Sculpture Embarks on Yearlong U.S. Tour
Angels Unawares, a sculpture embodying Pope Francis’ call to extend hospitality to refugees and migrants, began a yearlong cross-country U.S. tour this month.
The sculpture is an exact replica of one unveiled by Pope Francis in the Vatican’s St. Peters Square on Sept 29, 2019. Commemorating the 105th annual World Day of Migrants and Refugees, the unveiling marked the first time in 172 years that a new monument was erected in St. Peter’s Square.
Timothy Schmalz, Angels Unawares (2019). Bronze. ©Sculpture By Timothy P. Schmalz 2019. Photographer Lee Pellegrini. Photo courtesy of Boston College
Created by Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz, the sculpture is massive – 20 feet long, 12 feet high – and weighs 3.8 tons. It depicts 140 life-size migrant and refugee men, women and children crowded aboard a raft. The figures represent diverse homelands, religions and historical periods, including a Jew fleeing Nazi Germany, a Syrian seeking safety from civil war, a Pole escaping the communist regime, an African sold into bondage, a Cherokee on the Trail of Tears, an Irish boy escaping the potato famine, and the Holy Family of Nazareth. Angel wings at the center allude to the sacredness of migrants and refugees.
The title, Angels Unawares, is derived from a Biblical passage: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Hebrews 13:2). The sculpture “is not just about [migrants], but about all of us, and about the present and future of the human family,” explained Pope Francis.
This theme reflects Pope Francis’ oft-expressed concern that migrants, refugees, displaced persons and victims of trafficking “have become emblems of exclusion…. [T]hey are often looked down upon and considered the source of all society’s ills. That attitude is an alarm bell warning of the moral decline we will face if we continue to give ground to the throw-away culture. In fact, if it continues, anyone who does not fall within the accepted norms of physical, mental and social well-being is at risk of marginalization and exclusion.…”
The sculpture made its inaugural stop at Boston College, where its presence coincides with the university’s month-long series of events examining the meaning and spirit of Thanksgiving. Speakers have included Cardinal Michael Czerny, Undersecretary of the Vatican’s Migrants and Refugees Section, who commissioned the sculpture to highlight Pope Francis’ strong urging “to remember the excluded, neglected, thrown away, the poor and disenfranchised who occupy the periphery of society.”
Czerny envisions the sculpture as a call to action: “I do hope that the sculpture will trigger discussion, dialogue, and honest reflection on why some people treat others in ways that they themselves would not want to be treated and the very opposite of how their parents or ancestors were treated.”
The sculpture will remain on display outside the university’s O’Neill Library throughout November. From there, the sculpture will travel to multiple locations, including Indiana’s Notre Dame University and San Antonio, Texas, before being permanently installed at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
