When then-seminarian Robert E. Hughes was preparing to be a priest for the Diocese of Camden, Dolores Garrity Hughes knew she wanted to leave her only son with a lasting gift crafted from her own hands: a chalice.
Having apprenticed with a chalice maker at The Catholic University of America years before, Dolores Hughes decided to brush up on her skills by auditing metalsmithing classes at Glassboro State College, now Rowan University.
Wanting to do his part, Robert Hughes Sr. enlisted the help of a woodworking friend to craft a box for the chalice, one made from African red padauk wood, a unique and steady wood knows for its lustrous reddish-brown color. The wooden vessel was completed in half a year.
Together, Mr. and Mrs. Hughes created a treasure for Father Hughes, current Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Camden.
“My mother was willing to put hundreds of hours into making the chalice over three years,” Father Hughes says. “It’s priceless … every hit of the hammer was a prayer for me.”
A message etched in the underside of the silver and gold cup marks his Ordination Day: “To the Reverend Robert E. Hughes, ordained August 4, 1990. With love, mom, dad, Bernadette, and Nancy,” the latter two his sisters.
Other traces of Father Hughes’ heritage can be found in the base of the chalice – accessible by separating the bowl – his maternal and paternal grandmothers’ engagement rings, his mother’s engagement and wedding ring, and another ring of unknown origin. Keeping the bowl of the chalice intact with its base is a brilliant blue lapis lazuli rock with streaks of gold minerals, representing not only the Blessed Virgin Mary with its blue color, but Jesus and unity.
“The heavenly realm is represented by the top … the bottom represents earthly things,” Father Hughes says. “The [lapis lazuli] node is symbolic of Jesus, who joins heaven and earth.”
Father Hughes notes that the chalice is only used for special occasions such as Christmas, Easter, in remembrance of his parents’ birthdays and wedding anniversary, and on the anniversary of his Ordination Day.
He also explained that the pieces were the second set crafted by his parents; they also made a set for the earlier ordination of his friend Father Ron Potts, Archdiocese of Washington.
With his parents now deceased, Father Hughes says his will stipulates the chalice and its box be made available to any newly ordained priest for the decade following his death. After this time, if no priest would like to have it, the pieces will go to the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, a favorite destination of Father Hughes and his mother.
“It has one of the largest collections of handmade American-made silver. It should be left to a place where it can be recognized as something made in this age,” Father Hughes says.
He adds that when he lifts up the chalice during special celebrations, sees the inscription and hears the clanging of the rings, he is reminded of an enduring love and faith and the work of his parents’ hands.
“The blessings of heaven are contained [in the chalice], and dispensed into the world,” he says.
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