A replica statue of Michelangelo’s Pietà will be unveiled for public view on February 17, just before the 7:30 a.m. Ash Wednesday Mass.

The Ash Wednesday unveiling kicks off the statue’s nation-wide tour. Created with Vatican consent by Nevada-based limited liability company Vescovo Buonarroti Art, it’s one of four Pietà replicas traveling the globe.

An Italian artist, Michelangelo Buonarroti carved his  Pietà from marble in 1499, when he was 25 years old. It was the first of three Pietàs he created; the other two are considered unfinished. Always depicting a scene of Mary with the crucified Christ after his deposition, the pietà — Italian for “pity” — was popular in Medieval and Renaissance Christian imagery.

Steven Bishop, owner of Vescovo Buonarroti Art, said that the statue’s nationwide tour is starting at the Cathedral because it is “the most beautiful cathedral in the country.”

You can read more in this week’s Catholic Spirit.

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