Josué Benjamín Figueroa from Venezuela is using his talents to honor some of the Church's most influential figures.
At the age of 15, Josué Benjamín Figueroa uses his free time to create some very impressive sculptures.
With a passion that started when he was only four, Josué has developed his skills to create a contender for the Guinness World Records: a 20-foot sculpture of a Church Father, St. Augustine of Hippo.
The huge statue is made of fiberglass-reinforced resin, which is reinforced by an internal metal structure. It stands in the city of Guacara in Carabobo State in Venezuela.
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In order to get the project off the ground -- quite literally -- Josué relied on 10 people. As he shared with Telemundo 51:
“Blacksmiths are needed to create the metal structure precisely because it has to support the weight of the clay to model and mount the clay on the structure so that I can do the modeling."
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As Josué shared on his Instagram page:
Imagine how proud and happy I feel that just a few years ago, I was making clay dolls, and today this six-meter [20-foot] sculpture of Augustine of Hippo that I made is installed. It's incredible what practice, dedication and discipline can do. It's so important, you can achieve anything.”
He went on to share:
Today I present to you the largest sculpture of Saint Augustine of Hippo in the world and the largest sculpture made by a 15-year-old boy.”
Josué also shared with his Instagram followers a little about St. Augustine. However, while pointing out how the Church Father's story of redemption is remarkable, the young sculptor didn't add that Augustine's mother, St. Monica, demonstrated great patience in bringing her wayward son to the faith -- the kind of patience, no doubt, that Josué had to rely on while building such a large structure!
For those who are curious about the internal structure, the young Venezuelan shared a further video to give you a peek:
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With St. Augustine in place, Josué is not stopping. He is working on another great saint, St. Anthony of Padua.
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As a young man who previously won the "Inspiration of the Year" award at the Kids' Choice Awards in 2021 for his show El Taller de Josué -- Joshua's Workshop -- on Nickelodeon, as reported in Church Pop, hopefully he will inspire others to use their talents for such a wonderful purpose!
