''When I Was Sick'', also known as When I Was Sick You Visited Me, is a

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...

Timothy Schmalz Timothy Paul Schmalz (born 1969) is a Canadian sculptor from St. Jacobs, Ontario, Canada. Cast editions of his life-sized sculptures have been installed in major cities in front of some of the most historically significant Christian sites in the ...

that depicts an infirmed

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

suffering from sickness. The sculpture is . The sculpture is part of the ''Matthew 25 Series'' by Schmalz. The series of 5 sculptures depicts the Bible passage of

Matthew 25 Matthew 25, the twenty-fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, continues the Olivet Discourse or "Little Apocalypse" spoken by Jesus Christ (title), Christ, also described as the Eschatology, Eschatological Discourse, which had started in Matthew ...

:31-46. These sculptures include: " ''When I was Naked''", "''When I was a Stranger''", "''When I was Hungry, Thirsty''", "''When I was Sick''", and "''When I was in Prison''".

History

''When I Was Sick'' was designed by Canadian sculptor

. The original sculpture was installed in 2016 at

Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia The Hospital of the Holy Spirit () is the oldest hospital in Europe, located in Rome, Italy. It now serves as a convention center. The complex lies in rione Borgo, east of Vatican City and next to the modern Ospedale di Santo Spirito (which cont ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. Additional replicas of the statue by Schmalz have been placed in various locations across North America, with the first copy being installed at

St. Joseph's Health Centre St. Joseph's Health Centre is a large teaching hospital in western Toronto, Ontario. It is located west of downtown Toronto, along the Lake Ontario shore at the intersection of The Queensway and Sunnyside Avenue, just west of Roncesvalles Avenu ...

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

. Other copies of ''When I Was Sick'' were installed in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...

, and

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. The copy in Cleveland was acquired by the Community West Foundation and was installed at the Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital in 2021. The Youngstown copy was unveiled at Mercy Health's St. Elizabeth Hospital in 2022, as a part of a larger memorial dedicated to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

victims and health care teams that cared for them. The Toronto copy was installed in 2023 outside the Church of the Redeemer.

References

External links

* Bronze sculptures in Ohio Outdoor sculptures in Toronto Outdoor sculptures in Cleveland Sculptures by Timothy Schmalz {{Sculpture-stub