Memorial garden creates ‘holy ground of remembrance’ for Miami priests

By Priscilla Greear - Florida Catholic

MIAMI | Archbishop Thomas Wenski blessed and rededicated the Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley Garden of Memories, a verdant sanctuary within the Pastoral Center memorializing all the priests who served in the Archdiocese of Miami since its establishment as a diocese in 1958.

The event began with a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Wenski at St. Martha Church in Miami Shores April 7, 2025, followed by the blessing of granite panels engraved with the names of deceased priests incardinated in the archdiocese since 1958. Four new granite panels were added with the names of priests who passed away from 2007 to 2023.

Also graces the garden a 10-foot-tall bronze Pieta sculpture of the Blessed Mother holding Jesus, sculpted by the renowned 20th century Croatian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic. And symbolizing religious freedom over oppression, Mestrovic’s granite bas-relief sculptures of six churchmen who opposed communism preside in the garden’s Bishops’ corner: Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty of Hungary; Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac of Yugoslavia; Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski of Poland; Archbishop Joseph Beran of Czechoslovakia; and American Maryknoll bishops Francis Ford of China and Patrick Byrne of Korea.

The archbishop said that just as Mestrovic sculpted the Pieta and the bas-reliefs to memorialize those “heroes of faith, it is fitting that we also memorialize our priests as well. And I’ve been around this archdiocese long enough to have known almost all of the priests listed on that wall. Hopefully, the wall will remind us to pray for them,” he told the Pastoral Center staff present.

He then sprinkled holy water around the garden and thanked God for the priests who have faithfully served the Church in South Florida. “They have preached your word, celebrated the sacraments and dedicated themselves to the care of souls,” he said.

“May this garden be a holy ground of remembrance and peace where all who enter will feel your presence just as these priests have sown the seeds of faith in our hearts. May this garden through the fruits of their labor be a place of reflection, hope and prayer.”

He also prayed for the priests’ eternal rest. “May they enjoy the reward of faithful service and may their memory continue to inspire future generations to follow in their footsteps of devotion and love.” 

The Pieta was commissioned in the 1940s by Archbishop Hurley of the Diocese of St. Augustine (then covering all of Florida) and cast in 1955 in Naples, Italy. Archbishop Hurley met the sculptor Mestrovic when he served as the Holy Father’s representative in Yugoslavia, enabling him to attend the trial of Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac, persecuted and imprisoned by the Communist regime for treason.

Upon arrival in South Florida, the Pieta first stood at Immaculata-La Salle High School, then next door at Mercy Hospital. After the sculpture began to show damage from the salt air, it was moved to Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery in Doral, where it remained until the Pastoral Center was completed in 1983. The Pieta faces Biscayne Boulevard at 94th Street where the Pastoral Center is located. Mestrovic also created the 20-foot mahogany crucifix at Corpus Christi Church in Miami. He died in 1962 in South Bend, Indiana, where he was a professor at the University of Notre Dame.

Archbishop Wenski said that Archbishop Hurley attended the trial of Cardinal Stepinac “and was the only one who stood up when the cardinal was brought into the courtroom. He had firsthand experience of what communism was doing to Europe during the ’50s. He had Mestrovic make these relief portraits of persecuted bishops,” he said.

“The pieta and these reliefs were originally meant to remember the victims of communism and not a few of the priests on these walls were also victims of communism — exiled from Cuba.”

Sister Elizabeth Worley, chancellor for administration and chief operating officer of the Archdiocese of Miami, conceived the project to update the garden. Planners ordered new granite panels from Europe for the second wall to match the original granite wall and relocated three of the bas-relief bishop sculptures from the second wall over to the Bishops’ corner alongside the other three bas-reliefs. The installation of the new granite panels was overseen by Florida Lemark Corporation.

She worked with project donor JV Landscaping to add a diverse array of resilient greenery, from artillery ferns to an orchid tree and terrestrial orchids, with new stone trim framing some foliage beds.

The archdiocese plans to update the granite walls each year with the engraved names of priests who have passed away. “It was clean up, catch up and make it a sacred space. It honors our deceased with some color, some creativity in the planting,” Sister Worley said. “I’ve been in the archdiocese for 55 years. I know many of these names. May they rest in peace, good men. It’s a fitting way to commemorate our deceased priests of the archdiocese. They’ve served in parishes all over the archdiocese.”

David Prada, senior director of the Office of Building and Property of the archdiocese, who oversaw the project, appreciates the peaceful ambience in the artistic garden. “The environment is just beautiful between the plants, the sculpture and the art,” he said. “It provides perspective.”