Netherlands' Angel Statue Will Take Your Call

Couple set up phone number for modern church sculpture
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 6, 2012 3:59 PM CST
Netherlands' Angel Statue Will Take Your Call
The Little Angel near St John the Evangelist Cathedral.   (Wikimedia Commons)

A Dutch town has a guardian angel—and her cell phone gets 30 calls a day. The Little Angel, a sculpture outside the ancient St. John the Evangelist Cathedral in 'S Hertogenbosch, was born out of a 1997 design contest to replace the church's worn-down figures. In addition to the phone, she has a laptop bag and wears jeans. After she was unveiled last year, an anonymous couple set up a phone number for her, advertised on business cards throughout the town, the New York Times reports.

People call for all kinds of reasons: They seek prayers for loved ones, want advice on exams, or are just making a prank call. They're never sent to voicemail, and the couple doesn't charge a dime. "In most cases there is laughter, but there are callers who have no faith in friends or relatives, so they would like to talk to someone they have some kind of faith in," the wife says. It fits sculptor Ton Mooy's aims: "Angels are there to guide, to protect people, they get messages from above. How do you show that? With a cellphone," he says. Click through to read about the church's own "official" number for the statue, which also has a Twitter feed. (More Netherlands stories.)

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