Sainte-Bernadette Returns Home to St. Malo

By Angelique Forest fibres,

A new statue is finally completed and ready to replace the previous statue of Sainte Bernadette that was stolen last June from the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in St. Malo thanks to John Millar, a University of Manitoba graduate in arts who volunteered for the job.

Millar volunteered for this project pulled towards the one-of-a-kind status of the original statue. He explained that mannequin-style religious statues are no longer manufactured for common retail sale unless you’re in Europe or the Philippines.

“Given my Filipino background, familiarity with this type of religious art, and my artistic talents, I thought, ‘if not me, then who?’” added Millar.

The statue measures approximately 4.5 feet tall, the recorded histori- and intricate detailing such as blood veins on her hands and fingernails.

It wasn’t an easy project, as Millar soon found out.

“The experience of making the statue was very labour-intensive,” he noted. “There were a lot of hours spent on the project; almost 100 hours were used on sculpting the face and hands alone, and all the hours for making the entire thing combined totalled to approximately a month.”

Creating the right replica of Sainte Bernadette took Millar on a journey of research in order to represent her as accurately as possible.

“There was a lot of attention to detail because I really wanted to do Sainte Bernadette justice,” said Millar. “One of my intentions for the completion of the work is to have visitors feel as if they’re connecting with the real Sainte Bernadette inperson; it helps to establish a sense of humanity in her, because she was a regular person just like us.”

To Millar, the experience was also very spiritual. There was a lot of contemplation towards the purposeful anatomy of the human body and its wonders, and also contemplation towards the inspirational life that Sainte Bernadette lived.

“In a sense, you kind of play the position of the Creator where you are literally sculpting the main features of the figure in clay first, like God did in Genesis,” he explained.

Millar was also thinking about how a piece of Manitoban History/ Heritage was lost, so he resolved to create a new piece of history to fill in that missing link. This replica of Sainte Bernadette’s incorrupt body is the first and only to exist in North America, and he didn’t want what made the shrine so special to be gone forever. These factors also led him to only ask to be paid for the materials spent because giving back to the community was more important to him.

The young artist believes that the statue will be safe from thieves this time around.

“I have faith that any possible thieves will be brought to guilt and justice if they attempt to steal the statue again,” he added. He added that the locks and cameras installed to deter further theft will also help.

Millar did receive a bit of help from his father who, as a profession is a carpenter, helped cut and put the wood and copper tubing together that was used for the statue’s armature/skeleton.

The Manitoba Métis Federation stepped up and funded the material for the project.

When the statue was completed there were a lot of people on social media in awe, sharing the news coverage, and they were thanking John for his work. That was the most rewarding part for Millar.

“This project has garnered so much attention locally, nationally, and internationally that I have deemed

Sainte Bernadette is back home in St. Malo. myself as the Filipino version of Michelangelo,” he smiled. “He was only 23 when he created his worldfamous sculpture of La Pieta, the age that I am now.”

The statue will be formally blessed in a ceremony on May 31 at the shrine with plenty of time before the annual pilgrimage on August 13.