James Cardinal Gibbons

This 1932 statue of James Cardinal Gibbons by Leo Lentelli stands at 16th Street and Park Road in Northwest Washington, DC.  Goode gives us this short biography of Cardinal Gibbons:

Gibbons (1834—1921) was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and lived in Ireland after the death of his father. He was ordained in 1855, and was chaplain at Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor during the Civil War. When he was created bishop of Adramytdum in North Carolina in 1868, he became the youngest of all 1,200 bishops of the Roman Catholic Church. He became bishop of Richmond, in Virginia and, in 1878, returned to Baltimore to head the oldest of American archdioceses. Gibbons was designated a cardinal in 1886, the second American to be so honored. 

For many years, Gibbons was a friend and adviser of numerous American presidents, from Andrew Johnson to Warren Harding. He had a very early sympathy for the American labor movement, and was also known for his patriotism; Theodore Roosevelt once said that Gibbons embodied what was highest and best in American citizenship. 

Leo Lentelli Sc. 1932

James

Cardinal

Gibbons

MDCCCXXXIV

MCMXXI

MDCCCXXXIV represents 1834 the year Cardinal Gibbons was born and MCMXXI represents 1921 the year Gibbons died.

Carrol Highsmith took this photo of Cardinal Gibbons' statue in 2010 (LOC):

Cardinal Gibbons' coat of arms is sculpted on both sides of the Stony Creek granite base.

Goode explains significance the coat of arms. 

The allegorical coat of arms on the side of the pedestal consists of a shield, on which is surmounted a pontifical hat symbolic of the pope's role as a bridge between God and man.

The design of the left half of the shield was taken from the coat of arms of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, while the right half represents the cleric's personal family coat of arms. The shield is framed on each side by an identical row of tassels. These long tassels, which descend in five tiers of from one to five tassels each, represent the five ranks of clergy of the church: priest, monsignor, bishop, archbishop, and cardinal. The coat of arms relieves the severity of the pedestal and complements the bronze portrait above. -- Goode

Emitte Spiritum Tuum 

Send Forth Thy Spirit

The Statue was placed in front of The Shrine of the Sacred Heart by the Knights of Columbus on their 50th Anniversary. It was authorized by Congress on April 23, 1928 and dedicated on August 14, 1932.

The Washington Evening Star reported the next day on the statue's dedication.

President Hoover paid personal tribute to the late James Cardinal Gibbons as “an American of burning patriotism” and a great leader in his faith when he accepted on behalf of the Government and the people of the United States yesterday the bronze statue which the Knights of Columbus have reared in the parkway in front of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, at Sixteenth street and Park road. 

The Star included this photo of the statue standing above the crowd just after its unveiling.

The star of the show seems to have been Cardinal Gibbons' Grand Niece, Margaret Gibbons Burke. This photo appeared in the Sunday Star, August 21, 1932.

Miss Margaret Gibbons Burke, grand niece of the the late Cardinal Gibbons, as she unveiled the memorial statue of the eminent prelate last Sunday. © Harris & Ewing.