Irish sculptor dedicates piece to 9/11 victims, firefighters

NorthJersey.com ^ | 03.14.07 | PAT MILTON

[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.

[SuziQ]

That Waterford piece is really beautiful, and very affecting.

[SuziQ]

Check this out!

[sockmonkey]

Awesome sculpture . Sean Egan is truly a master of his craft.

[ArrogantBustard]

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."

And some people are astonished that I thoroughly distrust the MSM ...

[mockingbyrd]

Well finally I know the rest of the story.

[SuziQ]

Did you read the article I linked? Amazing, isn't it? Apparently the people who got the story from Brendan Fay didn't even bother to check to see if it were true. It fit what they wanted to write, so they ran with it.