«Pillar of Light»
Before the Image of the
“Victress” in the Adoration Church
ORIGIN
In 1957, the General Leadership of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary made a promise to erect a Pillar of Thanksgiving and Victory in honor of the Blessed Mother, in connection with the Adoration Church. It was to be an expression of gratitude for the protection they had experienced and a sign of their unwavering trust.
This promise was made against the backdrop of the Cold War and the difficult situation in which Schoenstatt and the Sisters of Mary found themselves during the exile of the Founder (1951–1965).
Over the centuries, many cities—and, more recently, numerous Schoenstatt centers—have erected similar pillars, usually crowned with a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The question of how best to fulfill the promise from 1957 remained under consideration for many years.
The result is this Pillar of Light before the image of the Thrice Admirable Mother, Queen and Victress in the Adoration Church.
Beyond its historical significance, it is also
A MEMORIAL OF GRATITUDE
for the blessed history of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary over one hundred years:
1926–2026
Design and Production
María Jesús Fernández Ortiz, 2026
The Symbolism of the Pillar of Light
Material and Basic Concept
The candlestick and base are cast from a light-colored bronze alloy; the lamp itself is crafted from translucent white alabaster. Rather than communicating through individual symbols alone, the entire lampstand bears witness to our experience and our confidence: Mary is the light of our hope.
THE BASE
The base is fundamentally square, with an inset circle. These two forms symbolize the earthly (the four cardinal directions) and the divine (eternity without beginning or end), nature and grace.
The divine enters into the earthly dimension: the Son of God becomes man, and we are taken into his divine sonship.
Within the circular recess are four different kinds of small stones from places that represent the fundamental sources from which Schoenstatt draws its life:
- Marble from the same quarry that supplied the stone pavement (Lithostrotos) at the site of Pilate’s judgment in Jerusalem (John 19:13), where Christ began his way of suffering through which he established the new and eternal covenant in his blood.
- Basalt from the foundation of the Original Shrine.
- Tuff stone from the Founder Chapel.
- Slate from the floor of the Adoration Church.
Two interwoven rings symbolize God’s covenant in salvation history and its concrete expression in our Covenant of Love with the Thrice Admirable Mother (MTA) of Schoenstatt.
INSCRIPTION: FIAT MARIA
Fiat! (Latin: Let it be or Let there be.)
This is the word of the beginning.
It “belongs both to the creation of the world and to the history of salvation. At the beginning of creation God said: ‘Let there be light!’ and there was light. At the beginning of salvation history he said: ‘Let there be Mary!’ and there was Mary!” (Fr. Joseph Kentenich)
Fiat is also Mary’s response to the angel’s message at the Annunciation.
Her yes made possible the great new beginning in the history of humanity and has become a light of hope for every person.
Fiat Maria is both vocation and mission:
“The meaning of our Marian being—our Schoenstatt being—is simply this: to become Mary. This is the great process of becoming, the Marian transformation of our lives.”
— Fr. Joseph Kentenich
THE COLUMN
Lilies, roses, and violets adorn the lower part of the column as symbols of Paradise restored in Mary, the Immaculate One.
They recall the ideal that the Founder of the community and the Schoenstatt Movement gave us: that it should become a Garden of God, a Garden of Mary—a place where free persons can grow and flourish, who, like Mary, bear Christ into the world in the power of the Holy Spirit and renew it in the spirit of the Gospel.
Ladder
Within the shaft of the column, “ladder to heaven” (cf. Genesis 28:11–19) rise dynamically upward.
They symbolize the path along which God leads every person and every community through a dramatic history, suggested by the various notches carved into the column.
Parts of this upward journey are marked by pieces of blue enamel, expressing Marian dynamism.
Like Mary, we hold fast in trusting faith in Divine Providence:
“For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)
God’s ways always lead toward the light.
Crown of Stars
Near the top of the Pillar of Light appears the crown of stars of the Blessed Mother.
She is the great sign in heaven (Revelation 12:1), the woman who brings Christ—the Victor over death and the devil—to humanity.
The Light Glass
Crafted from translucent, finely polished alabaster.
The light shining through the stone was taken from the Original Shrine, carried to the Founder’s Tomb, and from there, this Pillar of Light was ignited. It is intended to burn continuously.
It is a sign of the light and fire of the Holy Spirit and of the charism bestowed through Father Kentenich.
It expresses both the gift and the mission of the Schoenstatt Movement today and tomorrow:
LIKE MARY, TO BE A LIGHT OF HOPE FOR MANY.