A two-inch layer of wax, wine, water and soot covered the storeroom floor in the Marist chapel following a flash fire Jan. 10.

“We had a power failure and were without heat or light for 20 hours,” said Father Vincent Brennan, S.M., Marist superior. “I was checking boilers and switches and resetting the master clock when I heard the school alarm. It was almost providential. Fire had burned through the alarm wires in the chapel so the rectory alarm wasn’t working.”

Firemen broke two clerstory windows to release the dense smoke, but the six stained glass windows formerly in the old Marist chapel on Ivy St. were saved, “The windows were the gift of Mrs. T. M. Brady, her son endowed the chapel, so we put the mother’s gift in the son’s chapel,” Father Brennan said.

Another gift was not spared -- the statue of Our Lady of Grace presented to the school in 1945 when the parents’ club organized. It was used in all graduation ceremonies.

“The intense heat in the storeroom destroyed three years’ supply of altar candles, decorations, and a year’s supply of wine,” Father Brennan said. “We have 15 priests saying Mass in the chapel everyday, and there was enough wine to last an average parish five years.”

All the altar missals and vestments laid out for the next day’s Mass were a total loss, the priest said. “It was heartwarming that so many people wanted to help. Priests called from all over the state to offer vestments, chalices or whatever we needed. A hotel manager called to offer 20 rooms for us, he thought the rectory had burned. The ladies altar guild called to ask when they could go into action. Father Burtenshaw came out to ask if he could assist us in any way.”

When the temporary house chapel was completed all the priests of the Marist community participated in a concelebrated Mass of thanksgiving.

A construction crew is completing temporary repairs, but extensive smoke damage remains. “We hope to have all the repairs completed by Easter,” Father Brennan said. Cause of the fire is unknown and there is no estimate of damage.