Restored artwork from the Cathedral of the Madeleine lifts the Soaring Eagle spirit

Intermountain Catholic

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Dr. Galey Colosimo, principal of Juan Diego Catholic High School, stands in front of three pieces of art from the school’s collection. From left are an 1875 copy of Rafael’s Madonna of the Chair, a Diomede della Bruna

DRAPER – In 1925, the second bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City traveled to Europe on a quest to bring back artisans and art to beautify the Cathedral of the Madeleine. Bishop Joseph S. Glass did just that, returning to Utah with, among other things, 50 paintings.

In the 70 years since then, pieces of that collection have changed hands, but some are making their way back to diocesan institutions. During Monday’s Spiritus Donorum dinner, Dr. Galey Colosimo, principal of Juan Diego Catholic High School, told the story of how two such pieces have found a home at the school.

"We have a certain attraction or affiliation to our cathedral and over the years we’ve been able to through various ways – dumb luck and providence and grace of God and serendipity – we’ve been able to acquire bits and pieces of artifacts from the cathedral," Colosimo said.

One of the pieces, a copy of the Titian masterpiece Madonna and Child with the Young St. John the Baptist, was done by the Tuscan artist Diomede della Bruna.

"He was a great artist in his own right…but he wasn’t great enough to do his own thing," Colosimo said.

Della Bruna’s copy that now belongs to the school once was owned by the Medici family, Colosimo said. It was given to the school by an anonymous donor a couple of years ago. The frame was recently replaced and the painting now hangs in the school’s boardroom.

The smaller painting also is a copy, this one of Rafael’s Madonna of the Chair. The copyist is unknown, but it was done in 1875. Bishop Glass brought it to Utah in 1925. In 2001, Colosimo got a call from a lawyer friend who was settling an estate. The valuable property had been sold, but the painting, which was partially covered by gold aluminum foil, remained. Colosimo went to look at it, he said, and "I was like, ‘OK, it’s a religious painting, I’ll take it. Thank you very much.’"

He brought it back and, as part of the cleaning process, had it appraised. "The appraisal came back, and it was ‘You know, you probably ought to bolt that thing down because it’s pretty valuable,’" Colosimo said. The painting now is displayed across from Student Services.

Another piece of art on display at the 11th annual Spiritus Donorum dinner was a cathedra (bishop’s chair) that had been in the Cathedral of the Madeleine from 1909 until the renovation in 1992. After the renovation, the cathedra was donated to the school. Colosimo had it repaired and added the crest of Bishop Lawrence Scanlan, the diocese’s first bishop.

"A whole series of bishops used this chair," Colosimo said; the cathedra sits inside the school’s front door. "The cathedra in our diocesan history are important. They represent beauty, they represent the seat of our church. We want a connection to the mother Church. The cathedral is there to remind us of our connection to the bishop and his connection to the pope and the church’s connection to Christ as the founder of our Church."