The Cross At Ground Zero
"I saw for the first time the famous cross at Ground Zero. I realized that God was right there." -- Father Brian Jordan
By National September 11 Memorial & Museum Staff
Father Brian Jordan first laid eyes on the conspicuous object on Sept. 23, 2001, after celebrating Sunday Mass for the Ground Zero rescue and recovery crew.
As a construction worker guided the Franciscan friar through the ruins of 6 World Trade Center, Jordan beheld a sign of hope: two steel girders formed in a T-shaped cross, emerging from the debris.
For the next 13 years, Jordan served as the chief advocate and defender of the WTC Cross. He details the history of the 17-foot cross’ journey to the 9/11 Memorial Museum in his book “The Ground Zero Cross.”
“On September 16, 2011, I said my first Mass at Ground Zero,” says Father Jordan, then a Franciscan friar at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, where he now serves as pastor. “The following week, I said Mass again. I met Frank Silecchia, a construction worker from Local 731. He asked me if I wanted to ‘see God’s house.’
“I looked at him and said, ‘God’s house is right there. St. Peter’s Church is right nearby.’ He said, ‘No, the real house.’ I followed him and went into what was 6 World Trade Center. He said, ‘Look down below, Father.’ Right there, I saw for the first time the famous cross at Ground Zero. I realized that God was right there.”
He immediately knelt and thanked God, interpreting the cross as a sign from above.
During the recovery effort, the cross held a special significance for many New Yorkers and Ground Zero visitors. Rather than shipping the artifact to the forensic debris site on Staten Island, it was relocated to the corner of West and Vesey streets. It was eventually erected at St. Peter’s Church, just opposite Ground Zero. Father Jordan blessed the cross at its October 4, 2001, dedication.
The cross is now installed at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, just a short distance from where Father Jordan first saw it.
