A private collection · five figures
The stories of the figures on the shelf
Five devotional statues, photographed where they stand: the household of Nazareth, two saints who gave their lives and one who gave his voice, and two archangels who stood before the throne of God. Each page tells the story in full and then shows you what the carving carries.
The Holy Family
Three halos and one rosary wound through every pair of hands: the household in which the Son of God was raised.
Saint George
A Roman soldier who would not offer sacrifice, beheaded at Lydda in 303 — and the dragon he has carried for a thousand years.
Saint Anthony of Padua
He asked for a martyr's death and was given a voice instead; a year after he died, the Church had made him a saint.
Saint Michael the Archangel
The archangel whose name is a question no pride can answer, standing with a raised sword over the ancient serpent.
Archangel Raphael
Hired as a guide for a young man's journey, he came home with the blind seeing, a demon bound, and his name at last.