Grotto Project

"Maria Alumna" by

Thomas Royal McNamara

"Commissioned through the Regina Cleri Seminary Alumni Association and friends as a gift to Saint Augustine Catholic High School in Tucson, Arizona"

"The Latin word alumna means 'disciple' or 'student.'  But it's feminine form may also describe a 'local woman,' the village head woman, the one to go to when you need something done.

"To often portrayed by artists as passively pious, the woman Mary was both an active disciple of Christ and a community leader.  Strong in peace, the Blessed Mother of God was surely a driving force in the development of the earliest Church communities and in the compilation of the Gospels.  From the Grotto at St. Augustine's she will look out toward the fertile fields of the missionary Church, holding a strong staff of fig wood.  It is in the story of Jesus cursing a fig tree that God reveals the blueprint for effective prayer: "Forgive anything you hold against another, so that your Father might forgive you."

"As Jesus forgave us from the cross--thus establishing the perfect prayer of salvation--so Mary watches over our prayers and our hearts, guiding us to the perfection of discipleship...service in peace."

"It is my hope, and the hope of the alumni or Regina Cleri Seminary, that this statue and Grotto may continue to serve students as a place for spiritual encounter, growth in prayer, and peace."

--T.R. McNamara