For l’eglise at Saint Henri, he says he has carved as many as thirty-two figures in all; for the church at Riviere de Loup, seventeen; for the church at Saint Foye, three—the Blessed Virgin, Christ on the Cross and The Sacred Heart.
As Jobin told of the Saint Foye “figures” he rasped the wood of a new figure growing under his hand. He paused in his work as he recalled “That church was burned, but my figures they....” No word completed the sentence but the rasp went up in a dramatic sweep to indicate the high standing figures escaping the flames.
Of the roadside calvaires carved by Jobin, one at Beaumont is a good example. Another stands at Visitation. The latter is a new one erected last summer.
Although much of Jobin’s work is bought in the Province of Quebec, orders are constantly coming to the old carver of Saint Anne’s from other parts of Canada. And many a figure in the United States attests to his skill as woodcarver.
It is one of the interesting incidents of the Jobin figures that, before sending them out in the world, they are taken down to the Basilica to be “blessed”.
We have seen a pious pilgrim kiss the hand of one of these waiting figures,—taking it for one of the regular figures of the Basilica garden. This incident is a tribute to the quality of soul attained by Jobin in his work.
Luck indeed attends the pilgrim to Saint Anne’s who happens there at the “Blessing” of one of these figures. For picturesqueness in ceremony it has few equals—the figure on the grass under the trees, the priest in his robe, holy-water in hand, generously be-sprinkling, as it were, this Soul of the Woods.
The Basilica garden at Saint Anne’s is rich in Jobin “figures”. The large gilded figure that stood on the roof was, however, not one of his, though the little Saint Anne in the old church, he says, is.
Last winter he was at work on a new figure for the fountain in the yard to be given to Saint Anne’s by a wealthy American.
The weather has always stood in the way of the popularity of the wooden figure. Jobin now sheathes his figures that are to stand in the open.