DENVER-
A 22-foot-tall statue of Jesus at the Mother Cabrini Shrine in the foothills west of Denver was damaged by lightning over the weekend but can be repaired, nuns at the shrine said.
One arm and a hand were broken off the marble statue and a foot was damaged during a storm on Saturday.
A cost estimate for the repairs should be completed within a week, said Sister Bernadette Casciano, administrator of the shrine for the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the meantime, a fund was being set up for donations for the repairs.
The statue, which stands on an 11-foot-tall pedestal, was sculpted by an Italian artist and brought from Italy in five sections in 1954.
The shrine is named Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American citizen canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
The shrine draws thousands of visitors each year and can been seen by motorists in the foothills from Interstate 70.
