This month, students at Church of the Resurrection School in Lansing will find five new saintly statues smiling down upon them as they arrive for the new academic year.
Since construction in 1939, the parish’s middle school building has had five empty niches on the exterior walls…until now. Have a look at these photographs of the new statues being erected by the school's facilities team, led by Chris Spalding and Sean Riley.
The blesseds depicted are Saints Elizabeth Ann Seton, Patrick, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and John Neumann. But why those five? School Principal Jacob Allstott now explains. He writes:
The present middle school building was originally constructed in 1939 and served as Resurrection High School. The building has always had five niches designed for saints to be placed, and this opportunity to beautify our campus was noticed through the keen eyes of a few staff members.
The selection process was not easy for us. There are many wonderful saints, and they are all praying for us. However, our staff chose five wonderful saint statues within the Neoclassical style already employed in the outdoor crucifix in front of the gym and the grotto in front of the convent. Those five saints are Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Saint Patrick, Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and Saint John Neumann.
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton who is known for starting the first starting the first Catholic girl’s school in the US and the first American congregation of religious sisters. She was a dedicated educator, but she was also a wife, a mother, a widow, and a convert. She faced tremendous scrutiny from the social elites in New York for converting to Catholicism. She offers us an example of how to patiently follow the Lord through hard times.
We chose to place Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton’s statue in the niche nearest to the convent where the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist live. They teach at Resurrection and Lansing Catholic High School, and they are often seen walking past that niche on their way to and from Mass on Sunday mornings. The Dominican Sisters are such an amazing witness in our community, and we wanted to honor Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, as we also honor the gift of many religious sisters who have taught countless children during the 100-year history of Resurrection School.
Saint Patrick was an easy choice for us. We are the Resurrection Shamrocks, which our founding pastor, Monsignor Gabriels, chose from his Irish heritage, and we have proudly worn this symbol of the Holy Trinity ever since. So, it was only fitting that Saint Patrick would stand in the niche directly above the door where the students come into the building every morning.
But the witness of Saint Patrick goes far deeper than Irish American heritage. Saint Patrick was kidnapped as a teenage from his home along the British coast and forced to work as a shepherd by his Irish captors. He eventually escaped, and he chose to forgive the Irish people and become a missionary priest in the land of his captivity. His own Confessions prove him to be a disciplined man, who took prayer, fasting and penance very seriously. Yet, he was also full of joy as he walked and preached the Gospel to the whole of Ireland.
Saint Augustine stands in the northwest niche between the school and the church. He will be the main statue that parishioners see as they walk into Mass each day, and we hope they are reminded of how, like Saint Augustine, God never gives up on us, no matter how far we stray from the path. Saint Augustine’s own Confessions bear witness to how far he wandered from God’s Truth and Goodness, the power of a mother’s prayer, and how God’s divine love is constantly drawing us into a deeper conversion of heart.
Saint Augustine goes on to become a great theologian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. He is featured holding a heart with an arrow through it to signify God’s divine love and his spiritual conversion. Saint Augustine famously wrote “you (God) have pierced my heart with your love” and “our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
Saint Thomas Aquinas is the other famous theologian and Doctor of the Church featured in the niche between the school and the church, just off Michigan Avenue. He is probably the most brilliant mind of the last millennium. His writings are some of the most rich and complex spiritual works in Church history, which is demonstrated by how Saint Thomas Aquinas would dictate to four different scribes writing in four different sections of the Summa Theologica at the same time.
The gift of Saint Thomas Aquinas’ writings is impossible to capture in a short article, but the beauty of his wisdom is often reflected in the simplest of teachings. Our pastor, Father Steve Mattson, often quotes Saint Thomas Aquinas in his definition of love, as the “effective willing the good of the other as other.” Human love is quite often tarnished by a self-serving desire or motive, instead of being marked by a sacrificial gift offered purely for the good of another person.
Last but not least, Saint John Neumann stands in the niche facing Michigan Avenue. He was missionary priest to the Native Americans in New York and later the Bishop of Philadelphia. During the eight years that he served as bishop, 100 Catholic schools were built in his diocese. This was a time when Protestant apologetics were being taught in public schools in order to convert Catholic children away from the Church. Saint John Neumann famously told his priests to build the school before you build the church.
Our founding pastor, Monsignor Gabriels, did just that! He celebrated Mass in the lowest floor of the elementary school building for 30 years, while the Resurrection school continued to grow. Monsignor Gabriels had drawing to build a church with a gym below in the 1930’s, but the plan was changed in order to provide classrooms for the high school. The last building Monsignor Gabriels built on the Resurrection campus was the church on Michigan Avenue, but it was his former students who raised the funds to build a proper church on our campus.
The statue of Saint John Neumann is very fittingly situated by the historic marker which tells how our parish and school were founded. We are truly indebted to Saint John Neumann for his commitment to Catholic education, which inspired Monsignor Gabriels’ work at Church of the Resurrection and Resurrection School.
In closing, our hope is that the images of these saints and the example of their lives will inspire our community to live as salt, light and leaven in this world.
