Saint Mary Cathedral installs St. Michael statue

AUSTIN, Texas - A historic building in downtown Austin has a new addition. On Monday, installation crews hoisted a St. Michael statue on the bell tower of St. Mary Cathedral.

"Look at St. Michael on the pedestal. What happened?" Historian Ted Eubanks said.

Eubanks said a St. Michael sculpture was part of the design for St. Mary Cathedral in 1907.

"It was never put there," Eubanks said.

About 115 years later, a crowd of people watched as a crane slowly raised the St. Michael sculpture and it was bolted into place on a pedestal on the bell tower.

"He’s a saint that many people have devotion to, and he helps us in our temptations," Saint Mary Cathedral Father Daniel Liu said.

Father Liu said it was two years in the making and the artist spent countless hours creating this piece out of stone that weighs about a ton.

"A lot of pressure, oh my gosh, every day you go out and work on that knowing that you can't make a mistake, this is something way bigger than me," Artist Larry Schueckler said.

Eubanks said a lot of history in Austin is connected to St. Mary Cathedral and so is the state capital down the street.

"It’s not by accident that this guardian is looking straight at the capital," Schueckler said.

Schueckler said the piece is heavy, and it’s not going anywhere.

Saint Mary Cathedral has set a fundraising goal of $50,000 to help pay for the costs, and it's currently a little more than halfway to its goal.

The cathedral is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and its origins reportedly date back to the 1850s.