Sepia Saturday: Sermons in Stone

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday photo of the Wombeyan Caves in New South Wales suggests caverns, caves, and grottos. 

Fred Slade 1948
St. Bernard's College, Cullman, Alabama

My dad’s first college experience was in 1948 at St. Bernard, a small Catholic college in Cullman, Alabama.  Daddy threw himself into his studies.  He often reflected on how much he enjoyed discussions of philosophy, literature, and religion with the Benedictine brothers who taught there. 

Fred Slade catching some rays while studying

Somewhere between studying, playing intramural basketball, and serving as a class officer, Daddy made time to visit the world-renown Ave Maria Grotto there on campus.  It was one of his favorite places.

My dad's postcard of Ave Maria Grotto
produced by W. M. Cline Co, Chattanooga, Tennessee

My dad is first on the left.  They are standing next to the main grotto,
a miniature cave featuring marble stalactites and statues
honoring the Virgin Mary.  It is the same gated feature
on the right of the postcard above.

This landscaped 4-acre park is in an old quarry located on the grounds of St. Bernard Abbey.  It contains 125 miniature reproductions of the world’s most famous religious buildings.  

Most of them are Roman Catholic cathedrals and monasteries like St. Peter’s Basilica, Montserrat Abbey, Carmel Mission in California, and Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.  Also there are scenes of ancient Jerusalem, Noah’s Ark, and Tower of Babel.

The Ave Maria Grotto has been called "a sermon in stone."

Basilica of St. Paul
postcard produced by W. M. Cline Co, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Temple of Jerusalem and Some Buildings of the Palestinian Miniatures

But there are secular tributes, too, including the Alamo, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Hansel & Gretel’s Temple of the Fairies, and German Castles.  There is even a miniature of the St. Bernard Abbey power station.

Maybe Daddy took Granny to see the Ave Maria Grotto when she visited him in October 1948.  She sent this colorful postcard of the Grotto home to Granddaddy.

Temple of Jerusalem and Some Buildings of the Palestinian Miniatures
On the back: Genuine Curteich-Chicago "C.T. Art-Colortone" Post Card

Sunday

Hello Dear

Having a wonderful time.  Sure wish you were here.  Leaving tomorrow AM.  Hope to see you Tuesday.

Love 

Julia

Collage of Ave Maria Grotto
scanned from The Bernardian 1949
Click to enlarge

The Grotto was the result of a 50-year hobby by Brother Joseph Zoettl, one of the brothers at St. Bernard.  It opened to the public in 1934 and Brother Joe added his last building in 1959. 

Brother Joe’s art was a model of recycling practices before recycling was cool.  He began the grotto with some marble that had been crushed when a train derailed in 1933 not far from Cullman.  The buildings were adorned with marbles, glass, broken tile, toothpaste caps, seashells, costume jewelry, and even toilet bowl floats.  Needless to say, the miniatures are quite detailed, albeit not always accurate or to scale. 

The work of Brother Joseph Zoettl is the subject of a documentary that will air sometime in the fall of this year.  He has been compared to St. Thérèse of Lisieux and St. Francis of Assisi, both of whom led small and quiet lives that have inspired others with their emphasis on simplicity.

It is quite possible that Daddy might have met Brother Joe since he lived at St. Bernard from 1892 until his death in 1961.

Here is one of many tours of the Ave Maria Grotto available on YouTube. (Do yourself a favor and turn the sound OFF.) 

Grab a flashlight and visit more caves, caverns, and maybe some grottos at Sepia Saturday.

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.