Roses of Compassion Obelisk

Photos of  2015 Compassionate St. Augustine Obelisk by Wendy Mandel McDaniel

Five years ago, during the big 450th anniversary celebration of the City of St. Augustine, Compassionate St. Augustine, a local not-for-profit organization, chose the grounds of the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine Motherhouse as a location for one of the 25 obelisks to be displayed around the city incorporating the themes of Freedom, Democracy, Human Rights, and Compassion.

The obelisk, which is eight and a half feet tall, is modeled on the larger obelisk in the Plaza in downtown St. Augustine that was a gift from Spain. Wendy Mandel McDaniel, a local multi-media artist, was the designer of this obelisk that had as its theme, "Roses of Compassion."

After the exhibition was concluded, the obelisk was given to the Sisters of St. Joseph by Wendy and her husband Philip and Mike and Kelly Diaz. Philip and Mike are co-owners of the St. Augustine Distillery. 

Located on the north end of the Motherhouse yard, the obelisk, before the coronavirus pandemic forced  us to ask visitors to not enter our yard (so Sisters can use the yard without risk of infection), was often admired and photographed by tourists and visitors. When I would be out in the yard gardening on Saturday mornings, many couples and families would stop to admire it. 

Details on the north side of obelisk.

A statue of St. Therese of Liseux is on one side of the obelisk, the same side on which is a photo of the first African-American children taught by our founding Sisters in the 1860's following the Civil War.   Bishop Augustin Verot of Savannah had asked for eight French Sisters of St. Joseph to come teach the children of the freed slaves following the war since the State of Florida was not educating them.

Photo of the Sisters' first class of African-American students.

Wendy Mandel McDaniel used a lot of nature, photographs, and quotes from various religious figures down through history, and our Declaration of Independence. Even Pope Francis is quoted from his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si, "Hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor."  Thomas Merton is quoted as well as the Dalai Lama. Pink roses are one of the unifying elements of the obelisk. 

Every time I go to look at the obelisk, I seem to discover something I had not noticed before. Recently I noticed a quote from Plato, the Greek philosopher, on the virtues of music! And I got a refresher in U.S.history when I saw that women got the right to vote in our country in 1920, a century ago this year. 

Wendy has been by several times over the past five years to touch up her obelisk in our yard. St. Therese especially seems to need help with the outdoor exposure. Sometimes coins have been left inside of the praying hands on the east side of the monument. 

Whether you hate it or love it, the obelisk is a tribute to the role played by the Sisters of St. Joseph in the history of serving the poor and disenfranchised in Florida's history. And that ministry continues today in Jacksonville where our Sisters work at the Guardian School and Morning Star School and L'Arche, and in North Miami at St. James and Holy Family Schools.