RATHDRUM - It took the sharp eyes of a child to spy the female figure in the corner of the altar painting at Rathdrum's St. Stanislaus Kostka's Catholic Church.

Josephine Myers - a church member for 45 years - had to look closely to see it for herself: The likeness of St. Barbara, bearing a shield.

Thanks to a restoration funded through a grant from the Idaho Heritage Trust, the details in the church's altar painting are coming out of the shadows. The church is inviting the community Sunday to view and celebrate the restored painting.

The 113-year-old painting, given to the church by Gonzaga University in 1901, was in desperate need of attention, Myers said. Smoke from tall candles that lit the altar during high mass had damaged part of the canvas. Paint had begun chipping from Mary's robe. The colors were muted.

The $2,500 grant was used to hire Spokane art restorer Clara Woods, who spent six weeks on scaffolding, cleaning the painting with cotton balls and solvents, cleaning and conditioning the canvas and retouching the paint.

The 6-foot by 7-foot painting depicts the appearance of the Virgin Mother to Stanislaus Kostka, a notable Jesuit saint. It was painted by Brother Joseph Carignano, who came to Gonzaga from Turin, Italy.

Carignano was first a cook, then gained recognition as an artist. His paintings were used in Jesuit missions and helped teach stories of the Bible and Christian faith to Native Americans.

The painting hanging above the altar in the Rathdrum church depicts the church's namesake: St. Stanislaus Kostka.

Father Thomas Purcell built the Rathdrum church and named it after St. Stanislaus Kostka to fulfill a vow he had made, Myers said.

Purcell had been unable to enter the priesthood due to illness. He said a Novena to St. Stanislaus, Myers said, and vowed that if he was cured and could become a priest, that he would build a church and name it St. Stanislaus.

The church opened in 1901.

Myers said the restoration brought out details she had never seen in the decades she has attended the historic church: St. Barbara and angels and the halos of light surrounding the heads of the figures in the painting.

Woods told Myers that the church had acted just in time to save the painting.

"It's good now," Myers said, "for another 100 years."

If you go

Celebration of the restoration of the historic altar painting

• 4 p.m. Sunday, April 27

• St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church

• 8026 W. Second St., Rathdrum