Mother Joseph, the missionary. Mother Joseph, the educator. Mother Joseph, the nurse. Mother Joseph, the architect.
And Mother Joseph, the sculptor.
Possibly the most accomplished person ever to call Vancouver home, the Sister of Charity of Providence left many legacies when she died in 1902, including Providence Academy at 400 E. Evergreen Blvd.
Two of her lesser works were on display recently at the Proto-Cathedral of St. James the Greater in downtown Vancouver: wax sculptures. The first, not on regular view, is a life-size baby Jesus. The doll, apparently meant to be laid in a cradle, shows remarkable workmanship with its detailed face. Mother Joseph is also believed to have sewn the infant’s clothes. Its curly blond hair was clipped from a child at the orphanage run by the Sisters of Providence.
Perhaps more impressive is a wax sculpture of St. Lucian, on display in a glass case to the right of the church’s main altar. Also life-size, it commemorates the life of the founder of the Diocese of Beauvais, in the third century A.D. In 1793, Protestant extremists disturbed his crypt and tossed his remains in a fire. The relics were later recovered, and some part of them — perhaps a bone or a tooth — are believed to be contained in Mother Joseph’s wax image.
