Stone Virgin Mary & Bernadette Statues At Our Lady Of Lourdes Destroyed

A vandal virtually destroyed one of San Bernardino County’s most splendid examples of religious iconography early this week.
Two statues, representing Bernadette Soubirous and the Blessed Virgin Mary that have garnished the front of our Lady of Lourdes Church in Montclair for two generations were wrecked by a person at this time unknown by authorities.
It is not known whether sufficient detail can be gleaned from a video of the destruction that took place for authorities to determine who the perpetrator is.
Around 4:30 a.m. February 25, according to the Montclair Police Department, “An unknown suspect drove into a nearby parking lot in a sedan, emerged from the car and approached the statues with an unknown object in his hand. Using this object, he struck the two statues, causing significant damage to both. The suspect then left in the sedan.”
Our Lady of Lourdes Church was founded by Father Joseph Mackey, a Franciscan priest from Ireland, and was dedicated under the Diocese of San Diego on December 12, 1956, having been built by hardworking and dedicated parishioners during weekends and evenings over the course of 18 months. The parish moved into the Diocese of San Bernardino upon its creation in 1978.
The church celebrates the apparition of Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus Christ, to Bernadette Soubirous in a grotto near Lourdes, France in 1858.
The stone statues that were destroyed Monday were a representation of that apparition.
The monetary value of the statues, put at roughly $5,000, does not match the worth ascribed to them by those for whom Our Lady of Lourdes exists as the earthly portal toward divine aspiration.

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