Published: September 19, 2011
"Mary lost her home in our chapel"
After 40-year absence, two statues of Blessed Virgin return to Catholic prep school in Ojai
Two statues of the Blessed Virgin removed during a 1970 renovation of the chapel at Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai have made it back to their Ventura County home after a 40-year sojourn that took one of them as far away as Texas.
“A pair of lovely plaster statues of the Virgin Mary that adorned the Villanova Preparatory School Chapel for many years will be re-dedicated to the school on September 15 after residing away from home for nearly 40 years,” said a notice posted on the school’s website.
"In the late '60s, after the Second Vatican Council, many churches and schools went through a renovation," the Ventura County Star quoted Fr. Gregory Heidenblut, Villanova Prep’s president, as saying at a Sept. 15 Mass and dedication ceremony in the school gymnasium. "Mary lost her home in our chapel."
One of the statues depicts the Immaculate Conception, the other the Assumption. In a statement on the school’s website, Fr. Heidenblut credits former Villanova Prep teacher Vic LeBreton and his mother, Elisa, “for caring for the Blessed Virgin and the Assumption for the past 40 years and bringing them home to Villanova."
The Villanova Prep website gives the following account of the saga of the two statues:
Early in 1970, the Chapel was being remodeled and two large statues depicting the Blessed Virgin and The Assumption were being removed. Vic LeBreton, who was on the faculty at VPS from 1969 to 1981 and living in the dorm at the time, received permission to move the statues into his living quarters for safe keeping while a new campus location could be found. LeBreton taught Spanish, ESL, Latin, speech, and started the drama department.
In 1972 LeBreton directed the play Joan of Lorraine --a dramatization of the story of Joan of Arc. The larger of the two statues was used to decorate the stage. In the 1972 yearbook, the Villanovan, is a photo of the Joan of Lorraine set -- the inside of a chapel -- and there on the altar in the set is the statue of the Immaculate Conception.
Immaculate Conception is 43 inches tall. Her hand span to the sides is 18 inches. The Assumption statue is 29 inches tall, with a smaller hand span.
In the late 1970s, LeBreton got married and prepared to move off-campus. Without a school home for the statues, he called his mother Elisa in Texas and told her about his dilemma. She agreed to keep them at her home in Texas so she could care for them until a permanent location was found at the school.
LeBreton was extremely happy that his mother was willing to support him, but wanted to keep the statue of the Assumption with him since it has become part of his life and was easier to keep, since it was the smaller of two. Shortly after Elisa had agreed to care for the statues, he "strapped" the Blessed Virgin in the front seat for the long trip to El Paso from California.
LeBreton jokes, "She (the Blessed Virgin statue) rode shotgun with me all the way to Texas. I felt safe with her strapped into her seatbelt in front."
When Elisa received the statues, she noticed that one of the thumbs had been broken, and promptly had the statue restored to its original form, LeBreton said.
Elisa was faithfully dedicated to praying the Rosary everyday with the Blessed Virgin, who was her companion until she passed away at the age of 96 in 2001. Victor remembers his mother telling him that she never felt alone because she felt the Blessed Virgin's warmth and security every day. When she passed, LeBreton drove from El Paso back to California with the Blessed Virgin statue by his side.
He waited for an opportunity to return the statues to their "rightful home" at Villanova, he said.
Soon after LeBreton asked Villanova's headmaster Fr. Walter Vogel about returning the statues. Fr. Vogel thought it was a good idea, but passed away soon after and returning of the statues never happened. In 2010 LeBreton (then for VP for Discipline & Student Activities at Providence High School in Burbank) reconnected with Villanova Headmaster Carol Hoffer at an educational event and the two began talking about having the statues returned. So at Villanova's Grandparent's Day, September 15, LeBreton again strapped the Blessed Virgin into her seatbelt to "ride shotgun" back to Ojai at her original home at Villanova.
The statues were presented to Fr. Greg Heidenblut, Villanova President, before he celebrated Mass for the entire school in the gymnasium.
"We thank Elisa and Victor for caring for the Blessed Virgin and The Assumption all these years and for bringing them home to Villanova," Heidenblut said.
"When Carol agreed to have the statues back at Villanova, part of me was sad to let them go," LeBreton said. "So many memories had been created around these statues, but it was the perfect opportunity for them to come home…"
To see more recent photos of the statues and of the dedication ceremony in the Ventura County Star, Click Here.
Forty years ago.
Today.
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