HOUSTON - The dark bronze sculpture seems to shimmer in contrast to the stark white stucco walls and the sharp black granite adjacent to the Chapel of St. Basil at the University of St. Thomas (UST).
Since early 2022, the Catholic university has hosted the larger-than-life cast bronze sculpture that depicts a veiled mother embracing a child in her womb.
The pro-life work by Canadian sculptor Tim Schmalz represents a Madonna and child, with the child still in the womb, according to a UST statement. The child is suspended in mirrored steel that creates a reflection of the world around it, including nearby trees, the sky above and viewers just feet away. The sculpture shares a peaceful message of a hopeful embrace of life while challenges to the sanctity of life continue around the nation. Even from far across UST’s Academic Mall, the sculpture is eye-catching at all hours of the day.
A smaller casting of the sculpture was dedicated May 29 at the Church of San Marcello al Corso in Rome, Italy, by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
