Oakland is approximately 2.2 miles from downtown Pittsburgh. It was previously named this because the property held many oak trees. It began to flourish after Andrew Carnegie built the library, museum, and concert hall. The Western University of Pennsylvania relocated to Oakland in 1907 and became The University of Pittsburgh. Soldiers and Sailors, Forbes Field, and numerous hospitals took up residence in Oakland. The Cathedral of Learning was under construction in 1925, which at this time was the largest educational structure in the world (Alliance).
Among the obvious landmarks is an inconspicuous shrine that holds much significance for some Pittsburgh Catholics. Oakland is one of the most ethnically mixed areas in Pittsburgh. Consisting of mainly Italians, Blacks, Jews, Syrians, and of course college students, there are many different cultures represented here today, over 88 foreign countries in total. For the purpose of this post we will focus on the Italians and their culture and quirks. One of these quirks are constructing shrines of worship in their yards.
The Shrine was built in the backyard of a dilapidated, run down area of Wakefield Street in South Oakland by a woman named Sophia Tolma. Legend has it that one night while lying in bed, the Blessed Mother came to Sophia and said she was going to meet a man, a man with fingers missing from his hand. Stricken ill, Sophia was hospitalized, but in that brief hospital stay was where she met the man with the missing fingers. That man, Phillip, was visiting Sophia’s roommate, and during conversation that is when Sophia noticed the missing fingers. The two shared their stories of their visions of the Blessed Mother and what needed to be done to honor their lady. After recovering from her illness, Sophia and Phillip embarked on their journey to find the perfect spot for the shrine. Miraculously, the statue planted itself where it stands today, in the spot where Sophia and Phillip could not agree upon placement of the concrete symbol, The Blessed Mother.
Growing up in an Italian American family, shrines like this are not odd to me, they are just the opposite. They bring a feeling of safety and comfort, like a little piece of home away from home. As a child, this was a common site, having a Blessed Mother shrine in your front or backyard was as common as having a mailbox on your house. My grandmother had a Blessed Mother shrine in her back yard with a brick grotto constructed around her, like the one in the picture. The Roman Catholics believe that the Blessed Mothers birthday is September 8th, which is also my birthday, so every September 8th I would bring the virgin Mary flowers to honor and show appreciation to my guardian mother. This is something I still practice today, the location may be different due to the fact that my grandmother grew ill and had to move into a smaller house, but the concept and the value still remains the same today as it did when I was a little girl. Most of the time the statues survive even after the owners die or move away.
Italian Catholics are very visual in their religious practices. We believe displaying the Madonna is a way to honor and show love to our mother. The Virgin is the main mediator with her son, and when the going gets tough and you need special reinforcements, you go to the Blessed Mother. When the Blessed Mother has answered your prayers or requests, you honor her with gifts of flowers, jewels, and money to say thank you.
In 2007, I underwent major intestinal surgery where I had found myself knocking on death's door. My surgery was a success, but my body began rejecting everything the doctors had just corrected and my internal organs began to shut down. My surgeon knew how severe my condition was and asked my mother if she would like me to have the sacrament of last rights. In the midst of floating in and out of consciousness, I heard my mother talking, she said “I want to know why your son wants my daughter more than I want her here with me on this earth? And as a mother how are you OK with giving up your only son? Tell me? I cannot accept this, how were you OK with this because I am not!” It was months later after I began recovering when I recalled this incident and asked my mother about it. I asked her who she was talking to that night in the hospital, and her reply was Mary, so I asked her why, and she simply said because she is a mother and that is the bond we share. She said she bypassed Jesus, God, and anyone else that night and went straight to the Blessed Mother for answers.
Edward Soja’s theory in Thirdspace consists of three parts, each part building off the previous and having affects on the other categories. First Space is what is perceived, what is real and tangible, what we call reality and exists. First space is physical space, and spaces are measurable and mappable. Second Space is conceived, what is imaginary space, something that is conceived or imagined. The second space is a mental or conceived space which comes from our thinking and ideas. The second space is ideology/conceptual and it is also known as mental space. For example, the second space will explain the behaviors of people from different social class and the social segregation among the Italian Catholics and the rest of the world. Third Space is lived, it is a social space/lived space which is a social product that is a space created by society under oppression or marginalization that want to reclaim the space of inequality and make it into something else. Space that refers to the process whereby the images has produced new kind of space. The images may be in different form and shape; ranging from painting to photograph, from portrait to post card, and from religious theme to entertainment. Nowadays, we are highly influenced by images in many ways and these certain images can tell us new social and cultures values, or something new about how we see the world. Images, symbols and sign do have some kind of spatial expression. It is how we use our space, it combines the real and imagined, which builds off of First Space and Second Space. The Shrine of the Blessed Mother captures all three of Soja’s spaces. Space is the social space in which we live and create relationships with other people, societies and surroundings. Space is an outcome of the hard and continuous work of building up and maintaining collectives by bringing different things into alignments. All kinds of different spaces can and therefore do exist which may or may not relate to each other. Thus, through space, we can understand more about social action. Spacing refers to the act of placing or the state of being placed of social goods and people in places.
It does not matter if the place of worship is a typical church structure. All that does matter is the value lies in what is important to yourself and what beliefs you put into those prayers and symbols. You can pray to a concrete structure in a dark, damp basement or in the backyard of a declining neighborhood, the importance of the belief of the prayers being heard are greater than the location of the place of worship. Just because you are not in your ritualistic church setting does not mean your prayers hold less value, most of your sinners attend their weekly mass as an act of their good duty for the week and live life completely heathenistic the rest of the week. Your relationship with your god should not be measured on attendance or how much money goes into the basket on Sunday, it is something that should be held near and dear to your heart. The relationship with what you choose to worship is just that: your relationship. No matter where you are at, or what you do, God, the Blessed Mother, all the angels and saints are always with you to watch over you and protect you in your time of need.
Works Cited
Sheldrake, Philip. “Placing the Sacred: Transcendence and the City.” Literature and Theology, 21. 3. Oxford University Press, 2007. Web. Accessed 16 September 2015.
Soja, Edward. Thirdspace: Journeys to Lost Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. Cambridge : Blackwell Publishing Inc., 1996. Print.