Century-old Last Supper statue donated to Southeast's Baptist Student Center

An Italian sculpture from 1916 has found a new home on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University in its Baptist Student Center.

The alabaster sculpture, depicting Jesus Christ's Last Supper, will be installed in the main classroom of the Baptist Student Center after renovations are complete.

Jane Cooper Stacy, former director of alumni services for Southeast, now volunteers at the Baptist Student Center and was instrumental in getting the sculpture to Cape Girardeau.

She said a woman from De Soto, Missouri, approached Baptist Student Center director Bruce Gentry and asked whether the organization would be open to accepting the donation.

The woman, Cathy Campbell, was the daughter of a custodian at Webster University in Webster Groves, Missouri, and said her father had rescued the piece from being demolished along with the university chapel it adorned.

A donated Last Supper statue that will be used in the Baptist Student Center at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau.ANDREW J. WHITAKER

"He asked if he could save it, and they said 'yes,'" Stacy said. "So he went back in with his guys, and they were able to get it out without breaking it. He thought that it should belong in a museum of some kind."

Instead, it went to a church in Farmington, Missouri, for a time.

Stacy went with a team of movers to retrieve it.

"We were worried about how big it was when we got up there," she said. "But then we realized we could bring it back in a truck. I didn't ask any other questions, but when we tried to move it, we realized it weighed 900 pounds."

But with the help of a hydraulic lift, they got it back to Cape Girardeau.

A close-up of the donated Last Supper statue that will be used in the Baptist Student Center at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau.ANDREW J. WHITAKER

"We think it's just absolutely beautiful," Stacy said. "So we are remodeling the classroom so it can have a permanent rostrum for people to come in and look at it."

But the history of the piece, Stacy said, remains somewhat unclear.

Records show it was donated to Webster University in 1916 and is originally from Italy but the donor or artist are not listed.

Stacy said aside from one figurine missing a handful of fingers, the piece is in great shape.

"As the years progress, people will come in and appreciate it," she said. "It's got a religious connotation, but it's also art."

The Baptist Student Center plans to remodel the classroom around the sculpture and rename it in honor of Alton Bray, former university registrar.

"We're really known for sculptures around here, Cape is," Stacy said. "And this adds a dimension we wouldn't have had otherwise. We're really pleased with it."

tgraef@semissourian.com

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