The following is a letter by the author — the Executive Director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts — to the Boston Globe. It’s a brief civics lesson that also brings in Boston history, arts, and culture. In addition to the letter, Joe penned a small addendum for his mailing list, presenting additional interesting facts.
While the Globe has an exclusivity rule on publishing letters to the editor, they also tell their readership that if it has not been published within ten days of submission, it will probably not be printed. As the date on the letter is March 13th, and this is the eleventh day, Joe has graciously granted us permission to post it on site. –BAM
March 13, 2025
Letters to the Editor
The Boston Globe
One Exchange Place, Suite 201
Boston, MA 02109-2132
[email protected]
To the Editor:
The City of Quincy plans to include statues of the patron saints of firefighters and police officers in its new police headquarters.
In her column criticizing this decision, Yvonne Abraham embraces the extreme position of the American Civil Liberties Union, that there is some sort of absolute prohibition against images with religious significance in public buildings, (Does the separation of Church and State still matter in Quincy? (3/12/2025).
One need go no farther than Beacon Hill to discover the mural of John Eliot Preaching to the Indians, above the Hall of Flags in the Massachusetts State House.
The third floor of the State House features the bronze Chaplains’ Memorial, commemorating U.S. chaplains in the First World War.
National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol building contains the statues of two saints, one venerable and two missionaries, while the East Pediment of the U.S. Supreme Court building displays the marble frieze of Moses holding the tablets of the Ten Commandments.
The Quincy statues will honor the traditional culture of first responders, a culture that is informed by, but not exclusive to, Catholicism.
Sincerely,
C. J. Doyle,
Executive Director
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts
PO Box 112
Boston, MA 02131
(617) 524-6309
[email protected]
Author’s Addendum
In addition to the works cited above, the imposing 1889 Cambridge Public Library—an impressive example in stone of Richardsonian Romanesque—displays, on the wall of the Old Reading Room, an engraving of the Ten Commandments, with selected Proverbs and quotations from the Epistles of Saint Paul the Apostle.
On a plaque, is an inscription stating the library was “built in gratitude to God, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.”
One of the most extensive collections of religious art in a public building in America is contained in the magnificent, 1895 Beaux Arts, McKim Building of the Boston Public Library.
The third floor is adorned with the sumptuous murals of John Singer Sargent, entitled The Triumph of Religion.
These include the Dogma of the Redemption; the Trinity and Crucifix, and the Frieze of Angels.
There are two Marian murals, the Madonna of Sorrows and the Handmaid of the Lord.
Astonishingly—given the time, the place (a Brahmin bastion of Yankeedom) and the artist—there is even a mural entitled the Mysteries of the Rosary.
Study for “Frieze of Prophets,” Boston Public Library, by John Singer Sargent (1856–1925), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
