Conception Abbey
Conception, Missouri

Tower Topics ~ Winter 2007

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Upon this rock: A monk's hobby

Fr. Norbert Schappler, O.S.B. has dabbled in rock collecting for over 35 years now. You might say that he inherited the hobby from Fr. Hugh Farrington, O.S.B. who became somewhat of a rock hound while working in the Dakotas. When Fr. Hugh’s health prevented his rock work from continuing, he offered his collection and equipment to Fr. Norbert who was immediately impressed by the inner beauty of the stones. “What beauty inside rough, dirty rocks!” he said.

As time allowed, Fr. Norbert began to learn the ins and outs of the equipment and rocks. He began by polishing some of them, casting others in plastic, and making key chains and necklaces. Soon he began decorating wooden crosses with the polished rocks which would be the focus of his hobby up to the present.

One of Fr. Norbert's rock crosses with polished stones representing the five wounds of Christ. Conception's gift shop currently sells several of Fr. Norbert's hand made creations.

For Father Norbert, the work also has spiritual significance. Before the Middle Ages, crosses without a figure of Jesus were far more common than crucifixes and were often richly adorned with precious jewels and metals. The jeweled crosses often depicted the five wounds of Christ with jewels at the ends and center of the cross. The spiritual emphasis of these crosses is upon the glory and victory over death and sin which Christ has merited for us by his Paschal mystery. The message of Fr. Norbert’s crosses is the same: to try to make beautiful crosses which pay tribute to the victory of Christ’s death and resurrection and to point to the glory of our heavenly heritage.

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