Diocesan News

St. Joseph Statue Comes Home to Most Precious Blood Church in Queens

December 1, 2025
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Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Raymond Chappetto, who blessed the statue and bowed his head in prayer, said Most Precious Blood Church has “brought St. Joseph back home.” (Photos: Paula Katinas)

ASTORIA — Joseph Poloso, a parishioner of Most Precious Blood Church for more than 50 years, remembers lending his baritone voice to the church choir back in the 1970s and the honor of singing at Mass. 

On Nov. 30, another honor was handed to Poloso when Father Saša Ilijić, the church’s administrator, asked him to help unveil a newly refurbished statue of St. Joseph ahead of a dedication ceremony later that day.  

“I enjoyed the moment,” Poloso said. “After all, my name is Joseph!”  

Poloso and four others — Jose Calle, Josephine Grech, Joseph Kelly and Jose Lazaro — simultaneously pulled cords to remove the sheet covering the statue as a crowd of nearly 100 people applauded.

 The statue, which depicts St. Joseph with the child Jesus, was blessed by Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Raymond Chappetto, who then celebrated Mass inside the church. 

The statue, which was part of the facade of the Sisters of St. Joseph’s convent, now has a new home near the rectory entrance of Most Precious Blood Church.

The statue has taken a circular route to Most Precious Blood, where it now stands on a pedestal in a fenced-in garden area near the rectory entrance.  

For 55 years, from 1957 to 2012, the statue was embedded in the facade of the convent across the street from the church, where the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood resided while teaching at the church’s school. When the convent closed in 2012, it was placed in storage.  

When Father Ilijić, the coordinator of the Croatian Apostolate for the Diocese of Brooklyn, learned about the statue, he decided it should return to Most Precious Blood. So, he worked with the apostolate to arrange for the statue of St. Joseph, the patron saint of Croatia, to be cleaned, refurbished, and returned to the church.  

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Most Precious Blood has a large number of Croatians, and the 11 a.m. Mass on Sundays is offered in their native language. 

“Today is a day of grace for our parish community,” Father Ilijić said, adding that in a world that often seems out of control, “St. Joseph stands before us as a reminder of God’s quiet strength and tender presence.” 

Sister Lorraine O’Neill, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, attended the statue dedication. She lived in the convent while serving as a student teacher at Most Precious Blood School in 1970 and saw the statue every day. She said she loves that future generations will have the chance to enjoy the statue.  

“I think it’s wonderful that anyone passing by, not only the people of the parish, but all the people who come to this area, will see it,” she said. 

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Sister Filippa Luciano, also of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, said it was fitting that this church, with its large Croatian population, should have a statue of St. Joseph.  

“He is the patron saint not only of our congregation of sisters but of the Croatian people,” she explained. 

Sisters Filippa Luciano (left) and Lorraine O’Neill, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, stop at the newly dedicated statue to say a prayer. Sister Filippa said she was surprised that a large crowd of nearly 100 people turned out in the rain to see the unveiling, “but of course, there is a great devotion to St. Joseph at this parish,” she explained. (Photo: Paula Katinas)

In a way, the presence of the statue of St. Joseph is a tribute to the work of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, Auxiliary Bishop Chappetto said. 

“The parish is grateful to the sisters,” he noted,” and will never forget them for what they’ve done — planting the seed of faith.”