The President Honors 20 Years of Ohio, USA Patronage
On December 5th, Sr. Raffaella Petrini, FSE visited the Ohio Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums in Cleveland, Ohio. At the gala dinner with over 250 persons, the President thanked the Ohio Patrons for their twenty years of selfless generosity in their dedication to restoration of various artistic works of the Vatican Museums.
Present were Bishop Edward Malesic, Bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland, Msgr. Terence Hogan, Coordinator of the Vatican Office of Relations with Patrons, Lorraine Dodero, Chapter Leader of the Ohio Patrons, Rev. Dan Schlegel, Ohio PAVM Chaplain, and other clergy and religious from Ohio and as far as Miami, Florida. In attendance were the Ohio Patrons, some of whom have been faithful members for five, ten and even twenty years.
During her remarks in which she first thanked Bishop Malesic for his continued support of the Patrons’ work to benefit the Vatican Museums, the President continued: “…in a special way, I want to thank you, the Ohio Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, who for more than twenty years have been promoters of the mission of the Patrons: to preserve, restore and conserve the great patrimony of art found throughout the Vatican Museums.”
Sister Raffaella Petrini paid special tribute to Lorraine Dodero, who founded the Ohio Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums in 2005. “This evening as we celebrate twenty years of generosity and giving, I wish to particularly acknowledge and thank Lorraine Dodero for her tireless efforts on behalf of the work of the Patrons. Surrounded by her wonderful family, Lorraine has been tireless in her many local community efforts to better the lives of others, and as President of the Ohio Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums she has endeavored to preserve the art, culture and faith that is found in the Vatican and its Museums. You and the Ohio Patrons have been more than faithful with your time and talent in assuring future generations that the Vatican Museums with its various galleries of paintings, sculptures, historical artifacts and architecture will continue to inspire the young and the old who enter its doors now and through the ages.”
Lorraine Dodero continues her work in leading the Ohio Chapter and is also the President of the newly formed Friends of the Vatican, that has been established to provide funding to conserve the many historical and cultural areas found throughout the Vatican City State.
Over the past twenty years, members of the Ohio Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums have generously funded multiple restorations such as the Tapestry of Diana; Three Papal Carriages; Decorations of the Third Loggia of the Apostolic Palace; Entrance to the Vatican Museums; the 14th century wooden statue of St. Anne, the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, so often reverenced at papal liturgies near the main of St. Peter’s Basilica; the Gallery of the Candelabra; the Transfiguration of Our Lord by Raphael; and Melanzio’s Madonna and Child with Saints Anne and Joachim, that is found above the tabernacle in the sanctuary of the Chapel of the Holy Family in the Governorate. A complete list of past and current restorations can be found at www.vaticanpatronsohio.org.
