7313_MP_CSV_FALL2012_Clerics news Winter 06 10/9/12 1:15 PM Page 12
From the Archives… Our Lady of Grace…Graces Us All
Michele and Joe Richey with the statue in its new location, July 18, 2012
Back in July, Michele and Joe Richey, Jr. of Peoria dropped in at the province center in Arlington Heights for a visit. They were on a genealogy quest to find a statue located on the Viatorian Community property which was created in the memory of Joe’s grandparents and their gravesites in Chicago. Joe’s sister, Jeannette Richey Nelson, had already been in contact with the Viatorian Community Archives, seeking information about the history of the statue.
he make the connection with the Richey family? It turns out that Fr. Anson’s mother, Regina, and Annie Richey were friends in Joliet. This connection was uncovered by Michele Richey after going back through Annie’s funeral guest book and will. Archive records show that the shrine was funded by the Richey Family children in honor of their parents. The shrine in Arlington Statue at St. Nizier Church, Lyons, France Heights, which faced the entrance on Euclid Avenue, was made of white marble and was a product of Dinelli of Pietrasanta, Italy according to a 1955 issue of Lector, a Viatorian newsletter. The inscription on the pedestal read: “Our Lady of Arlington Under the Title of Our Lady of Grace.”
The family had an early photograph of the statue and a letter from Joe’s brother, Francis, explaining what he knew. According to the letter, a memorial was to be set up in honor of Alex Richey, their grandfather, at Mount Olive Cemetery in Chicago where he was buried in 1944. This was the intention of Annie Richey, the wife of Alex, and their two children, Joseph Richey, Sr of Springfield, IL and Edith May Richey Shoemaker of CA. However, there was no space at the cemetery. When Annie died in 1955, her children searched for another setting to honor their parents — and they found one on the grounds of the Viatorian Community.
Fr. Anson chose the same statue that was erected earlier in the year at Mater Mediatrix – the Viatorian residence on the west side of Chicago. It was a Baroque image of the Madonna and Child and its pedestal read: “To Mary Mediatrix of All Grace, the greatest influence in the life of Fr. Louis Querbes, founder of the Clerics of St. Viator.” Both statues erected in 1955 are replicas of one in St. Nizier Church in Lyons, France. It was here, in front of this statue, that Fr. Louis Querbes made his vow of chastity as a boy. It was created by Antoine Coysevox, the court sculptor of King Louis XIV and one of the principal sculptors of the statues in the Garden of Versailles. This fall, Joe and Michele Richey are traveling to France and plan to visit Lyons, to see the original statue of Our Lady of Grace. This devotion to Our Lady of Grace, which began with Fr. Louis Querbes, continues from the Richey family legacy to the Viatorian Community today, more than 200 years!
That same year, Fr. William Anson, CSV, headed a project to establish a shrine at Our Lady of Arlington Novitiate in Arlington Heights – the Statue in its original location on the current province center for the Viatorian property c. 1955 United States Province. How did
www.viatorians.com
Joan Sweeney Archivist and Viatorian Associate
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