This angel holding a shell dates from the late 1800s. She is stationed just inside the gallery doors and the shell would have contained blessed water. Those coming to the chapel would dip their fingers into the water then make the sign of the cross: forehead, chest, then each shoulder. This gesture would be a reminder that walking into the chapel was entering a holy place. The shell itself reminded the sisters of the French town of Le Puy where the first sisters gathered in the middle of the 17th century. The shell was the symbol worn by pilgrims passing through the city on their way to the shrine of St James in Spain.
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