted every Friday evening during Lent this spring. They will remain around the perimeter of the worship space on a permanent basis.

The husband-and-wife Koh-Varilla team was selected out of 20 applicants from around the country when the church put out a call for artists in 2008, said Marilyn Dale, chairman of the church's art and environment team. Known for their classical, realistic style, the couple also have done the Veteran's Memorial at Soldier Field in Chicago, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King monument in Austin, Texas, and the Jack Nicklaus monument in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The Koh-Varillas previously sculpted two works for St. Raphael's - a life-size holy family in terra cotta and a silver and gold resurrected Jesus used as a precessional cross.

The couple used live models for their new works, which were funded by several parishioners. The sculptures originally were cast in clay, then cast in a lightweight, durable material made of resin and marble dust. To add depth, the artists applied layers of oil pigment with gold highlighting.

The church's art and environment team designed and wrote a prayer booklet to use during the stations of the cross that includes photographs of each station.

The tradition of the stations of the cross comes from the early days of the Christian church when making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and walking the road Christ took to the cross was considered a source of grace.

"It would be the aim of every Christian to do this during their life," said Frazier in a news release on the sculptures. "As the church spread to more distant lands, fewer Christians had the ability to make this journey."

Over the years, locally installed stations of the cross became a popular devotion.

For more information, call St. Raphael at (630) 355-4545.