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After a year of restoration, the iconic gold-leafed Blessed Virgin Mary statue has returned to its perch looking over the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes on the campus of Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg July 20, 2022. (Courtesy Mount St. Mary's University)

Blessed Virgin Mary statue returns to Mount, but renovations aren’t complete


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Catholic Review Filed Under: Colleges, Feature, Local News, News

She’s back! 

The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary overlooked Emmitsburg and the surrounding countryside for 57 years before leaving for Virginia for a yearlong restoration. The 25-foot figure was returned July 20 to her perch at the National Shrine Grotto overlooking Mount St. Mary’s University, but not yet as a finished product.

Workers from Big Hook Crane, a Union Bridge company owned by Mount St. Mary’s graduates Steve and Brock Gregory, return the Blessed Mother to her perch in Emmitsburg. After a year of restoration, the iconic gold-leafed statue has returned to its perch looking over the National Shrine Grotto on the campus of Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg July 20. (Courtesy Mount St. Mary’s University)

The bronze, gold-leafed figure is currently under netting after returning from Fairfax, Va., and is awaiting re-gilding to complete the restoration project.

“Thanks be to God, she returned safely and traveled from Virginia without any problems,” said Dawn Walsh, director of the National Shrine Grotto.

“Everything with her interior is complete,” Walsh said, “but she still needs to be re-gilded. If you look at her now, she’s a mustard or buttery color.”

Walsh said the re-gilding should be completed in the next few weeks. The grotto plans to hold an unveiling ceremony in August and an official celebration/dedication with a Mass in October.

“We are so glad to have her back,” said Walsh, who praised Big Hook Crane, a Union Bridge company owned by Mount St. Mary’s graduates Steve and Brock Gregory, for their work to return the statue to its base.

After months of restoration, the iconic gold Blessed Virgin Mary statue has returned to its perch looking over the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes on the campus of Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg. The shrine is still raising funds to complete the project. Donations can be made by visiting nsgrotto.org/help. (Courtesy Mount St. Mary’s University)

The statue was removed for repair in 2022 and transported to a facility in Fairfax, Va., owned by ADTEK Engineers of Frederick. In addition to the repairs of the statue, contractors in Emmitsburg also repaired the mortar base for its arrival home.

The National Shrine Grotto initially raised $200,000 for the re-gilding project, but uncovered structural damage that needed to be repaired. The additional repairs cost an estimated $500,000. 

The shrine is still raising funds to complete the project. Donations can be made by visiting nsgrotto.org/help.

The statue was commissioned in 1964 from Italian sculptor Marcello Tommasi and cast from a full-size plaster model in Pietrasanta, Italy. It was transported to Baltimore by boat and then to Emmitsburg by truck. At the time of the dedication of the Pangborn Memorial Campanile May 1, 1964, the statue was believed to be the largest ever imported to the United States in a single piece.

The monument was completed under the direction of Monsignor Hugh J. Phillips after a donation by Thomas W. Pangborn, a Hagerstown industrialist and philanthropist who died in 1967. Mount St. Mary’s also plans to refurbish The Way, a meditation path that leads from the seminary to the grotto.

Email Gerry Jackson at gjackson@CatholicReview.org

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