MADISON — Blessed Sacrament Parish in Madison recently added a new piece of artwork to its campus — a beautiful mosaic designed and put together by a team of 12 volunteer parishioners.
Positioned over what had at one time been a doorway to the old school, the mosaic stands over six feet tall and depicts the Blessed Sacrament Shield logo of the parish.
“It’s the Dominican Shield with the monstrance in front,” said Amy Childs, member of Blessed Sacrament and the artist who designed the piece and led volunteers in building it. “The original logo had a green layer between the cross and monstrance that I left out so that you could see more of the Dominican Shield.”
Easter eggs
The mosaic also contains several “easter eggs” viewers can find in the piece.
“For instance, if you look closely, you will see a naval ship,” said J. Curran, former youth minister at Blessed Sacrament and one of the volunteers who put the piece together.
Curran explained that the naval ship represents their pastor, Fr. Andy McAlpin, OP.
“Father Andy was in the U.S. Navy before entering the seminary,” Curran said. “There is also a chili pepper. Father Samuel, our former parochial vicar, is from New Mexico, hence the chili pepper. There’s also a dog with a stick in his mouth that is on fire. This is a reference to St. Dominic’s mother’s dream she had while pregnant with him.”
According to legend, St. Dominic’s mother dreamed that she would give birth to a dog who would hold a torch in its mouth and would burn the whole world. It has been suggested that the dog represents a pun on the word “Dominicanus”, the word for a Dominican Friar. “Domini canis” means “dog of the Lord.”
“We here at Blessed Sacrament affectionately call this dog ‘Blaze,’” said Curran. “You can see other images of him throughout the parish.”
Other saints represented in the easter eggs of the mosaic include St. Catherine of Siena, St. Rose of Lima, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Venerable Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli, just to name a few.
Team project
The original idea of creating some sort of artwork to go in the former doorway was Father McApin’s.
“As pastor of the parish, one of my goals is always beautification of the campus,” said Father McAlpin. “This big gray, former doorway has just been there for a long time, and I said something has got to go there. We thought about a mural of some sort, and then I decided . . . what about a mosaic?”
Father McAlpin got in contact with Childs, Curran, and the parish’s maintenance director, Eric Ravnikar. Together, Childs and Ravnikar devised a way to create a mosaic and mount it on the gray cement wall.
“All I did was help glue and place the glass pieces on the board,” said Curran. “A few other parishioners helped as well, and it was fun to spend time with them while doing this project.”
The project, with the help of the 12 parishioners, took about six months to construct from idea to completion.
Other volunteers included Fr. James Pierce, Kevin and Denise Mullane, Maya Pulvermacher, Julie Hau, Sue Schimmel, Ceci and Freema Childs, and Patty Bodden.
“We had a new parishioner who just moved here recently join us,” said Curran. “She saw the ad in the bulletin asking for help and she came. What a great way to become a part of the parish!”
“The easter eggs came about from one of my volunteers who joked that he’d help if he could hide a shamrock in the mosaic,” said Childs. “He explained about a mosaic at Notre Dame — his alma mater — where there were hidden items for people to find. I thought it might be a great way for people to find out more about some of our Dominican Saints, so I shared the idea with Father Andy.”
The mosaic’s unveiling and dedication took place after the 11 a.m. Mass on Sunday, Aug. 8, the feast of St. Dominic.
“The mosaic celebrates our namesake as well as our Dominican heritage,” said Erin Daly, the administrative assistant at Blessed Sacrament. “We are approaching the 100th anniversary of the parish’s founding, and the construction and dedication of this piece is just one of the many things we are doing to celebrate that milestone.”
Childs wanted to thank the Thrivent for an Action Team for approving the project for helping with the start-up funds to make the mosaic possible. She also offered her thanks to Father McAlpin for giving his permission and ideas for the project, Curran “for the inspirational ideas and helping to develop the concept”, Ravnikar for the construction help, “and all of my volunteers who made this such a memorable and enjoyable community project.”