The giant crane that stood beside the Cathedral of St. Helena much of the summer is gone. So too are the bells from the cathedral tower.

The bells, which together weigh 17,000 pounds and looked as though they'd never come down, were maneuvered from the belfry with only inches to spare, then lowered to the ground for cleaning.

If all goes according to plan, church officials say, the bells could be chiming again by early September.

"We've really turned a corner now," said Monsignor Kevin O'Neill. "The tower itself is fine. It was the internal structure that held the bells that needed to be fixed."

The weight of the bells, coupled with the age of the tower, had taken a toll on portions of the belfry. When a leak appeared in the choir loft after a spring storm in 2005, engineers took a closer look at the cause.

That inspection found rotten timbers hardly able to support the heavy bell system. After viewing the damage up close, engineers advised the church to shut down the system until repairs could be made.

"They're in the tower now, finishing the work on the new steel structure," O'Neill said. "They're getting ready to bring the bells back. But they still have to do that structural work."

Lou Gloege, business manager at the Cathedral of St. Helena Parish, said construction crews replaced the wooden timbers with a steel frame.

"All the old wooden timbers are now gone," Gloege said. "They're building the new steel structure. Within the next couple of weeks, we'll be seeing the bells going back up."

O'Neill said the bells are still in Helena, getting cleaned and refurbished. The replacement parts also have arrived, including the new strikers, clappers and strike plates.

When the work is done and the bells returned to the tower, only the great bell will continue to swing. The other swinging bells will become stationary and a new digital chiming system will be installed.

The bells were originally hoisted into the tower on Aug. 24, 1914. The next month, they tolled the passing of Pope Pious X.

More recently, however, they tolled the passing of Pope John Paul II, and the installation of Pope Benedict XVI in April 2005 before falling silent later that year.

The Helena Diocese hopes to have the bells ringing again by Sept. 8.

"Within the church, that date is the feast of the birth of the Blessed Virgin," O'Neill said. "The bells are dedicated to the Rosary, so it's appropriate."

A year ago, the church also scheduled a Thomas Cruise honorary dinner for Sept. 8.

Cruise was the primary funding source behind the cathedral's construction and dedication in 1914. The bells were dedicated to his daughter, along with the Rosary.

"It feels very providential, not coincidental, that it's all coming together like this," O'Neill said.

Reporter Martin Kidston can be reached at 447-4086 or at mkidston@helenair.com.