Sharon Hopkins restores brass votive candle stand for St. John’s Catholic Church

For Catholics, votive candles are lit in remembrance or in prayer, and for one parishioner of St. John's Catholic Church in Leopold, Missouri, the chance to bring a brass votive candle stand back to life was an opportunity Sharon Hopkins couldn't pass up.

From November 2015 to May 2016, St. John's underwent extensive renovations. During the renovation process, in the summer of 2015, Rev. David Coon found a votive stand while exploring the church basement, and says he asked Hopkins if she would be interested in fixing it up.

"It was in the basement, all dirty and in bad shape," Coon says. "It needed a lot of work."

Coon says he thought it ought to be upstairs.

"We have some other [candle stands] we still use. This one is more beautiful," he says.

A restored 100-year-old brass candle stand for St. John's Church in Leopold.Andrew J. Whitaker

While the provenance of the candle stand is not certain, Hopkins' research suggests the stand is close to 100 years old.

"This style was very popular at the turn of the 1900s," Hopkins says. She says she found different styles, some with fewer than five tiers or with wings added to the sides for additional rows of votives.

"It was in the basement probably 40 years, since the early 1980s at least," she says.

Her research shows the stand was possibly made by an American company in the St. Louis area, but there's no way to be certain.

"There's no manufacturer's mark," she says. "Not a thing on it to identify it."

A restored 100-year-old brass candle stand for St. John's Church in Leopold, Missouri.Andrew J. Whitaker

She says in her research she saw several similar pieces that were not exactly like the one she restored, "but were in the same litter, maybe. It was enough to recognize that the style was not foreign."

She added, "Saying it's a hundred years old is probably ballpark. It could be even older."

Hopkins says she doesn't think the glass cups are original to the stand.

"They made them like this for years and years," she says, referring to religious supply companies in the U.S. "The votive cups were all in a box downstairs. I'd say they're probably 40 to 50 years old."

Hopkins says of all the brass pieces in the stand, only one is missing: a brass cup.

"Nobody wants to break up their set," she says of her online contacts. She has feelers out if anyone comes across a cup they're willing to part with. "There's only one missing," she says. "Isn't that amazing?"

Hopkins says when she started the process, the stand's base was so dark she thought it was wrought iron.

"It was all black when we found it," she says. "It had definitely developed a patina."

Hopkins' son, Jeff Snowden, owns S & H Dream Machines in Marble Hill, Missouri, where he specializes in restoring cars. Hopkins had thought at first she should paint the stand, and Snowden's professional equipment would do a nice job.

"I recommended not to paint it," Snowden says. He says since it was copper, he thought it would be better to clean it instead, and he agreed to power wash the stand for her.

"I think if I'd gotten it sandblasted, that would've been easier," Hopkins joked.

Before she started restoration work, Hopkins went online to research cleaning and restoration methods.

"I learned a lot about different types of brass," she says, adding that the base is made of structural brass and the removable cups are made of rose brass, which has a higher copper content and is softer. "That's why they're slightly different colors."

Hopkins says she used good old-fashioned trial and error when deciding which method to use.

"I made a paste of vinegar and flour to try to pull the corrosion off," she says. "And it did -- about a tenth of the first layer."

Since that method didn't work to her satisfaction, Hopkins disassembled the stand and used a drill with sanding bits for the areas with less detail. She used a Dremel rotary tool for the more ornate areas of the base.

"I didn't want to erase detail," she says, indicating the cross at the stand's top, which has intricate etching on its surface.

"Instead of sandblasting, I might have gone with soda blasting," she says, "but that ship had sailed by the time I got into it."

Of the restoration process and the finished stand, "this does mean a lot to me," Hopkins says.

She joined St. John's parish in 1978 when she moved to Bollinger County from St. Louis, she says. "I can tell you every crook and nanny in this church."

She says the parishioners love having the stand in church.

"The older members remember when it was in different locations in the church," she says, indicating the back of the sanctuary and one of the side doors. "They're very tickled to see it back."

The first week the stand was returned, Hopkins says, she and Coon didn't tell anyone it was coming.

"We just put it there with a few candles lit," she says. "It was funny to see people walk over and just grin, ear to ear."

Hopkins says she was approached by people who thought the stand was long gone.

"It was downstairs by the early '80s, I'm sure of it," Hopkins says. "It was old then. Thankfully they didn't want to throw it out."

Hopkins says she doesn't think it had ever been cleaned.

"It just sat there and acquired a patina," she says, suggesting that could have been a reason why it wasn't returned upstairs during restoration work on the church in the 1980s.

"Too old and dirty looking," she says. "They might not even have realized that it was brass and could be revived."

Hopkins says she did not opt to treat the brass with a protective coating after cleaning was complete.

"As long as it's cleaned periodically it should never get in that shape again," she says. "At least while I'm around."