Students at St. Angela Merici Catholic Elementary School in Chatham will be greeted by a statue when they start school in September.
The Ursuline Sisters have donated a statue of St. Angela Merici to the Catholic school on McNaughton Avenue near Bear Line Road. The statue came from the Mother House on Merici Way and was moved to the school on Monday. Sister Sheila McKinley said it was a fitting way to connect the sisters to the school. She also hopes the statue serves as a reminder for students that they have someone watching over them and supporting them.
"We offered to donate the statue to the school so it maintains the connection with all of the Ursulines who have been educators over the years and who have built the Chatham school system and other school systems," said McKinley. "I hope they know that they always have people who love them and encourage their learning and their development into being good and wonderful human beings that they've always been called to be."
The statue designed by Father Lauck in the 1970s will be on full display in the front entrance lobby.
Photo by Paul Pedro. Aug 17, 2020.
Angela Merici was an Italian religious educator in the mid-1500s. She founded the Company of St. Ursula in 1535 where women dedicated their lives to the service of the Church through the education of girls. This organization later sprang the Order of Ursulines, whose nuns established places of prayer and learning throughout Europe and later, worldwide, most notably in North America.