Works of Art in the Church of Mary Immaculate

Works of Art in the Church

The Greco Roman interior of the Church is dominated by beautiful murals. Many people, just by sitting in the church and reflecting on the murals, have found their way back to God.

The seven great paintings depicts the Franciscan Crown (or Rosary) of the Seven Joys of Our Lady. Devotion to the Joys of Our Lady flourished in the Franciscan Order from its earliest days and is represented within the Order over the centuries by a number of such crowns of varying form.

By happy coincidence the design of Mary Immaculate, with its three bays on either side of the nave and its blind rear wall to the sanctuary, proved an ideal setting for depicting the seven decade Franciscan Crown. The Joys commemorated in the Crown are:

The Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel to Mary
Mary's visit to her cousin Elizabeth
Jesus' birth at Bethlehem
The Adoration of the Magi
The Finding of the Boy Jesus in the Temple
Jesus' Resurrection and Appearance to His Mother
The Assumption and Coronation of Our Lady in Heaven.

The structure of the Franciscan Crown is seven decades on the above seven themes. Each decade is of one Our Father and ten Hail Marys. Following the final decade there are two additional Hail Marys to total the seventy-two years that Our Lady is believed to have lived. The Crown concludes with an Our Father and Hail Mary for the Pope's intentions.

A stunning Antonian mosaic covers the rear wall of the shrine of St. Anthony on the east side of the Church. The artist was Stephen Moor of "Ars Sacra" Studios for Religious Art in Burwood, NSW. The actual work - especially the mosaic - was done by the two Melocco Brothers artisans Franco Collusi and Aldo Rossi.