Quincy argues in front of SJC to install Catholic patron saint statues

“In this country, public art doesn’t become off-limits just because it may make some people think about religion.”

Models of statues that are proposed to be situated outside of the new public safety headquarters in Quincy. (Office of Mayor Thomas Koch)

The state’s highest court heard oral arguments Wednesday in the City of Quincy’s appeal to install two 10-foot, bronze statues of Catholic patron saints in front of the city’s new police and fire building.

Oral arguments began Wednesday, according to the Supreme Judicial Court’s docket, with the American Civil Liberties Union representing more than a dozen residents, and law firm the Becket Fund representing the city.

Arguments began with a tense exchange, The Boston Globe reported, between Justice Gabrielle Wolohojian and Becket senior counsel Joseph Davis. Davis claimed there’s precedent for Quincy installing the statues – St. Michael the Archangel and St. Florian, the patron saints of police and firefighters, respectively.

Wolohojian asked how many police and fire departments in Massachusetts have statues out front of either saint, and Davis cited statues in front of departments in New York City, Los Angeles, and Bristol, Connecticut, per the Globe.

“Okay, so not in Massachusetts, and you’ve come up with three out of the probably hundreds of thousands of police and fire department buildings in the country,” Wolohojian said, according to the Globe.

The SJC took up the case after a Norfolk Superior Court judge halted the installation of the statues last fall, ruling their religious significance is “undisputed” and likely violates the state’s Declaration of Rights.

The plans to install St. Michael and St. Florian statues were first widely reported by the Patriot Ledger last year after Mayor Thomas Koch made the decision to commission the artworks. Quincy City councilors were reportedly not aware of the statues.

While Koch defended the plans as “beautiful public art,” the ACLU called on Quincy officials to “cancel” the plans and filed a lawsuit on behalf of 15 residents. Conevery Bolton Valencius, a Quincy resident and plaintiff on the case, said she is against the statues as a Christian.

“My faith is at the center of my life. If the government lifts up one religion over others, then no one’s faith is safe,” Bolton Valencius said in a statement through the ACLU. “All of us deserve the freedom to follow where our faith leads — or to have no faith at all.”

The city argues the statues honor first responders.

“For generations, Florian’s legacy has inspired the brave men and women who run toward danger when others need help,” Quincy Firefighters Local 792 President Tom Bowes said in a statement through Becket. “We hope the court allows Quincy to honor that tradition and the first responders who live it every day.”

Representing the city, Davis of Becket pointed out the “deeply ironic” “statue of Moses and other symbols with religious roots” in the courthouse where the case was being argued.

“That courthouse art is not unconstitutional, and neither are Quincy’s statues,” Davis said in a statement. “In this country, public art doesn’t become off-limits just because it may make some people think about religion. We’re confident the justices will apply that common-sense rule here and let Quincy pay tribute to its firefighters and police.”