Among the Rev. Thomas M. McGlynn, O.P. sculptures at Providence College is the fascinating bronze statue of St. Dominic Guzman. It captures a unique pose of the founder of the Order of Preachers. Father McGlynn represents the barefoot Dominic walking through thorns in Languedoc, France, on his preaching mission to the Albigensian heretics. Father McGlynn talked of this work of art: “Dominic, firm as his bronze, is moving forward, agile and serene through Languedoc, the world of his time, to praise, to bless, to preach, gripping the Gospel to his heart, with joy his answer to the malice of a guide who leads the way through thorns….”
Dominic was Father McGlynn’s last major commission. It was done in 1974 for the church of Madonna dell’Arco, some eight miles from Naples, Italy, where a General Chapter of Dominicans was being held. The bronze statue is six feet tall. A second casting was made in 1978 and donated by an anonymous benefactor to the Dominican Province of St. Joseph which, in turn, gave it to Providence College. St. Dominic now stands on a prominent overlook near Guzman Hall, alongside the site of the former Huxley Avenue extension that ran through campus.