Tipp City Finds 5

A great find in Tipp City, Ohio, came from Midwest Memories Antiques. There, I found a statue of Mary Mediatrix. She represents a Philippine tradition within Catholicism. On the 18th of August in 1948, Teresita Castillo noticed a fragrance. Entering her room at the Carmelite nunnery, she saw a woman in brilliant robes who gave her instructions about humility. On a windless 12th of September, Teresita saw a vine shake and heard the woman’s voice telling her to visit the garden for nineteen days. The following day, Teresita again saw the vine move just before she witnessed the reappearance of the woman, who held a golden rosary. The next day, rose petals began to appear in the convent and in the nearby monastery. When a bishop required proof that Teresita was having visions of Mary, Teresita went blind. The prioress heard a woman’s voice instructing her to kiss Teresita’s eyes. The bishop observed the kiss, which restored the girl’s sight immediately. The bishop no longer doubted, but the apparitions are still under investigation. The Archdiocese of Manila has permitted veneration of statues of Mary, called Mediatrix for her ability to participate in the redemptive mission of her son Jesus—provided that such statues are sculpted to conform to Teresita’s descriptions. Mary clasps her hands in prayer and holds a golden rosary. Her bare feet rest on clouds about two feet above the ground. The shaking vines are often incorporated in the sculpture. A statue of Mary Mediatrix has been displayed in Rome.

My Restored Statue, Mary Mediatrix

I am not a Catholic. My parents belonged to the Methodist Church in my hometown and I was confirmed in that faith. For much of my adult life, I have served as an illustrator, and I appreciate many forms of art. I felt that the three-foot statue of Mary Mediatrix needed a good home, as it had already been damaged. The statue must have fallen forward. The cuffs of the sleeves and sections of the rosary were almost entirely missing, fingers had lost their tips, a chunk had vanished from the right big toe, a large section of the hood had been demolished, and the base was chipped in several places.

I went to work. Using self-hardening clay, I carefully restored the missing pieces. When the new finger tips, toe, hood hem, and other parts had dried and had shrunk slightly (as was to be expected), I filled the cracks with a latex product that expands and contracts with the weather without adversely affecting the paint. Finally, I mixed watercolor paints of the high quality used for such statuary and touched up the areas where I had worked.

Crown Similar to Original

For many months, I searched online to find a crown of the size and configuration that accompanied the statue originally. When I discovered one for sale through an auction site, I quickly bid on it and won the item. Now the statue is complete.

Mary Mediatrix is the second statue I have restored. The first is a life-size saint whose hand was missing. Repairing Mary Mediatrix was challenging because her relatively small size meant working with intricate shapes in tight spaces.