There are two statues of St. Martin de Porres on the Providence College campus. One seven-foot bronze statue is located in front of Martin Hall. A second smaller bronze stands in the Rev. Thomas M. McGlynn, O.P. Sculpture Court at a koi pool near the art department exhibition hall.
Father McGlynn, was ordained a Dominican priest in 1932 and soon was sent to study sculpture in Rome. His artistic ability is evident in the number of his creations. His priestly ministry at different times moved him to direct an interracial center for poor African Americans in Chicago, to become an unofficial chaplain to prisoners in an Italian jail, and to work for death row inmates in a Louisiana prison. After a short stay at Providence College, he moved to Pietra Santa, Italy, to create a statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which is on the façade of the basilica there in Portugal. Father McGlynn interviewed Sister Lucy, one of the visionary children, to capture the authentic vision she saw of Our Lady.
The figure of St. Martin de Porres at Providence College is the second casting of the figure. The saint is shown grasping a crucifix in his hand and a broom at his side. Father McGlynn had great devotion to St. Martin, his Dominican brother, and in his ministry tried to imitate Martin’s concern for peoples unjustly treated.