Recalling the skill of a Benedictine sculptor

An annual service of devotion to ‘Our Lady of Pew’ took place at Westminster Abbey in July. The Chapel of ‘Our Lady of Pew’ features a beautiful statue created by a Benedictine nun of Minster Abbey in Kent.

The late Sister Concordia Scott OSB

(Copyright:Dean and Chapter of Westminster)

Sister Concordia Scott OSB sculpted the fine alabaster statue of the Virgin and Child in the niche of the Chapel. It took 14 months to complete and was placed there in May 1971.

The original statue that was there disappeared centuries ago. The design of the 20th-century piece was inspired by a 15th-century English alabaster Madonna at Westminster Cathedral.

Sister Concordia Scott (1924 – 2014) was Prioress of the Minster Abbey community from 1984-1999.

Her commissioned works included statues for Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral, Coventry Cathedral and the National Shrine of Wales as well as numerous sculptures currently in Europe and the United States of America.

The Society of Our Lady of Pew venerates the Blessed Virgin Mary and regularly holds services and retreats in Westminster Abbey.

This small chapel hollowed out of the thickness of the wall between two chapels off the north ambulatory was originally a self-contained 14th-century rectangular recessed chapel, but it now forms part of the entrance to the Chapel of St John the Baptist. The term 'Pew' refers to a small enclosure or chapel.