Saint Peter’s Prep unveils unique statue of Saint Peter created by nationally renowned sculptor
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September 21, 2022Saint Peter’s Prep is commemorating its 150th anniversary with the installment of a seven-foot bronze statue of a young Saint Peter that is now a significant addition to the landscape of the school’s Jersey City campus. The statue is remarkable because it depicts Saint Peter as a young man, about the same age as a high school senior.
School officials retained artist Brian Hanlon, the founder of Hanlon Sculpture Studio in Toms River and a New Jersey native, to create the bronze work of art. His sculptures in New Jersey include Father Mychal Judge, the priest who perished on 9/11; Yogi Berra in Little Falls; The Lighthouse Keeper in Long Beach Island; a Firemen's Memorial in East Rutherford and another Saint Peter sculpture at St. Peter’s College.
The newly erected bronze statue of St. Peter, standing at 7 feet tall and depicting a young Simeon standing beside a fishing boat, dazzles in the sunlight on St. Peter's Prep downtown Jersey City campus“We chose to celebrate this vision of Peter as a young man—and Mr. Hanlon captured it in this stunning work—because it is essential to Peter’s story and essential to what he teaches us as our namesake, our patron,” said Michael Gomez, Ed. D., ’91, President of Saint Peter’s Prep. “But it is also essential to our story and the story of every Prep student who has ever walked and will walk down Warren Street to enter our doors. In short, he represents us: imperfect and imperfectible, but someone with the entire world in front of him, someone who is loved by God, who has vast potential to change the world, and who is a masterpiece and a work in progress all at the same time. He is us.”
The statue was unveiled on Sept. 16 at 8:00 a.m., immediately following Prep’s annual Mass of the Holy Spirit, a tradition at Jesuit schools worldwide since 1548. Hanlon was in attendance.
Hanlon is a classically trained master sculptor who has created over 550 public and private art pieces since 1986. His sculptures of historical, political, athletic, and religious figures have been celebrated all over the country.
Fr. Tony Azzarto, S.J., performs a blessing on the newly erected statue of St. Peter at SPP on Sept. 16Although he no longer focuses on creating liturgical artwork, it once comprised 75 percent of his business. He previously created a statue of Corpus Christi for St. Mary of the Pines Church in Manahawkin, N.J., and a statue of the famous Catholic Worker and American journalist Dorothy Day at St. Mary’s Parish in Colts Neck, and another sculpture of Saint Peter at St. Peter's College, also located in Jersey City.
His father, Rocky Hanlon, is a Saint Peter’s Prep graduate of the class of ‘53 and a member of the Prep Athletic Hall of Fame. Several of his uncles and cousins attended Saint Peter's Prep. Hanlon said that his uncle also worked at Saint Peter’s University for over 40 years.“I love my family, and I love the history of my family, especially its connection with the Jesuits,” Hanlon said. “I have been on many silent retreats and, on a personal level, was able to find the courage to become a full-time artist while I was on a silent retreat.”
Hanlon described the process of creating this sculpture for Saint Peter’s Prep as being personal on multiple levels.
The idea for the unique sculpture originated as a joint effort between Saint Peter’s Prep staff and Hanlon, who said that creating the sculpture required a mix of “staff input and thinking about how I could connect with the young audience.” Hanlon said he is looking to “shake up” the art world in a spiritual and intellectual manner. “We must challenge some of the images we have and breathe new air into them. Making a sculpture of a young St. Peter very much does that,” he said.
Hanlon emphasized the importance of connecting this sculpture to the student body at Saint Peter’s Prep. A true New Jersey native, Hanlon confessed that the face of the statue was modeled after a photograph of a young Bruce Springsteen. “[Saint Peter’s President] Michael Gomez is a wonderful man, and he and I connected over this image of Bruce Springsteen on one of his early records, from a time before he knew he was going to be the greatest rockstar in history. And you can sort of see this likeness of him in the face of the statue. In the same way, Saint Peter did not know who he was going to become, and I kind of love that.”
Michael Gomez, '91 (Presient) and Christopher Caulfield, '03 (Principal), pose with the newly erected St. Peter statueThe sculpture will now enjoy a permanent home on Prep’s Jersey City campus.
Saint Peter’s Prep is a Catholic Jesuit college preparatory school founded originally on April 3, 1872, as a department within Saint Peter’s College (now Saint Peter’s University). In 1878, Saint Peter’s Prep opened its own school for young men, with an enrollment of 71 students. In 1918, the preparatory school separated from the college. Today, Saint Peter’s Prep enrolls nearly 900 young men. Both enriched and challenged by its diversity, Saint Peter’s Prep is a community of learners seeking to find God in all things and to form young men of competence, conscience, and compassion, according to its website.
Featured image: Rocky Hanlon, '53 (father of sculptor), Prep President Michael Gomez, Trish Fitzpatrick, Brian Hanlon (via Saint Peter's Prep).
