History of the Shrine of Our Lady of Clemency

New Stations of the Cross erected in the Nave in 1934 necessitated the removal of a painting of the Virgin and Child, which had served as a shrine to Our Lady since its installation.  It was Fr. Joiner’s great desire that a proper Shrine to Our Lady be erected, and that it be the gift of the whole congregation rather than a memorial to one individual.  A subscription drive began, resulting in the collection of several thousand dollars, well beyond the cost of the Shrine.

The shrine was designed by Wilfred E. Anthony of New York.  The wood work was built by the Master Wood Craft Company of New York, with Henry E. Beretta as sculptor, and the painting by Robert Robbins.  The shrine is patterned from the vision of St. John who saw Our Lady as the Queen of Heaven: “a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” (Rev. 12.1)  The figure of Our Lady, six feet in height, rests on a polychromed octagonal pedestal.  Two hand-wrought iron candle rings made by Ferro Studios in New York surround the base, and it is covered with valence and carved open-work spire.  An antique Italian silver lamp hangs from an iron bracket on the east side of the Shrine, copied form the Church of Santa Maria del Populo in Rome.  Recent restoration work of the bracket attests to the war time when it was made, as it is made up of scraps from different times and places.  The Shrine was dedicated on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, 1943.

Shortly after its completion, the new shrine attracted wide acclaim and it was soon evident that this could be no Parish Shrine, but that it belonged to the whole church.  In order to fulfill its need, a continuous Novena was established and notices published in many of the church publications.  As a result, petitions and inquiries started coming in with great regularity.  The Novena still continues each day after Vespers, around the ringing of the evening Angelus.