 Painter Bob Specht works on the restoration of the statue of St. Scholastica. |
 Christ the King of the World is returned to its niche in Tower Hall. |
| Two gems of the College's religious
and artistic heritage are back in their rightful settings. Statues of St. Scholastica and of Jesus Christ are once again available for viewing by the campus community, after being gone for extended periods. One was a planned project of restoration; the other was a surprise recovery. The concrete statue of St. Scholastica has been on the grounds since the 1920s, according to monastery records. Over the decades, freezing and thawing had developed severe cracks through the concrete. Painter Bob Specht brought it into his workshop, where he painstakingly filled the cracks with epoxy, filled them again with a crack filler, applied a coat of mortar over the entire statue, applied a plaster of paris, then did coats of primer and finally a white paint finish. Last fall it was returned to its pedestal near the soccer field on the way to Gesthemane Cemetery. The statue is flanked by benches for visitors seeking a moment's reflection. The statue Christ The King Of The World had a bizarre route back to its campus home. The wooden statue was hand-carved in Bavaria in the early 1950s for the Sisters of St. Scholastica. It was put on display in a wall niche near the Cloister Walk entrance to Tower Hall, by what is now the Admissions office. It was stolen about four years ago. As the months and then years wore on, everyone considered it gone forever. In mid-November Sister Martha Bechtold got a call "out of the blue" from a man who said he knew its whereabouts and wanted to see it returned. The statue hadn't left Duluth; it was in the apartment of a former student who took it as a prank and then got too scared to return it. "I said, 'I'll just be glad to have the statue returned in any way. There'll be no questions asked," said Sister Martha. "I felt like I was in the middle of a ransom plot. It was the most unusual feeling." The statue was returned that very day. The Sisters were so delighted that they displayed it in the monastery with a sign saying "Look Who's Home," and in a temporary shrine in the Chapel on Nov. 25, the Feast of Christ the King. Now the statue has been restored and returned to its niche - bolted in place. The Sisters never tried to find out the thief's identity. "The important thing is the fact that it's back and it's in good condition," Sister Martha said. "And that it's really in the place it was meant to be. "It's home." |
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