First Posted: 9/25/2014
If you’e driven along North Main Street at some point, you’ve probably seen the Blessed Mother statue.
The statue at 79 N. Main St. has been around for nearly 25 years and was formally dedicated on Oct. 1, 1989. It came to the area, thanks to Pittston’s own Josephine Sauter.
A special blessing of the rosaries will be held at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 4 at the statue in celebration of the its 25 years in Pittston, and Sauter wishes for as many people to attend as possible.
A retired garment industry worker, Sauter had the statue erected as a means to get her through one of the most difficult challenges in her life – battling cancer.
“I had cancer,” said Sauter. “I was in my 40s and they gave me three months to live. My husband (Jerry) and I decided to take a trip to Lourdes, France to see Our Lady of Lourdes statue. When I came back from there, I promised Our Lady that I would build a (shrine) for all the cancer people. I dedicated it to everybody who had cancer.”
Sauter was diagnosed in 1984 and refusedtreatment, putting everything she had into her faith.
Faith was all she needed as she was declared cancer free one year later.
The Blessed Mother statue was erected four years after Sauter was in remission, but that did not diminish any motivation she had for keeping it safe and letting people with cancer know that the Blessed Mother was there to watch over them in their time of need.
To this day, Sauter and her husband tend to the statue by cleaning it, planting flowers and anything else to keep it looking good.
The last 25 years, though, have not all been fun as the statue was stolen in August 1990. It was found a few days later not far from its pedestal with its left hand broken and thumb missing but was easily repaired. Sauter did not press charges against the vandals and said it wasn’t the last time anyone damaged with the statue.
“Every seven years we had to redo it because the kids would destroy it,” said Sauter. “They’d take the lights, they’d take the fence, they’d rip things apart, steal things from Our Lady and would take everything. Every seven years, we’d have to do that.”
Sauter said if not for the donations of the people in the Greater Pittston area and those who have traveled from other places to see the statue, keeping it around for the past 25 years would have been no easy task.
It may not even be around at all.
She is forever thankful to everyone who has helped keep the statue up by donating anything they can and encourages people to keep donating and saying blessings for those struggling from cancer. E
“If it wasn’t for the people that kept the donations, I would have never been able to keep the (statue) going for 25 years,” said Sauter.” I want to thank all of the people for donations and, if you find it in your heart, you can keep sending donations to me to keep it up for the rest of my life. If anyone wants to send flowers to the celebration for the 25th, you’re welcome to it. I thank you so much for all of you help, and God bless.”
