The James Cardinal Gibbons Memorial Statue is a public artwork by Leo Lentelli

Leo Lentelli

Leo Lentelli was an Italian sculptor who immigrated to the United States. During his 52 years in the United States he created works throughout the country, notably in New York and San Francisco. He also taught sculpture....

, located at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart

Shrine of the Sacred Heart

The Shrine of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic parish established in 1899 in the Mount Pleasant/Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington D.C.. The parish church is a large domed Byzantine structure modeled after the Cathedral in Ravenna, Italy....

, 16th Street and Park Road Northwest, Washington, D.C..

The James Cardinal Gibbons Memorial Statue was originally surveyed as part of the Smithsonian's

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

 Save Outdoor Sculpture!

Save Outdoor Sculpture!

Save Outdoor Sculpture! is a community-based effort to identify, document, and conserve outdoor sculpture in the United States. By fostering awareness and appreciation, SOS! aims to advocate proper care of a nationwide public resource....

 survey in 1993. It was listed with the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 2007.

Description

It is a bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 figure of James Gibbons seated, wearing cardinals robes. In his proper left hand he holds a cross

Cross

A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars perpendicular to each other, dividing one or two of the lines in half. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally; if they run obliquely, the design is technically termed a saltire, although the arms of a saltire need not meet...

 which hangs from his neck. His proper right hand is raised as if giving a blessing. The base, which is made of granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 and stands at H. 8 ft. x W. 10 ft., and weighs 2,500 lbs., has a relief of a shield topped with an ecclesiastical hat

Ecclesiastical heraldry

Ecclesiastical heraldry is the tradition of heraldry developed by Christian clergy. Initially used to mark documents, ecclesiastical heraldry evolved as a system for identifying people and dioceses. It is most formalized within the Catholic Church, where most bishops, including the Pope, have a...

. The shield has the coat of arms of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is a particular church of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. It comprises the District of Columbia and Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, Prince George's and Saint Mary's counties in the state of Maryland....

 and the Cardinal's personal coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

. Around the shield are rows of tassels that represent the ranks of clergy

Ranks in the Catholic Clergy

People who have received holy orders or who have been ordained are part of a union known as the clergy, a formal religious leadership within a denomination or a religion. The Catholic Clergy, the head with the Pope - being Pope Benedict XVI....

.

The front of the base displays:

JAMES

CARDINAL

GIBBONS

NDCCCXXXI.

The rear of the base displays:

ERECTED BY

THE KNIGHTS

OF COLUMBUS

MCMXXXII.

On the left side of the base is the artists name and the founders mark:

LEO LENTELLI Sc.

1932 ROMAN BRONZE WORKS N.Y.

Acquisition

The James Cardinal Gibbons Memorial Statue was authorized by Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 and President Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...

 on April 23, 1928. The piece was commissioned by the Knights of Columbus

Knights of Columbus

The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Founded in the United States in 1882, it is named in honor of Christopher Columbus....

and cost, at no expense to the United States, $35,998. The piece was unveiled on August 14, 1932.

Information

The sculpture was installed to coincide with the Knights of Columbus' 50th anniversary. They chose to dedicate a sculpture on behalf of Gibbons because of his "preeminence as a great American". The sculpture was created in Lentelli's New York studio.

On February 22, 2007, the Gibbons Memorial was declared a Washington D.C. historic site and on October 11, 2007 it was added to the national register.

External links

• The James Cardinal Gibbons Memorial on dcMemorials.