Sixty-six artists bid for the commissioned project. Only seven were selected to create models to be reviewed by the Hawaiʻi State Statuary Hall Commission. Marisol Escobar, a New York City sculptor, won the bid. Commission members favored the contemporary feel and look of the Escobar design as opposed to the classical representations of Father Damien that others submitted. Taking into consideration of Father Damien's work as a carpenter, Escobar created her initial model in wood. She made another model in plaster from which the bronze cast would be created. Unfortunately, the plaster model was broken during shipping to the foundry in Viareggio, Italy. A second plaster model was shipped and was lost. Eerily, the Kamehameha Statue commissioned by King David Kalākaua, the other most sacred of statues in Hawaiʻi, was also lost during travel. Escobar finally sent a wax mold to the foundry.
Father Damien Day
The official unveiling of the Father Damien Statue took place in the United States Capitol Rotunda on Father Damien Day, April 15, 1969 alongside a reproduction of the Kamehameha Statue. Hawaiʻi celebrates Father Damien Day annually, created by an act of the Hawaiʻi State Legislature. On that day, the statue in Honolulu is ceremoniously draped in lei followed by solemn song and prayer. In Catholicism, Father Damien is the spiritual patron of the outcast and those afflicted with AIDS and HIV. He has also been beatified, granted the title of Blessed Damien of Molokaʻi, and awaits sainthood.
