Sister Concordia Scott (1924 – 2014) was a Scottish sculptor and

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is ...

, of the

Minster Abbey Minster may refer to: *Minster (church), an honorific title given to particular churches in England Places England *Minster, Swale (or Minster-in-Sheppey), a town in Swale, Kent **Minster-on-Sea, the civil parish *Minster-in-Thanet, a village ...

community,

Minster-in-Thanet Minster, also known as Minster-in-Thanet, is a village and civil parish in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is the site of Minster in Thanet Priory. The village is west of Ramsgate (which is the post town) and to the north east of Cant ...

, Kent. Her commissioned works have included statues for Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral, Coventry Cathedral and the National Shrine of Wales as well as numerous sculptures currently in Europe and the United States of America.

Early life and education

Caroline Scott was born in Glasgow on 15 March 1924. She gained a scholarship to the

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

aged 17, but her studies were interrupted by the war. She joined the

Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 Februa ...

and served in the

93rd Searchlight Regiment 93rd Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery was an all-female British air defence unit during World War II, formed in October 1942 and disbanded in July 1945. History Searchlights were of great importance in the Second World War as they were need ...

, the only one in the world entirely staffed by women, and was based in Wimbledon, London. At the end of the war, she completed her studies in Edinburgh, gaining her Diploma in 1950, and became a commercial artist. In 1954 she entered the Benedictine community in Minster Abbey, Kent, taking Concordia as her name, and was professed on 22 August 1955. She continued to sculpt, entering a piece for the Manchester Vocations Exhibition in 1959, which led to numerous commissions for sculptures in the following 40 years. Her work can now be seen in Cathedrals and churches across the world. She was Prioress of the Minster Abbey community 1984-1999.

Selected works

*Bronze casket for St Mildred's relics, Minster Abbey, Minster in Thanet, Kent. 1955 *''Our Lady of the Pewe'': 3 foot high alabaster statue,

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

, London. The statue was commissioned to restore the old medieval shrine of Our Lady of Pew which had been destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The new statue, unveiled in the Pew Chapel on 10 May 1971, was based on a similar fourteenth century statue in Westminster Cathedral and carved from English alabaster. 1971 *''Our Lady of the Undercroft'': 3 foot 6 inches, bronze, Canterbury Cathedral, Kent. 1982. The statue of Mary is crowned and on a throne, holding a figure of the infant Christ. Behind his head is a gilt Canterbury cross. The original statue in the 14th-century shrine, is believed to have been destroyed during the Reformation, and a 17th-century replacement, made of ivory by a Portuguese artist, was later stolen. *''Our Lady of 5th Avenue'': a bronze statue of Mary and the infant Jesus, for St Thomas Episcopal Church, Fifth Avenue, New York. 1989 *''Our Lady of the Taper'' for the Welsh national shrine, also known as

Our Lady of Cardigan Our Lady of Cardigan ( cy, Mair o Aberteifi), also known as Our Lady of the Taper, the Catholic national shrine of Wales, is a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary created by Sr Concordia Scott and located in a chapel in Cardigan, Ceredigion, Wa ...

, Wales. 1986 *''Our Lady of Coventry'': 2001, installed in the ruins of St Mary's Priory

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Concordia 1924 births 2014 deaths Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art Artists from Glasgow Auxiliary Territorial Service soldiers Benedictine nuns Scottish sculptors Scottish women artists 20th-century British Roman Catholic nuns People from Minster-in-Thanet