Show PRIEST TOILS ALONE TO REBUILD WRECKED CHURCH padre has ha worked eight years on job acla hopes to complete it in ten years yeara more ilarina II anria cuba many n stout henrt heart ed mason or skilled engineer would shy ehy a awny w ay from the task of rebuilding a huge hug e church yet that la Is the herculean job rev reginaldo sanchez do priest tins has undertaken here if only the physical labor of mother another decade of construction faced the little spanish padre lilg his task would be enough but added to this is his knowledge that fate for 71 years liaa has frowned darkly on all efforts to bring to com completion the church structure known own a as a antigua del Par arrollo arr oclo melo yet for or eight years y cars lie tins lias tolled and lie fels feels confident that ten years years more aki wh see his work crowned with success few churches hafe hae had bad so BO varied and troubled bled existence first begun in 1859 1850 by the secular clergy antigua del carmelo b by y 1891 had been abandoned and stripped of its images as work had begun on a new structure nearby near by on june 25 1897 a bolt of shattered the unco uncompleted structure in 1898 1808 the remaining parts were used to house volunteers in the war against spain and as a soup litchen h itchon for the poor on july 6 1007 persons never identified exploded seven pounds of dynamite in the battered edifice in 1012 however the was again blessed and in 1018 the dominican fathers sent sanchez from spain to cuba to take chargo charge of the parish parl sli lyeth indomitable courage lie began his task taik of rebuilding single handed biery danfor day for eight years he lias has labored cutting huge stones by hand hoisting them into place with a crude windlass and between times turning out delicate ornaments and vessels of clay and then hand painting them sand rock cement and lumber the w litte robed priest trundled to the site 0 of f operations in a two wheeled L cart arl now and then a member ot of tile church aids father sanchez for a day helping him push the huge handsaw hand saw sav back handforth and forth to cut a slab of stone but usually the little priest handles the job alone if all goes well father sanchez will dedicate antigua del carmelo in lolo 1010 |