ORANJESTAD – The ongoing restoration of the St. Eustatius Roman Catholic Church reached a new milestone with the installation of a set of terracotta Stations of the Cross that had been waiting for fourteen years to be put on the church’s walls. 

The set of fourteen stations, made by a Dutch artist, were a gift to the church organized by Mrs. Elly Hellebrand who was an active member of the church of St. Eustatius and a valued singer in the choir when the family lived on Statia. Her son, current Second Chamber candidate for the BBB party Walter Hellebrand, facilitated the funding for the restoration of the church while he was Director of Monuments in St. Eustatius.

Stations of the Cross in Roman Catholic churches depict fourteen moments of the passion and death of Jesus Christ. The church of Mrs. Hellebrand’s parish in her current hometown in the Netherlands was being pulled down, and she decided the stations would make a great asset for the church of her former parish on St. Eustatius. They are made from terracotta (a kind of ceramic material) and cannot be damaged by the climate or insects, and are therefore perfect for Statia’s church.

The stations were created by Dutch artist Ulrich Manders who received the inspiration to make them when he was told that because of his illness he did not have long left to live. Mrs. Hellebrand contacted her friend on Statia, the late Elisabeth Berkel, and together they arranged for the works of art to be shipped to Statia.  

Loan

The church was included – along with the 18^th century building of the former daycare center next to the church – in the Monuments Inventory that was put together by Hellebrand, and presented to the Government of Statia in 2009. In 2011, when he was Monuments Director on the island, Hellebrand listed them amongst the first registered monuments of St. Eustatius. In the latter capacity, in 2018 Hellebrand also organized the application for a restoration loan for the church from the revolving fund of the National Restoration Fund. This loan is now being used and the grand opening of the restored church is scheduled for December 3rd with the bishop attending for the accession.