Statue of St. Francis

The statue of Saint Francis of Assisi is the object to which Frank McCourt brings his fear of remaining in fifth class after typhoid has weakened him and his school has held him back. Its significance lies in the ritual Frank makes around it: he walks across Limerick, gives up the penny he might have spent on toffee to light a candle, and trusts the silent saint with a request he cannot resolve himself.

The Statue as a Focus of Appeal

On his first day back at school, Frank finds a penny in the street. He longs to spend it on a large square of Cleeves’ toffee, but his legs are still so weak that he cannot run and sometimes has to hold a wall for support. He is also desperate to get out of fifth class, where he has been placed with his brother Malachy and faces the humiliation of being kept back.

Frank decides that the statue of his favorite saint is the only place to take this predicament. Reaching it at the other end of Limerick takes an hour: he sits on steps and holds on to walls along the way. At the statue, the penny becomes a choice between immediate pleasure and a candle. Frank briefly considers keeping the money, then decides Saint Francis would know; he lights the candle and kneels to ask for help.

Faith, Effort, and the Unanswered Request

The appeal is at once devotional and sharply practical. Frank asks to be moved out of the class where he is stuck with his brother, whom he imagines boasting in the lane that his older brother was held back. The statue says nothing, but Frank takes its silence as attention and becomes certain that Saint Francis will get him out of the class. The effort of reaching the statue while ill helps give the prayer its force: this is a request purchased with a long, painful walk and the coin he wanted for candy.

Frank measures his choice against other possible destinations and intercessors. He could have gone to Saint Joseph’s Church to light a candle to the Little Flower or the Sacred Heart, but he has made the journey specifically to Saint Francis. He also invokes the fact that he is named after the saint and resents the possibility of being deserted in his hour of need. The statue therefore holds both his trust and his childlike challenge to the figure he expects to help him.

Promotion and Return

At school, Frank remains in fifth class while Mr. O’Dea teaches material he already learned the previous year. Instead of letting him answer questions, the teacher assigns him work correcting the other boys’ arithmetic and Irish, and gives him compositions to write and read aloud. He is asked to imagine what it would be like if Christ had grown up in Limerick, a city presented in the assignment as exceptionally Catholic.

Frank’s writing leads to a decisive change: after the headmaster, Mr. O’Halloran, asks whether Frank wrote the composition, Frank is taken out of fifth class and placed in sixth. He returns to the statue that day to thank Saint Francis, despite his legs still being weak and the need to sit on steps and hold walls. His gratitude is accompanied by uncertainty about whether something good or bad in the composition brought the change. The return completes the object’s role in the episode: the statue first receives a desperate request, then becomes the destination for thanks after Frank’s circumstances improve.