Giant Virgin Mary
Another oddity from my recent southern Arizona trip:
About 100 miles south of Tucson, in the town of Hereford, a 31-foot-tall statue of the Virgin Mary has been erected on the side of a hill. It's so close to the border that, if you stand in the right place, you can see both the Virgin Mary statue and the border wall in the valley below.
The statue was built by Pat and Jerry Chouinard in the 1990s. It stands alongside a 75-foot-tall Celtic cross. But giant crosses seem less odd than giant Virgin Marys. (Unless the crosses are really giant, see our previous post "The largest cross in the western hemisphere").
How does this giant Virgin Mary compare to other giant Virgin Marys around the world? It's not close to being the tallest. The record goes to the Mother of All Asia statue in the Philippines which stands 322 ft high. The American record (9th tallest in the world) goes to Our Lady of the Rockies (90-feet-tall) in Butte, Montana.
There's a 33-foot-tall statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Windsor, Ohio. That may be the second-tallest in America. Assuming that Our Lady of Guadalupe is the same as the Virgin Mary. I'm not sure if place-specific Marian apparitions are considered to be equivalent to the original Mary.
That would make the Virgin Mary in Arizona the third-tallest in the United States.
More info: Roadside America
About 100 miles south of Tucson, in the town of Hereford, a 31-foot-tall statue of the Virgin Mary has been erected on the side of a hill. It's so close to the border that, if you stand in the right place, you can see both the Virgin Mary statue and the border wall in the valley below.
The statue was built by Pat and Jerry Chouinard in the 1990s. It stands alongside a 75-foot-tall Celtic cross. But giant crosses seem less odd than giant Virgin Marys. (Unless the crosses are really giant, see our previous post "The largest cross in the western hemisphere").
How does this giant Virgin Mary compare to other giant Virgin Marys around the world? It's not close to being the tallest. The record goes to the Mother of All Asia statue in the Philippines which stands 322 ft high. The American record (9th tallest in the world) goes to Our Lady of the Rockies (90-feet-tall) in Butte, Montana.
source: gcatholic.org
There's a 33-foot-tall statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Windsor, Ohio. That may be the second-tallest in America. Assuming that Our Lady of Guadalupe is the same as the Virgin Mary. I'm not sure if place-specific Marian apparitions are considered to be equivalent to the original Mary.
That would make the Virgin Mary in Arizona the third-tallest in the United States.
More info: Roadside America
Comments
Various titles given to the Virgin Mary -- denoting a specific location, devotion such as rosary, etc -- all refer to the Mother of Jesus. They signify the many aspects that devotion to Mary has taken over the centuries. This does not mean everyone understands this. I recall when I was a Discalced Carmelite novice in 1974, we attended Mass at a church in Dallas where the young priest who was preaching was trying to explain that Our Lady of Guadalupe (patroness of that parish) was the same Our Lady (or Mary) as Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I assume he felt it necessary to clear up some confusion.
Posted by Michael Dodd on 12/20/24 at 02:00 PM
This useless list should have included the name of the country where the the Virgin Mary is from, not just the town. Even with Google, I had to guesstimate that the Monumento a la Virgen de la Paz was in Dominican Republic, the Monumento a la Virgen de Socavon was in Bolivia, and Bunda Maria Assunta was in Indonesia.
Posted by Yudith on 12/21/24 at 07:48 AM
Erm... surely the American record should go to the one in Tujillo, Venezuela? The Montana one is only the *North* American record.
Posted by Richard Bos on 12/22/24 at 12:26 PM
Category: Religion | World Records | Statues and Monuments | Arizona