The statue of the Virgin Mary that stood between Saint Mary’s Hall and McShain Hall has been gone for almost a year.
The statue was originally erected around 1949 and depicted Mary with open arms. Facing McShain Hall, she welcomed all students who lived there.
“Saint Mary’s Hall, at that time when the statue went up, was purchased by the Sisters of Bon Secours. It’s an order of nuns and they have nursing homes and hospital care. Patient care is their mission,” said Carmen Croce, curator of the University Art Collection.
The statue was put up when the Sisters of Bon Secours took over the building. It was originally on the hill that Saint Mary’s Hall sits on and looked onto City Avenue.
“When we built McShain, we moved the statue down to the front entrance of the house and that’s where it remained,” Croce said.
It remained there until landscapers knocked it over last spring semester. It was broken to an unrepairable point and has to be replaced.
“It was a beautiful statue,” said Renee Kontos, ’17, a Resident Assistant on the Merion Campus staff. “I enjoyed looking at it. Who knows, maybe they’ll replace it with something soon.”
“We have a new one. The president approved it and we bought it over the summer. I believe it is sitting in storage,” Croce said. “We are not putting it in the same place. It was too close to the entrance and was in harm’s way.”
Croce explained that because there are so many other preparations to do during the summer for the new academic year, they never got around to replacing the new sculpture. It is supposed to be put on a higher base, and a berm is going to be made around it, so the storm drain can drain properly, but won’t take attention away from the sculpture.
“The sculpture that was there was more of a garden sculpture. The one we are replacing it with is a sculpture of much higher quality than the one that was damaged,” said Croce. Still, Croce is saddened to see the original one gone after it was there for so long.
There are many different kinds of statues that depict Mary on our campus. The Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Our Lady of Grace are just a few. The new sculpture is going to be the same depiction as the original, which was Our Lady of Grace.
The new sculpture will be installed as soon as possible. It is supposed to make its new appearance by this semester, but the date is unclear as of now.
“It’s been 50 to 65 years now. I think that is why some people want to see it replaced,” Croce said. “It was there for 65 years and we didn’t think it was a very fitting end to have it knocked over and not have it replaced. It seemed like the right thing to do.
