Monday, August 4, 2008

St. Joseph, Tiffin





10 comments:

irene said...

Jeffrey, is the second image indeed supposed to be the Virgin? If so, it is the most unusual Marian statue I ever have seen.

Jeffrey Smith said...

I'm not sure, but I've been thinking along the same lines. The Brunhilde braids are completely different.

Jeffrey Smith said...

Actually, other than the braids, she looks like an archaic kore.

Kevin Hammer said...

It is supposed to be Mary, but definitely unusual - the window above the statue has the Marian "M" symbol.
Mossing's history book says that the side altars were dedicated in 1941 (after the 1936 fire).

irene said...

Jeffrey, I'll go with your second guess -- kore for sure, not Brunhilde.

I blew the image up as far as it would tolerate, and am simply amazed -- amazed that the traditionalists have missed the opportunity to castigate the church for this image. I can't imagine it has sat there since 1941 without major scandal.

Have you any idea who the sculptor was, or where any more of his work might be?

Kevin Hammer said...

No information on the sculptor offhand - I suspect there might be some connection with the Tiffin Manufacturing Co., a church-design firm that was located adjacent to the parish.
An earlier posting shows a photo of the side altars in 1950 before the sanctuary was enlarged:
http://catholictoledo.blogspot.com/2008/02/st-joseph-tiffin_18.html

irene said...

Thanx, Kevin.

The statue is really so unusual I really want to find out more about it.

Anyone?

irene said...

I emailed the church in hopes that they had some info, but the Deacon responded that they had nothing, and neither were any parishioners surviving who remembered the installation (I am a bit skeptical about that, since one would only need to be about 75 to have some useful memory).

Kevin Hammer said...

I have a possible answer ...
A Seneca Co. history book has an entry about Tiffin Mfg. Co., which says Bruno Weber, a master carver from Germany, arrived in 1890. When I looked up his name in the RB Hayes Center obituary index, it says he died in 1953, and a note in the entry says, "Did wood carvings for St. Joseph's Church." I will have to get the actual obituary to see if there is more detail.
Also, all of the Tiffin Mfg. records are stored at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland.

irene said...

Kevin, thank you so much for that info. Hope you can come up with even more. But at least this gives me something to work with.