A Symbolic Gesture

The Jesuits commission a memorial sculpture

I’m not sure how I feel about this but I greatly respect the work of the artist who undertook the job. This is the the Jesuits’ statement and some reflections from John Coll, the sculptor. The photographs are by Bob Tait OB.

Symbolising betrayal and sorrow

Following the request for a symbolic gesture by past pupils who had suffered abuse the Jesuits decided to commission a sculpture by artist John Coll. The sculpture has now been completed and placed in situ in the portico of St Francis Xavier Church, Gardiner St in Dublin. (See photo).

Five smaller but similar pieces also sculpted by the artist, will be presented to, and displayed in, each of the five Jesuit secondary schools.

According to Irish Jesuit Provincial Shane Daly SJ, “The memorialising work preserves and honours the memory of those who have suffered abuse. It is also a reminder of the need for constant vigilance to ensure the safety and care that children and young people deserve as of right.”

The sculpture sits on a plinth which is inscribed with the following: 'In Tribute to All the Victims of Abuse by Those Who Should Have Protected and Nurtured You.' The Irish Jesuits 2024.

Read below artist John Coll’s account of the process of creating the installation from commissioning to completion.

Heart Wheel

Some reflections on the process and development of a sculpture.

Trust is the oil that lubricates a society.
As children we learn to trust our parents to provide us with food and protection. We learn to trust our siblings and from that familial trust we gradually learn how to interact with, and trust others as we grow and develop.

Abuse of a child breaks that sacred trust. Breach of trust has a profound effect on the emotional and physical development of the survivor. It affects how they see themselves, how they interact with others, and how they view the world.

As part of the restorative process initiated by the Jesuits for those affected by the abuse of Joseph Marmion SJ, the Jesuit Order felt that there should be some public gesture of atonement. I was approached by the Provincial of the Jesuits to take on this project. I agreed with some trepidation, as this was an area I was not familiar with.

First thoughts

My initial reaction was a deep-felt anger that the abuse had been allowed to occur.
Reflecting on my own education in Coláiste Iognáid in Galway, I recalled that my passage through the school had a visual record, the annual class photograph of the students and their teachers.

I thought about getting framed photographs of the students from the three colleges in which the abuser worked, smashing them and putting them in a large glass case! But then I thought that this sculpture called for something deeper, more moral and restorative.

Second thoughts

I modelled up three figures, representing each college, crouched in defensive poses reflecting the trauma that students had suffered. I put the figures together and dipped them in plaster so that they became one amorphous entity. Then thinking of how we want to protect and help them, I positioned the figures cradled in a pair of hands.

I showed the maquette (model) to some, and I could see immediately that it did not work for them. They remembered the abusers’ hands.

Third thoughts

As my experience in the field of abuse was minimal, I sought advice from medical practitioners in the field and was helped by my brother Dr Patrick Coll, a child psychiatrist, who suggested interesting reading material including an inspiring book on the subject entitled Truth and Repair by Judith Herman MD.

When dealing with such an emotive issue one tends to use symbols. The head is a symbol for reason and the heart a symbol for the emotions. I remembered a line from a song from the 70’s album Dancer with Bruised Knees by Kate and Anna McGarrigle, “Some say the heart is just like a wheel, when you bend it, you can’t mend it”. This heart image was in my thoughts quite a lot at the time as I had just been diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia (now resolved).

From my research I learned that many survivors need the truth of their abuse to be revealed in order for them to move on with their emotional lives. The image of a wheel with a heart at its centre came to mind, representing the wheel of one’s emotional life. The wheel is fractured, representing the trauma suffered. The wheel of life moves on even after trauma, allowing hope of repair.

I felt that a meaningful inscription should form part of the sculpture, and I found a quotation of St Paul. He wrote that “Truth is the fruit of Spirit” which I felt encapsulated the spirit of those who had spoken out. Representatives liked the heart wheel idea but felt that this quote was too esoteric. I tasked them to suggest an inscription and a line was proposed from “Murder in the Cathedral”, the long poem by TS Eliot dealing with the murder of Archbishop Thomas Beckett by King Henry II, the ultimate breach of trust.

“Forgive us, pray for us, that we may pray for you out of our shame. “

This quotation runs on the track of the wheel.

I scaled up the heart wheel from the maquette to full scale which is 130cms in height. I worked on the project in the Fire station Studios in Buckingham St, Dublin 3, under the watchful eye of Cris Newman. As there was a lot of interest in the project, many people came to view the work in progress, including the final year Art students from Belvedere College.

Bronze Casting

The piece and 6 small models were cast in bronze by Bronze Art Ireland, Gaelic St, Dublin 3. Each college and school will receive one of the small models (maquettes).

Bronze casting is a 5 stages process from the artist’s original to the finished product.
Bronze is an alloy of 90% copper and 10% tin with some other additives such as lead and silicon.
Firstly, a two-part silicone mould was made of the Heart Wheel.
Into this mould, liquid wax was painted to a depth of 10mm. When cooled, the wax is a replica of the original. The wax was then cut into sections, for ease of handling, and repeatedly dipped in a solution of colloidal silica to form a thick crust of ceramic shell on the wax.

Then two furnaces were fired up. One of these is a ground furnace where the bronze is melted at 300 degrees in a crucible and the second is a blast furnace, where the wax was coated in ceramic shell and fired to 1500 degrees, At this temperature the silica coat fuses to give a hard shell and the wax burns out. The empty ceramic shell now holds the original surface texture. The bronze is poured into this, while still hot. When cooled, the ceramic shell is removed and the bronze pieces are then welded together. The welds are worked on to blend into the texture of the piece, a skill known as “chasing”.

Finally, the surface of the bronze is treated while hot with chemicals to give it the final dark green patina/colour.
The lettering was then polished back to the raw bronze, imparting a gold colour.
The sculpture sits on a polished Wicklow granite plinth, 1 ton in weight, provided by Michael Roe and Sons, Cabinteely, Co. Dublin.

The plinth is inscribed thus: “In Tribute to All the Victims of Abuse by Those Who Should Have Protected and Nurtured You.” The Irish Jesuits 2024.

The sculpture now sits in the portico of St Francis Xavier Church, Gardiner St, Dublin 1.

Conclusion

This project was the most emotionally challenging I have experienced in my career, but also the most rewarding.
I would like to thank the Provincial, Shane Daly SJ for entrusting me with the project and those whose shared experiences shaped the piece.

John Coll,

March 2025