The sculpture is life-sized or slightly smaller and made from marble. It depicts the Pope standing in clerical garb, holding a Bible in his left hand as he raises his right as if he were blessing someone..or just making a point. The date and artist are not revealed... but the Grotto's website (
visit link) has this passage about the Chapel's artwork:
"The Chapel of Mary was built and dedicated in 1955 by Archbishop Edward Howard, DD, and was designed by Luther Dugan. The rock used to build it came from the Rocky Butte Quarry. On the north side is a 110 foot bell tower, crowned with a gold dome and cross. The bas-relief over the bronze doors and marble entrance to the Chapel portray the Baptism of Christ.
Inside, the Chapel seats 500 people. Warm marble walls, Arizona sandstone floors, woodwork of Korina, Swedish marble, mosaics, graceful statues and murals embrace all who enter. The acoustics in the Chapel make it a magnificent place to perform.
The paintings on the walls and ceilings are the work of Jose De Soto. He has painted churches in Europe and the US. The centerpiece of the treasured murals on the Chapel walls is entitled “The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mother in Heaven.” The side walls are the Via Matris. They depict different moments in the life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
All the statues in the Chapel are made from Carrara marble from Italy. We have statues in churches as a reminder of the significant people in our lives. The statues and mosaics in the Chapel of Mary depict St. Juliana Falconieri, OSM, the Seven Holy Founders, statues of the Sacred Heart, St. Pius X, St. Joseph, St. Peregrine, OSM, a mosaic of St. Anne, St. Philip Benizi, OSM, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The Stations of The Cross that almost circle the Chapel are also made of marble. They depict the painful scenes of Good Friday, the on which Jesus was crucified.
The stained glass window on the front exterior of the Chapel depicts the Resurrection of Christ. It is 25 feet tall and was made in 1954 by artists commissioned by the Karl Hackart Company of Chicago."
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"Pope Saint Pius X (2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914), born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was Pope from 4 August 1903 to his death in 1914. He was canonized in 1954. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and orthodox theology. His most important reform was to publish the first Code of Canon Law, which collected the laws of the Church into one volume for the first time. He was also considered a pastoral pope, in the sense of encouraging personal holiness, piety and a daily lifestyle reflecting deep Christian values. He was born in the town of Riese, which would later append "Pio X" (Pius X's name in Italian) to the town's name.
Pius X was particularly devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the specific title of Our Lady of Confidence; his papal encyclical Ad Diem Illum expresses his desire through Mary to renew all things in Christ, which he had defined as his motto in his first encyclical. Pius X believed that there was no surer or more direct road than by the Virgin Mary to achieve this goal. Pius X was the only pope in the 20th century with extensive pastoral experience and implementation at the parish level, in the sense that he favoured the use of the vernacular language in teaching catechesis while the encouragement for frequent communion became a lasting innovation of his papacy.
His immediate predecessor, Leo XIII, had actively promoted a synthesis between the Catholic Church and secular culture; faith and science; and divine revelation and reason. Pius X defended the Catholic faith against popular 19th-century attitudes and views such as indifferentism and relativism which his predecessors had warned against as well. He followed the example of Leo XIII by promoting Thomas Aquinas and Thomism as the principal philosophical method to be taught in Catholic institutions. Pius X vehmently opposed modernism, which claimed that Roman Catholic dogma should be modernized and blended with nineteenth-century philosophies. He viewed modernism as an import of secular errors affecting three areas of Roman Catholic belief: theology, philosophy, and dogma.
Personally, Pius X combined within himself a strong sense of compassion, benevolence and poverty, but also stubbornness and a certain stiffness. He wanted to be pastoral in the sense that he was the only pope in the 20th century who gave Sunday homily sermons in the pulpit every week. After the 1908 Messina earthquake he filled the Apostolic Palace with refugees, long before the Italian government acted. He rejected any kind of favours for his family; his brother remained a postal clerk, his favourite nephew stayed on as village priest, and his three sisters lived together close to poverty in Rome. He often referred to his own humble origins, taking up the causes of poor people. I was born poor, I have lived poor, and I wish to die poor.
Considered a holy person by many, public veneration of Pope Pius X began soon after his death. Numerous petitions resulted in an early process of beatification which started in the 1920s, and which resulted in his canonization on 29 May 1954. The Society of Saint Pius X, a Traditionalist Catholic group, is named in his honor. A gigantic statue of him is enshrined within Saint Peter's Basilica, while the town of his birthplace was also renamed after his canonization."