Basilica to host large ‘Angels Unawares’ sculpture in August

The life-size figures of 140 people of different cultures, races, eras and ages are all huddled together tightly in a boat. There’s a Cherokee man, an African slave, a young child, a pregnant woman. The fact that they’re cast in bronze only emphasizes their expressions and postures.

And then there are the wings.

“Angels Unawares,” a 20-foot long, 3.5-ton bronze sculpture, will be situated in front of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis Aug. 1-30 for viewing as part of a U.S. tour before its final placement at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. It’s the second casting of a sculpture by Canadian, Catholic artist Timothy Schmalz that was commissioned by Pope Francis and installed in 2019 at the Vatican in St. Peter’s Square, with a smaller version installed in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The sculpture’s name comes from Hebrews 13:2: “Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.” On this point, the sculpture is not subtle. Rising from deep within the mass of people is a pair of tall, pointed wings.

Schmalz’s website says the work “interprets this belief that there is to be found the sacred in the stranger, in terms of the refugee and migrant people.”

“The work depicts migrants and refugees from all cultural and racial backgrounds and from all historic periods of time together — shoulder to shoulder on a raft or boat,” the website states. “Within this diverse crowd of people, angel wings are visible in the center, suggesting that within the migrant and refugee is the sacred.”

Since November, the sculpture has been on display in Washington, D.C., Boston, New York City, Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans and San Antonio. It will be installed permanently at Catholic University in October.

Johan van Parys, the Basilica’s director of liturgy, said he expects the sculpture to arrive at the Basilica July 30. An unveiling and blessing of the sculpture are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Aug. 1, with an opening celebration at 3 p.m. that day. Other events related to the artwork are scheduled throughout the month.

The temporary exhibition will join another cast of Schmalz’s work — a sculpture of “Homeless Jesus” the Basilica installed on its campus in 2017. Designed to prompt reflection on seeing Christ in the poor, the statue features the figure of a man lying on a park bench, wrapped in a blanket. The only visible part of his body are his feet, which bear the wounds of the Crucifixion.

A friend of van Parys, Schmalz invited the Basilica to host “Angels Unawares” during its U.S. tour. Schmalz has met virtually with the Basilica’s docents, and he plans to participate in an Aug. 17 virtual panel discussion that will include Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Cheryl Behrent, director of Sarah’s … an Oasis for Women, a ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet that serves women who are homeless, many of whom are immigrants and migrants.

Hosting the sculpture fits with the Basilica’s goals of celebrating sacred art and engaging social concerns, including complexities around migration and immigration, Basilica leaders said.

“There’s so many aspects to this that will allow us to really think about who we are, where we are, who our neighbors are,” said van Parys, noting that he feels a personal resonance with the artwork, as an immigrant to the U.S. from his native Belgium.

Janice Anderson, the Basilica’s director of Christian life, said the Basilica has accompanied people who are migrants as they make a home in the Twin Cities, and she sees “Angels Unawares” as a complement to that charitable outreach. She emphasized that it is also working with many community partners to host the artwork and offer prayer, education and other events around it.

“This whole process, the whole journey to bring it here feels like the movement of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit moves in mysterious ways,” she said. “And art touches people in mysterious ways.”

Art conveys ideas differently than lectures, conversation or reading, van Parys said. “It sits there and invites people to dialog with the sculpture, and in a softer way, I think, allowing people in their own time and at their own pace, to come to the realization of what this sculpture is all about,” he said. “It’s like rain. We need rain. We don’t need a storm, but we need a soft, constant rain that gets into the soil and will nurture the plants. Sometimes I think of lectures as a storm.”

Despite the sculpture’s social commentary, van Parys said the piece is not meant to be received as a political statement. He knows groups that plan to visit the artwork in the spirit of a pilgrimage, and he appreciates that approach.

“It’s prayerfully considering Hebrews 13:2,” he said. “There is need for political action and that sort of thing, but for us Catholics, unless we root it in prayer and in meditation and in Scripture study, then I think we lose the roots of what this is all about.”

To learn more about “Angels Unawares” and related events at the Basilica, visit mary.org.