Revealing an Impressive Painting at St. Patrick’s Cathedral: A Tribute to Migrants

Amidst the grandeur of this historic cathedral, a throng of today’s immigrants—mostly Latino, Asian, and Black—pause on a hillside slope carrying their modest belongings. An individual in a tee-shirt tenderly carries a child, and a youth in trainers appears thoughtful at the front. Overhead in the towering clouds, the sacred Lamb rests upon a pale platform amid the clustering gleam of golden pendulous stripes implying a heavenly aura.

This touching and grand tableau is a component of what is perhaps the most significant new piece of public art across a fragmented modern America.

“The message I aim to convey through this piece,” states the creator, “is that we’re all in this together. Employing this grand stage for such a declaration is an extraordinary privilege.”

St. Patrick’s, known as “America’s parish church,” ministers to around 2.5 million area worshippers. It’s one of the two most important cathedrals in the country and sees the highest foot traffic with five million tourists each year. This mural is the biggest lasting installation ordered by the church in over a century.

An Inspiration of Unity

In the artist’s competition-winning vision, the painting fulfills an enduring desire to commemorate the celebrated apparition of the Virgin Mary, with Joseph, St. John the Baptist, the Lamb of God and angels at a little rural church in Knock, Ireland, in 1879. The painter extends that homage to include Irish immigrants of yore and New York’s broader multicultural immigration.

The sizable wall on the west side, adjacent to the primary entrance, showcases a group of five prominent local Catholics paired with five contemporary emergency service members. Above each assembly floats a large angelic figure in a setting again of those gleaming stripes evoking God’s presence.

Celebrating Varied Achievements

Concerning the quintet of religious figures the institution highlighted founder John Hughes, Dorothy Day, the ex-bohemian New Yorker turned social activist, and Pierre Toussaint, the once-enslaved individual who rose to prominence as a stylist and donor. The artist added New York state’s 17th-century Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American canonized, and selected public servant Al Smith from the interwar period. The frontline personnel were similarly the painter’s inclusion.

The mural’s painting style is straightforwardly representational—an intentional decision. “Because this is an American painting, not a European one,” the artist explains. “Abroad, lengthy traditions of church art exist, their methods have evolved. But we do.”

A Labor of Love

The massive project engaged approximately three dozen contributors, featuring a skilled artisan for the metallic elements. The drafting phase lasted several months within a spacious atelier in a waterfront district, followed by three-quarters of a year for the demanding painting—moving up and down structures for evaluation.

“Given my familial background in design,” he answers. “Therefore, I grasped spatial planning.”

As for the retiring cardinal, he stated at the piece’s introduction: “People inquire if this comments on migration? Well, sure we are, all right? Namely, that immigrants are children of God.”

“We’re all in this together,” the creator reiterates. “Regardless of preference,” he adds. Diverse political adherents appear in the piece. Along with assorted faiths. “Yet, universal human traits bind everyone,” he affirms. “It’s not reserved just for whom you get along with.”