Statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary
which is located next to the
Hickey
Dining Hall has a long history here at St.
Bonaventure University; it has been on campus since 1887. The five foot, ten
inch tall statue arrived from Italy on August 6, 1887. It was
unveiled and blessed during the feast of The Transfiguration
of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Originally the statue resided in a niche
which was located above the entrance of the former
Chapel/Monastery which was
the original building complex on campus.
While most of the building was destroyed by fire in 1930, the statue miraculously
survived and was taken down from its niche.
When
construction begun on new campus buildings the statue was moved to its current location
and a pedestal was constructed for it using stones from its former home. On the pedestal are two quotations from the old testament
surrounding a picture of the burned building. They read "The ground on
which you stand is hallowed land", above the picture, and "The Lord
Gave 1855. The Lord Took Away 1930. Blessed be the name of
Lord", below the picture.
At one point the statue had colors, but, after major repair work, was painted white.
On May 1, 2013 the statue was was
re-dedicated. The class of 1962 donated over $30,000 for its
restoration. The work on the statue and its base was done by
Crandall's Memorial of Olean. This was the first time in
over 50 years that the statue appeared with her halo of 12
golden stars.
Kulakowski, Edmund A. "Shrines of St. Bonaventure, Statue of
Blessed Virgin Mary" Vox Regis March 1962: 8
"Account of the Statue of The Blessed Virgin Mary" St. Bonaventure
27 September 1887
Last Updated:
March 18, 2015