Woodcarvings by George Gulli of St. Francis Parish in Hamilton were blessed on Dec. 22 by Father Jack Darragh, the parish pastor. Father Darragh blessed a carving of St. Francis, which Gulli had completed recently, and Nativity figures created two years ago. Gulli is a candidate for the Secular Franciscan Order and has been in study for the past year. He said he made the 5-foot-tall St. Francis statue for a woman who saw him carving a statue of Mary at Hamilton’s 2011 Renaissance Faire, where he was in a marketplace booth while dressed as a medieval friar. The woman agreed to make the statue available for viewing temporarily at the Hamilton church and asked that the statue be blessed. She is 87 and recently was recovering from heart bypass and valve surgery soon after undergoing hip replacements, said Gulli, who visited her at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula on Dec. 24 and provided a CD with photos taken during the blessing. Speaking to The Montana Catholic, Father Darragh described Gulli as a gifted artist whose work has been sent to many destinations in the United States and beyond. As Father Darragh finished blessing the woodcarvings, a flock of Canada geese flew overhead.

(Rod Nielsen photos).


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 28, No. 1, January 20, 2012.