Two nights after two hijacked jetliners slammed into the World Trade Center, causing it to collapse in a mound of twisted wreckage, Frank Silecchia had just helped remove three bodies from the rubble when he looked up and saw a scene he says transfixed him.
Among the debris from Tower One that had crashed onto the floor of the atrium of Building 6, the laborer with Local 731 said he saw steel beams strewn about in the shape of crosses that reminded him of depictions showing Jesus Christ and two thieves being crucifies on Calvary.
"I seen this picture of Calvary with three, four crosses in it. The main structure of Christ's cross was in front of me. It took my breath away," said Silecchia.
Among those to whom Silecchia showed the cross was Father Brian Jordan, a priest at St. Francis of Assisi parish in Midtown, who was offering communion to workers at the site. source
Jordan persuaded city authorities to pull the largest of the crosses from the wreckage intact and save it as a memorial. The cross will be removed from its resting place in the wreckage in a ceremony Thursday afternoon.
"They'll have something to hang on the wall, and some inspiration," said Silecchia, who describes himself as a born-again Christian.
It will be moved to the exterior wall of nearby St. Peter’s Church during construction at the trade center site. The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation has said it plans to include the cross as part of its memorial or inside the Sept. 11 museum.
“We are all anxious for some type of God’s presence,” said the Rev. Brian Jordan, who dedicated it.
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