| Statue
of patron saint of farmers to travel to rural
parishes Farmers in rural Nebraska
parishes soon will benefit from an art commission
by the Cathedral Arts Project.
A statue of San Ysidro, the patron saint of
farmers, will travel from its home at Omaha's
St. Cecilia Cathedral to rural Catholic churches
for ceremonies once a year.
Santa Fe-based artist Ramon Jose Lopez is creating
the statue in honor of the cathedral's centennial
celebration. The Cathedral Arts Project commissioned
the statue for its art collection.
When the statue visits rural churches, "they'll
use it to bless the field for good crops and
rain," Lopez said.
Lopez, a santero, or saintmaker, has created
an image of the patron saint for other churches.
He said Ysidro is particularly inspiring to
farmers because they identify with his plight.
Ysidro had so much land to plow that he didn't
have time to pray. An angel came down to earth
and worked the plow, so Ysidro, also known as
St. Isadore, would have time to talk to God.
Lopez's 5-foot-high statue will depict Ysidro
inside a shrine, with oxen, a bag over his shoulder,
and his wife, Santa Maria, by his side, said
Brother William Woeger, executive director of
the Cathedral Arts Project.
The piece is the second Lopez has created for
the Cathedral's collection of Spanish Colonial
art. "Altar and Reredo," a Spanish
Colonial-inspired piece he created in 2001,
is the only contemporary work now in the Cathedral
collection.
Lopez's work also has been collected by the
Archdiocese of Santa Fe, the Smithsonian and
a number of other churches around the country.
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