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In the magnificence of the famous New York church, a gathering of present-day migrants—mostly Latino, Asian, and Black—gather on an incline with their humble sacks and bags. A man in a T-shirt cradles an infant, as a young person in athletic shoes sits solemnly up front. Overhead in the towering clouds, the Lamb of God stands on a white altar within the radiant glow of dangling golden lines suggesting the divine essence.

This touching and grand tableau forms part of what is perhaps the most significant new piece of public art in a currently divided United States.

“What I want people to realize from the mural,” declares the artist, “is that we’re all in this together. Employing this grand stage for such a declaration represents an incredible honor.”

The cathedral, often called the nation’s parish church, ministers to around 2.5 million area worshippers. It’s one of the two most important cathedrals in the country and by far the most visible with 5 million visitors a year. This artwork represents the largest permanent piece commissioned by the cathedral in its 146-year history.

A Concept of Togetherness

In the artist’s competition-winning vision, the mural realizes a longtime wish to honor the famed vision depicting sacred beings such as Mary, Joseph, John, the Lamb, and heavenly messengers at a little rural church in Knock, Ireland, in 1879. The artist expands that commemoration 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 alongside five present-day frontline workers. Above each assembly floats a large angelic figure within a context of luminous lines suggesting the divine.

Celebrating Diverse Impacts

Concerning the quintet of religious figures the church selected immigrant archbishop John Hughes, Dorothy Day, the ex-bohemian New Yorker turned social activist, and Pierre Toussaint, the former enslaved Haitian who became a New York society hairdresser and major Catholic benefactor. The painter included early saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American canonized, and chose political figure Al Smith from the early 20th century. The frontline personnel were similarly the painter’s inclusion.

The piece’s technique is distinctly figurative—a deliberate selection. “Given that this is a domestic piece, rather than European,” the creator notes. “Europeans have hundreds of years of incredible ecclesiastical art, they don’t need to do it that way any more. Yet locally, it’s essential.”

A Labor of Love

The massive project engaged approximately three dozen contributors, including an eminent fine-art gilder for the upper-mural stripes of gold leaf, platinum and heated titanium. It took five months to sketch the work within a spacious atelier in a waterfront district, and then most of a year for the intensive artwork—moving up and down structures for evaluation.

“Well, my father was an architect,” he answers. “Therefore, I grasped spatial planning.”

Concerning the stepping-down archbishop, he announced during the artwork’s unveiling: “People inquire if this comments on migration? Absolutely, indeed. Namely, that immigrants are children of God.”

“All are part of this collective,” the painter echoes. “Whether we like it or not,” he notes. Multiple ideological followers are depicted. And multiple different religions. “But shared humanity means shared humanity,” he maintains. “It’s not reserved just for whom you get along with.”