“I think it’s a wonderful place for somebody to come and sit and have solitude,” says Anne White, a St. Peter parishioner.  

“It’s so beautiful,” says Jim Ciampi, one of the driving forces behind the project. “I kind of sit in the grotto sometimes and just say, ‘This is amazing.’ It’s like a perfect storm of history and culture and tradition and faith all running together.”

The grotto features two sections. There is a lower garden, behind the church, where people can sit on stone benches and reflect and pray before a reproduction of Michelangelo’s Pietà, which shows the Blessed Mother holding the body of her crucified son. That garden is connected by a stone pathway to an upper courtyard, where, come November, the centerpiece will be a “Homeless Jesus” sculpture. Ciampi says the idea for the sculpture grew out of a conversation with Bishop James Ruggieri following the groundbreaking for the grotto in August 2024.

“I told him I don’t want to just buy a statue just to put something in there. And he said, ‘Well, have you ever looked at Timothy Schmalz, the Canadian sculptor?’ I said, ‘No.’ He said that he does a series on Matthew 25 — feed the hungry, clothe the naked — and that the series of statues run towards the marginalized in our society and that there is a beautiful one called Homeless Jesus.”

Ciampi says when he looked into it, he became convinced that it would be a poignant addition to the grotto. 

“I got very excited about it because I thought it was exactly what we needed. I really wanted to do something that I thought would impact the younger generation,” he says.

The challenge was the price. Ciampi says the sculpture cost $50,000. However, he says that when he told a longtime friend about it, hoping he might contribute toward it, the friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, donated $40,000.

“He said, ‘This is the right thing to do.’”

Although the Homeless Jesus sculpture isn’t in place yet, the grotto was blessed by Bishop Ruggieri during a prayer service held at the opening of the St. Peter’s Bazaar in early August.

“May this grotto become a place of quiet reflection, of prayerful remembrance for our departed loved ones, and of renewed devotion to the Mother of God, who always points us to her Son,” the bishop prayed, before sprinkling the grotto with holy water and joining Father Seamus Griesbach, pastor of the parish, in cutting a ribbon formally opening the grotto.

“There is a peace and a beauty here that is just incredible. I think this is going to be an asset for the parish, for the city, and for the community forever,” says Shelby Beebe-Lawson, who served on the grotto committee. “In the busy city, just to have a place of peace where people can come, whether they come in or they just pass by, it’s going to remind them of God.”

“I think it gives people ownership. It gives them a place to reflect and spend some time quietly,” says Vinnie Ciampi, a St. Peter parishioner. “I think it’s tremendous.”

“I think it’s a place that will ground people here in the parish that they’ve been in their whole lives,” says Robert Woodman, who served on the grotto committee.

“It’s beautiful. Anytime you can spend time with the Lord and His mother is perfect, and this is a perfect spot to do it in,” says Dale Alongi, a visitor from Long Island, New York, who had tears in her eyes as she walked through the grotto.

The grotto is gated, but parishioners will have passcodes so they can enter when they wish. The plan is to also establish times when the grotto will be open for anyone to stop in.

The contractor for the project was M.W. Hoss Construction, with electrical work done by Mancini Electric. Jim Ciampi says the cost of the project was around $350,000, which is being paid for through donations and the sale of memorial pavers. If you would like to donate or buy a paver, email stpetersgrotto@gmail.com or visit www.portlandcatholic.org/st-peter-grotto.