Memorial statues: remembering someone in prayer

Catholics do not only remember the dead; we pray for them. November is the month of the Holy Souls, beginning with All Souls’ Day on 2 November, and in Ireland the custom runs right through the year — Masses offered on anniversaries, Cemetery Sunday, a candle lit at home.

A statue gives that prayer a place. A small Our Lady beside a photograph on the sideboard. The Sacred Heart where the person used to sit. The Good Shepherd at the end of the garden, with a bench where a widow or widower can sit in the evening. It is not a shrine to the person; it points beyond them, to the One we trust them to.

A statue is also a kind gift to a bereaved family. Weeks after the funeral, when the cards have stopped, a statue arriving at the door says: we are still thinking of you, and we are praying for them.

In the house. Hand-painted resin is ideal indoors: it carries colour, it is lighter, and it sits well on a sideboard next to a photograph. Most families who want a quiet place to pray choose this.

In the garden. Marble suits a garden memorial, set on a level, firm base where it will not rock. Choose a spot you can see from the house, and if you can, put a seat near it. Our page on garden statues goes into placing a statue outdoors in an Irish climate.

At the grave. Many cemeteries and parishes have their own rules about what may be placed on a grave — size, material, whether anything can stand on the kerbing or only on the headstone. Check with the cemetery or the parish before you order, and send us the measurements you are allowed; we will help you find something that fits.