THE AMERICAN SCULPTOR AND THE POPE

During his recent visit to the Holy Land, Pope John Paul II, bestowed the papal blessing on a one-ton statue of Saint Peter, created by American sculptor, Charles Madden. The larger than life-sized Millennium Sculpture stands in the garden between the synagogue where Jesus taught and the house where Saint Peter lived in Capharnaum, "the town of Jesus," overlooking the Sea of Galilee. The 11- foot high bronze statue is in its "meditation garden" upon a rock, evoking the words of Jesus to Peter: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church."

The Custody of the Holy Land and the faithful asked Madden to create the bronze statue and meditation garden of Saint Peter. The dedication of Madden's Millennium Sculpture, during the Pope's visit, is one of the major events in the Catholic Church's celebration of the millennium in the Holy Land.

"I am both honored and humbled by having my work stand in this sacred place," Madden said. "It is something I would never have dreamed possible."

Charles Madden will also be working on the restoration project of the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, He previously designed a chalice to be used by Pope John Paul II, and he designed the vestments worn by all the world's cardinals for the Eucharistic Congress held in Philadelphia in 1976. He was the American sculptor invited to create a 28 foot high sculpture of Mary, which is comprised of bronze, stainless steel, and enamel work for the site in Nazareth, this is the site where the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. The Basilica of the Annunciation permanently displays this monumental Madden work.

Architect Louis L. Kahn said of Madden: "Charles Madden, in his works of art, begins without figures and objects, thereby rejecting the familiar. Thus he chooses to lead his mind to his most inner-search path to penetrate the unmeasurable."

Not all of Madden's work has been of a religious nature, however. He created a major 40-foot sculptural work for the American Embassy in Cairo Egypt, and sculptural panels for the American Consulate in Cheng Du China, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, and major corporations and institutions worldwide.

Madden is a former member of the Philadelphia Art Commission, having been appointed to the commission by four consecutive mayors. He lives in the Philadelphia , Pennsylvania suburban community of Maple Glen with his wife, Teresa. His studio is in Ambler, Pennsylvania.