Early this morning, the original statue of St. Anne, hand-carved in Austria in 1892, who graced the upper nave from both the original high altar and, later, from a place of honor to the left of the sanctuary, returned to her home at the Shrine.
The professional movers from M&M Movers, who’ve helped us with many moves of our acquisitions over the last two years, were again on hand to move this priceless artifact carefully from St. Mary’s Cathedral down South Main to St. Anne’s, where she was installed on the side altar in the lower church.
Carefully moving her into position on the side altar…
Lifting her into position…
And replacing the Heart, which contains petitions for loved ones, and crowns befitting the grandmother of our Lord and her daughter, who is truly the Queen of Heaven:
This statue, which was located on the side, has been relocated to the front where she was for many decades.
The Shrine is grateful to Fr. Washburn, rector of the Cathedral, for his generosity in allowing the Preservation Society to protect this priceless artifact of the Shrine, and for those whose support made the move possible.
