St. Anne

St. Anne Catholic Elementary School celebrated 40 years of Catholic Education in the year 2008.

History of Catholic Education at Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board

Information about the statue of St. Anne and the Blessed Virgin Mary located at the entrance to our school.

St. Anne, the Mother of Our Blessed Lady has been sculpted in the tradition of Roman Catholic art. St. Anne is cast in her maternal roles, teaching the young girl Mary, the sacred scriptures and guiding her with firm care. Mary’s sense of a special call to give herself to the Father is seen in her expression both of peace and willingness to serve. St. Anne’s serene expression reveals her desire to protect Mary and to see her happy in her vocation.

These two figures were sculpted from a single white pine log. The log is approximately 180 years old and comes from the State of Maine via the Province of Quebec. The statue measures 1.68m in height and 0.7m in diameter. The sculptor, Donald Anthony Picone, born in Dundas Ontario of Italian descent, was twenty seven years old. Mr. Picone studied wood sculpting in St. Jean-Port-Joli, Quebec.

Initial work began on this statue with the modeling of a clay miniature in November of 1981. After the submitted pine model was accepted in late December, work on the final design began in January of 1982. The statue was completed in May, the month of Our Lady, 1982. It has been finished with a special blend of natural bees wax to protect the wood as it ages. The statue was blessed on Saturday, February 5, 1983, following the evening mass by Archbishop Pocock at St. Anne church.

In 1990, the statue left St. Anne’s church and given as a gift to the newly formed St. Jerome’s Parish. At the beginning of 2005, the statue returned to St. Anne’s Parish and was then gifted to St. Anne School. The statue was refurbished and arrived at the school in May of 2005.