The hand-carved Waterford crystal sculpture depicting the image of New York firefighters and police officers carrying the body of Father Mychal Judge away from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Posted on 03/14/2007 8:08:14 PM PDT by Coleus
The hand-carved Waterford crystal sculpture depicting the image of New York firefighters and police officers carrying the body of Father Mychal Judge away from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. |
NEW YORK -- Sean Egan, an engraver at the famous Waterford factory in Ireland for 33 years, said he found a large piece of discarded glass at work one day that seemed to resemble the arch of a stained glass church window. He put it aside and a short time later happened to come across the widely used photograph of five New York firemen and policemen carrying Father Mychal Judge's dust-covered body out of the World Trade Center rubble. He felt inspired to replicate that image, using the discarded crystal piece. Waterford CEO John Foley was so struck by the sculpture he created that he asked Egan to make a larger version on the company's time, using fresh crystal.
The Irish Waterford Crystal craftsman along with company executives will pay an early St. Patrick's Day visit to a New York firehouse on Wednesday to present the larger crystal sculpture he created to honor the firemen and victims of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center. "It was such an awful day," said Egan. "Everyone in Ireland grieved. The firemen were rushing into the building as everyone was rushing out."
Egan hopes that others will be inspired by the sculpture. "I want people to see the pain on the faces of the firemen and police officers carrying Father Judge out," he said. "At the same time I want them to see the peace in Father Judge's reflection. There is peace among death and destruction. Father Judge is giving us a message." For six months, Egan worked meticiously on his own time engraving the original sculpture on small copper wheels employed by craftsman at the Waterford Factory for centuries. He knew he was going to dedicate the piece to Judge and the firemen but he had no idea how he was going to go about it.
In October 2006, he had a chance meeting with Michael O'Rourke, a New York City firefighter from the Bronx who was on a tour of the Waterford Factory in Ireland. In another coincidence, O'Rourke had known Judge during his 26 years as a fireman, and mourned his loss along with his fellow firefighters. O'Rourke was moved to tears when he saw the piece. Upon returning to the states, he helped to make the arrangements for the dedication ceremony at Engine One, Ladder Co. 24 - the firehouse on West 31st Street across the street from the St. Franciscan Friary where Judge lived.It is the same firehouse that Judge left on his way to the World Trade Center site on the morning of Sept. 11. He died along with 343 firefighters.
Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and the Chief of Department Salvatore Cassano are to receive the 20 pound 2-by-3 foot sculpture valued at $75,000, said Jim Long, the FDNY spokesman. The original sculpture will be on display at Waterford in Ireland.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
A momentary resurrection of an emotionally out of control day, week, month, year of my life. Thanks for this post.
GIGANTIC IRISH-PROUD BUMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Catholic Prayer Ping!
Oh my goodness --- how beautiful it is -- just in the photo alone! Thank you so much for the ping.
Happy St. Patrick's Day Sean Egan. Thank you for remembering 9/11.
Deeply moving. Remember the heroes.
My pleasure. I sincerely pray you are feeling better!
I am! Thank you so much (((Siobhan))). Seems I mostly needed warm weather and sunshine. Peace be with you, sweet friend.
A favorite possession is my exquisite Waterford shamrock. It's a reminder of my paternal grandmother whose roots were in County Cork.
As a succulent aside, a juicy lightly-marbled corned beef is now reposing in the MinuteGal fridge awaiting its Saturday transfer to my le creuset and a slow simmer.
O'Leni
WOW !!!!!
btt
Actually, at that time, the rumor had not yet been started. We watched the movie World Trade Center tonight, and SirKit went looking on the internet for info about the men who had survived. He found an article written about Fr. Judge, and how that story got started. Turns out, it was a homosexual activist who knew Fr. Judge, and who Fr. Judge was trying to call to repentance, who started that lie at Fr. Judge's funeral when talking to a reporter, or it was very soon after that. Now THAT'S despicable!
It was continually repeated in the press for weeks, and even a member of the NY Diocesan hierarchy said it in an interview. When told by the author of the article that I read, that Fr. Judge was NOT homosexual, because the author had known him for years, and the author asked why he would say that he was, the Diocesan official just said, "I read it in the media."
If you want to read the story about the hijacking of Fr. Judge's reputation, check HERE .
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