An unidentified vigilante sawed off the head of a provocative sculpture of the Virgin Mary in the act of giving birth to Jesus that had been exhibited in the Catholic cathedral in the Austrian city of Linz.
According to the sculpture’s creator, Esther Strauß, the work titled “Crowning” was meant to address “the gap in the birth of Christ from a feminist perspective” by showing Mary in the very act of giving birth.
The sculpture, which had provoked consternation among conservative Catholics who saw it as blasphemous, had been on view at the St. Mary Cathedral, as part of an art exhibition on women’s roles and gender equality.
Mary was presented naked from the waist down with her head back and an expression of anguish on her face. Photos posted on the Cathedral website discreetly avoided a full-frontal perspective of the work, presumably to avoid offending the sensibilities of the faithful.
While the identity of the vandal is not publicly known, Alexander Tschugguel, an Austrian Catholic who famously removed “Pachamama” statuettes from a Rome church during the Vatican’s 2019 Amazon synod and threw them into the Tiber River, praised the “unknown Catholic hero” who destroyed the “blasphemous” work.
On Tuesday, Tschugguel revealed that the “Hero of Linz” had contacted him, telling him, “I did it first and foremost for the Mother of God!”
File/A Amazonian indigenous statue of a pregnant woman is seen as participants in the Amazon synod, attend the opening prayer in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. Vandals have beheaded a sculpture featuring the Virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus that had been exhibited in the cathedral in the Austrian city of Linz and drawn criticism from some traditionalist Catholics who said it was blasphemous. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
In a statement posted by Tschugguel, the perpetrator of the act said that when repeated efforts to contact Church officials fell on deaf ears he felt obliged to take action himself, asserting that “in view of this abominable and blasphemous caricature, urgent and decisive action was required!”
Without the head and halo, he stated, “there could no longer be any question of a caricature of our Virgin Mary.”
“In the end, the sculpture was just an immoral, tasteless statue without a head, which effectively ended the blasphemy and defamation of our Blessed Mother,” he added.
The episcopal vicar for education, art, and culture in the Linz diocese, Father Johann Hintermaier, defended the work and condemned the vandalism.
“We were aware that we were also provoking debate with this installation,” he said. “If we have hurt people’s religious feelings, we are sorry, but I strongly condemn this violent act of destruction, the refusal to engage in dialog and the attack on the freedom of art.”
Esther Strauß, the work’s creator, joined in the condemnation.
“Whoever removed the head from the sculpture was very brutal,” Strauß said. “For me, this violence is an expression of the fact that there are still people who question women’s right to their own bodies. We have to take a very firm stance against this.”