Brother Martin sophomore Collin Cancienne '28 recently completed his Eagle Scout project by establishing a grotto at St. Angela Merici Catholic Church.

"The project began back in November when I approached my priest, Fr. Beau Charbonnet, with the idea of creating a Mary Garden for my Eagle Scout project. He was supportive of the idea, and about a week later, he came across an Our Lady of Fatima statue, along with statues of the three visionaries, at St. Clare's Monastery, which was in the process of closing. After touring the monastery, he expressed interest in acquiring the statues and asked if I could take on the task. I agreed.

It wasn’t until I visited the site that I realized the main statue weighed approximately 600 pounds. In January, after careful planning, my dad and I devised a pulley system to safely lower the statue from its pedestal onto a hand truck. With the help of a group of volunteers, we successfully transported the statue to our church using a U-Haul.

Later, in July, my dad and I spent two weeks building a sturdy pedestal to support the statue. We also began designing the surrounding garden to include the three visionary statues. On August 16, I organized a group to help construct the garden and place the Mary statue on the new pedestal. I completed the project on August 23 by installing lighting and adding finishing touches to the garden."

May God bless Collin for this work and all who gaze upon this statue of the Blessed Mother!