Gold cross to adorn St. Mary's in Virginia City

VIRGINIA CITY " The historic St. Mary's in the Mountains church, currently undergoing a $2.1 million dollar restoration and seismic retrofit, will be topped with a newly gilt steeple that reflects Virginia City's mining past.

According to church administrator Nick Nicosia, it may be the only Catholic church on the West Coast with a real gold cross atop its steeple.

A couple of weeks ago, while Nicosia's assistant Liz Huntington was going through some marriage record archives, she discovered a contractor's file that was misfiled some 25 years ago.

It indicated that the pastor of St. Mary's, Father Bengel, in 1981 hired a Reno contractor to help restore the church and also re-gild the enormous golden cross that stands 170 feet above St. Mary's' front doors.

After researching possible contractors to re-gild the cross again for St. Mary's rededication on Sept. 12, Nicosia was offered funding by one of St. Mary's parishioners to cover the almost 11-foot-tall cross with gold.

After checking with both the Los Angeles and the San Francisco Catholic dioceses, Nicosia believes that St. Mary's in the Mountains may be the only Catholic Church on the West Coast that can claim its steeple supports a real gold cross.

Nicosia said special lighting will be installed on St. Mary's belfry and steeple to emphasize the aesthetics and ambiance of this historic spiritual beacon in the Sierra.