History
of the Statue of Mary Holding the Christ Child
In All Saints Church there is
an area set apart for personal prayer and for the lighting
of votive candles, each candle symbolizing a prayer which
has been offered. The candles are in front of a
much-revered statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the
child Jesus.
The statue is the work of the late New York sculptor,
Robert Robbins, who was also responsible for much of the
interior decoration of Trinity Church, Indianapolis. The
statue of Blessed Mary is painted with the traditional
catholic colors used to symbolize Mary: blue, dark red
(associated with the sun’s brilliance and a medieval play
on words because Mary contained the Light of the world
within her womb, the Son of God.
The gold (her crown, the lily in her hand, the gold edging
of her dress) symbolizes the purity of Mary. The crown
represents one of her many titles, Queen of all saints. It
has been the tradition at All Saints Church to celebrate
The Feast of St. Mary the Virgin (a major holy day in the
1979 Book of Common Prayer) on or near the
traditional feast date of August 15 with a festival high
Mass with Stational Prayers at the Shrine during the
opening processional hymn.
The statue was dedicated on the Feast of St. Michael and
all Angels (a.k.a. “Michaelmas”) on September 29, 1957. It
was blessed and dedicated to The Rev. Felix L. Cirlot who
was rector at All Saints from 1949 until his death on Good
Friday in 1956.
Father Cirlot, according to the records, was only one of
two priests in the entire American Episcopal Church to have
earned a doctorate at that point in time. He had a
reputation as a theologian and one who supported the
Anglo-catholic and theological tradition within
Anglicanism.
The rector who followed Fr. Cirlot and presided at the
dedication of the statue of Mary was The Rev. Canon Frank
V.H. Carthy. Canon Carthy was rector of All Saints for 14
years and also affirmed the Anglo-catholic liturgical
tradition. Canon Carthy was brought to All Saints not only
to lead the parish as rector, but also to coordinate the
Christian Social Relations work of the Diocese in
that era.