St. Francis’ Episcopal Church has a new way to welcome people.
The remains of a tree that had been losing branches on the church grounds at 602 Rockwood Arbor Drive was used to create a statue of the congregation’s patron saint – St. Francis of Assisi.
Under the carving are the words, “St. Francis Welcomes You.”
A blessing of the statue was held Oct. 4, and it drew 49 people to the northwest corner of the church’s property.
Deon K. Johnson, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, performed the blessing.
Marsha Smith, 67, of Robertsville said she hopes the statue makes people welcome at the church.
“The one thing I like about the statue is it says, ‘St. Francis Welcomes You,”’ said Smith, who has been a member of the church for four years and leads its grounds committee. “We are always happy to have people come and visit us.”
The carving has the saint decked out in the traditional robe of a Franciscan monk, the religious group named after him, and he is holding a dove. There also is a baby deer next to the saint’s right foot and a rabbit next to his left foot.
St. Francis is the patron saint of animals.
“Our church has a lot of concern for the environment,” Smith said.
Smith said the church employed the services of The Wood Den in Festus to convert the tree into a statue.
Smith said the church bought the property from the Diekmann family in 2015. Smith said last year, several of the trees on the property started dropping limbs, which caused a safety concern. Several trees were cut down and one was cut with the idea of turning it into a wooden statue.
Michele Diekmann, 61, of Eureka attended the ceremony for her mother, Bessie Diekmann. Michele said her mother is 95 and was unable to attend.
She said the family is not entirely sure who planted the tree, but they believe it was Arthur Phillip Diekmann, who was Michele’s grandfather.
“It thought it was neat how they talked about how this tree was planted as a seed, now it’s being reused as something,” Michele said.
Phillip died when Michele was about 2 years old, so she said she does not remember him.
Michele said she believes her grandfather planted the tree because he used to own a tree nursery on the property. She said she does remember the tree once having a treehouse.