Vandalism comes to a head
Sudbury residents praying for miracle transformation of desecrated Baby Jesus
There’s a new head on the Baby Jesus statue in downtown Sudbury, but it may soon be lopped off.
The head’s part of a Baby Jesus and Mary stone statue on the front lawn of the Ste. Anne des Pins church in the city’s downtown.
Someone severed and stole the original stone head earlier this fall.
The terracotta replacement head has been turning heads, because it’s an orangish hue on an otherwise white statue. Its spiky hair moved at least one observer to say it looks more like Lisa Simpson of cartoon fame than the classic Baby Jesus.
Worse yet, it’s changing shape in the rain and turning the rest of the statue an orangish hue.
“I have noticed that, with the rain, the clay is eroding,” Father Gerard Lajeunese said in an interview. “I may have to have it removed.”
“Right now, it’s staining the statue,” Lajeunese said.
The terracotta head is the work of local artist Heather Wise, who told Lajeunese she plans to replace it with a stone one eventually.
She volunteered to do the job for free, even though she has never sculpted in stone before and doesn’t belong to the parish, Lajeunese said.
The plan was that the orange terracotta head would serve as a temporary replacement until she could do something in stone, Lajeunese said.
“The initial plan was to paint it, but it was never dry enough and we’re starting into the rainy seasons,” Lajeunese said. He said Wise worked on it out of the goodness of her heart.
“She’s not Catholic,” he said. “She was upset with what was done.” The baby Jesus head had been knocked off before, but it could always be found nearby.