To contribute to the devotion and memory of Father Eustáquio in his country of origin, the Netherlands, family and friends of the religious figure commissioned a 2-meter-high statue to be placed in the central square of Aarle Rixtel, a district of Laarbeck, Eustáquio's hometown, located about 100 kilometers from the capital Amsterdam. The person responsible for creating this work of art is the sculptor Luiz Eduardo dos Santos, known as Edu Santos, 39 years old, from Piracicaba.

Statue of Zico, which is on display in Gávea, Rio de Janeiro.

Edu has a portfolio and experience, after all, he has already been responsible for producing pieces such as the statue of Arthur Antunes Coimbra, Zico, which is on display inside Gávea, Flamengo's headquarters in Rio de Janeiro; the relief for the crypt of Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns, in the Sé Cathedral, in the city of São Paulo; and in Piracicaba, he was responsible for the replica of Luiz Vicente de Queiroz, founder of the Higher School of Agriculture, currently administered by the University of São Paulo (USP).

But for those who think this statue of Father Eustáquio is the first, they are mistaken. In 2009, the artist delivered a statue of this same priest to the Church of the Sacred Hearts in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. “"It was my first large-scale project, and since then, I often say that Father Eustáquio has been blessing me because it opened many doors for me.", Santos said.

Statue of Father Eustáquio at the Health and Peace Sanctuary in Belo Horizonte.

The nephews of the Dutch vicar, Ian and Will van den Boomen, were responsible for giving this gift to Brazilian parishioners more than 12 years ago and now want to encourage this same devotion among the Dutch. Will says he has been working on this project for over a year and, to make it a reality, formed a group called "Friends of Eustace," which are anonymous people who contribute financially to raise funds for the work. The amount was not revealed.

The intention is that the bronze statue, which weighs 275 kilograms and is 1.98 meters high, 90 centimeters wide and 70 cm deep, will be loaded onto a ship in the port of Santos, bound for the Netherlands, where it will be on public display in the square of the Blessed Father Eustace Church. “Church attendance in the Netherlands is declining, and to promote Eustace's image and fame, we undertook this project. The initial plan was to inaugurate it on November 3rd of last year, his birthday, but the pandemic delayed those plans. Now, we are considering May 23rd, the month of Mary, which was very important to Eustace.”, "The expectation is that the ship voyage will take 32 days," explains Will.

The production

The production process involved the participation of family members and also priests from the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, who are responsible for the canonization process of Blessed Eustace van Lieshout, including the vice-postulator, Father Vinícius Maciel. The production took place at the Fundiart company, where Edu works. He was selected from among other artists by the Dutch municipality itself on July 10, 2019, and the sculptor began work immediately afterward.

First, the committee analyzed old photos of Father Eustáquio that could serve as the basis for the initial clay piece. The chosen image depicts the priest standing, holding a Bible in his left hand and simulating a light walk. In July of that year, Edu prepared a 20-centimeter miniature model, the The purpose is to evaluate the model and make minor changes and adjustments.

The nephews and Father Vinicius also attended the presentation of the miniature and suggested minor changes. “"This contact is important. I always ask him (Father Vinícius) for advice, show him some pictures, anything related to Father Eustáquio, he's the best person."”, complete.

Pandemic

The next step was to reproduce the priest's head in life-size, as faithfully as possible. For this, a more oily clay was used, which allows for better work on the richness of detail. This part of the sculpture was approved in September.

Until March 2020, production was on schedule, but with the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, work was hampered. “"I also had a suspected case, luckily I didn't catch it. With the pandemic, the company was shut down for a while. In the sector where I work, some employees got infected, so we tried to stay away from each other a bit.". Normally, a project like this takes about 60 days for model creation and approximately 40 days for casting, but it took much longer because we did it in stages, and I already had some parallel projects that I dedicated myself to.”, "The artist said. Now that the casting is complete, the material is already in the process of being exported," he added.

Click on the photos below to see the details of the artwork:

Written by Delcimar Ferreira for the newspaper: “A Tribuna Piracicabana”