An Australian Catholic school has been left repenting after a half-baked idea for a statue has caused uproar and hilarity on social media.
A statue of Saint Martin de Porres was erected and unveiled by Blackfriars Priory School in Adelaide late last week, depicting the religious figure handing a young boy a loaf of bread.
However, the so-called staff of life, which appears to be protruding from the saint’s cloak, has provided more than just spiritual nourishment – it’s sparked a viral sensation of biblical proportions for the local community.
”@ShitAdelaideThe unfortunately placed baguette and the kneeling youngster have sparked the imaginations of many and conjured up a rather less wholesome image than intended by the inner-city school, which teaches boys from nursery up to year 12.
Some feel the statue has ‘brought a whole new meaning to the phrase bread stick’, while another online user wrote, [this marks] ‘the first time bread has been unappealing to me in in my whole life’.
Another alluded to the sexual nature of the statue and the history of the Catholic Church, adding:
They did have a bit of an issue with this kind of stuff back in the day. I’m sure they don’t want to remind anyone?
Posted by Blackfriars Priory School on Thursday, 4 July 2013
Pictures of the statue have been shared on social media on the @ShitAdelaide Instagram page and have since attracted thousands of likes and comments.
The photograph was uploaded and captioned:
Our friends over at Blackfriars Priory School this week unveiled a new statue… it has since been covered with a black sheet and we understand that a meeting will take place to discuss the future of the installation…
#stillbetterthanrundlemall #adelaide #sagreat #shitadelaide
The school have since been forced to cover the statue with a black cloth and even cordon off the whole area outside one school entrance.
Things took a dark turn when one observer wrote:
Covering it up just like everything else at that school…
On a lighter note, others took the incident as the perfect opportunity for a PhotoShop battle.
Principal Simon Cobiac released a statement on Facebook saying the sculpture was designed in Vietnam by the same sculptor used to create another statue in the school:
The two-dimensional concept plans for the statue were viewed and approved by the executive team in May but upon arrival the three-dimensional statue was deemed by the executive to be potentially suggestive.
As a consequence, the statue was immediately covered and a local sculptor has been commissioned to re-design it.
The school apologises for any concerns and publicity generated by this matter and is taking action to substantially alter the statue.
You may have seen media reports today of the recent placement of a statue of St Martin de Porres in the St Martin de…
Posted by Blackfriars Priory School on Tuesday, 21 November 2017
The controversy follows the school making headlines last week for one of its Year 12 students being behind a hoax letter telling his peers they would have to resit their biology exam, the Adelaide Advertiser reports.
The letter, circulated on Facebook with a SACE Board letterhead, falsely claiming there had been a ‘significant breach in the integrity’ of the exam sat by 3645 students across the state.
Inevitably, people are overjoyed at the opportunity to PhotoShop equally inappropriately phallic-shaped foods onto the bread roll to help Blackfriars Priory out.
After a pretty bad run, here’s praying the boys’ school can make it to Christmas – or at least Sunday Service without making headlines again.
Just goes to show, thou really, really shouldn’t worship icons.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.