About 10 years ago, Skaneateles resident Loretta Kinney met Michael Galuppi, a worker with the health-care service assisting Kinney with care for her elderly mother, Bertha.

In the years since, Kinney and Galuppi have become close friends, discovering they share common interests and philosophies.

But Galuppi felt he had a higher calling. In June 2007, he was ordained as a Catholic priest, and now serves as a parochial vicar at St. Joseph's Church in Camillus.

And Kinney, who is a professional jewelsmith, has rewarded his dedication to the priesthood with quite an extraordinary gift.

Last year, Kinney completed the year-long task of restoring and embellishing a chalice, or goblet, that Galuppi inherited from one of his relatives.

In 2006, Kinney began the work of augmenting the chalice by attaching a Jerusalem Cross, a well-known Catholic symbol, and jewels taken from rings that belonged to Galuppi's mother and grandmother.

Now, Galuppi uses the chalice at daily Mass at St. Joseph's.

“Michael is a wonderful man,” Kinney said last week. “So working on the chalice was a pleasure for me. ... I know it's very sentimental to him and that it means a lot to him to use it in Mass.”

Kinney, who said she has been a jewelsmith for more than 30 years, received her bachelor's degree in art before being extensively trained as a jeweler in various locations including San Francisco.

Traditionally, Catholic priests often receive chalices from family members when they are first ordained. Galuppi inherited his chalice from the Rev. Louis Galuppi of Rome, N.Y., in 2005.

The Rev. Michael Galuppi said, in an e-mail, that he is not exactly sure the relation between him and Louis, but that Louis' grandparents came to the United States with Michael's relatives in the early 1900s.

Originally made by the Giles Beaugrande Company in Canada, he continued, the chalice is a silver cup plated with gold that has grapes and grapevines interwoven throughout its design.

To embellish the chalice, Kinney said, she first added the Jerusalem Cross, which depicts one large cross surrounded by four smaller ones, by using decorative crosses Galuppi found while on a trip to Jersusalem.

Next, Kinney placed diamonds on the chalice that had previously been set in rings worn by his grandmother and mother.

An inscription was finally added to the base of the chalice, part of which reads: “To the glory of God and the nourishment of his people ... for Father Michael Patrick Galuppi on the day of his ordination to the priesthood, June 2, 2007.”

“The chalice is very meaningful to me. ... even more so since Loretta worked on it,” Galuppi said. “I have always loved Loretta's enjoyment of life. I also appreciate her opinions and insights which, as a priest, not everyone feels so free to share, so it's really refreshing.”