“He loved John Paul II,” Nicola “Nick” DiProspero, Jr. says of his late father’s feelings about the saint who celebrated Mass at Logan Square in Philadelphia in 1979. A 40-foot cross rose above the Holy Father that day.
That cross now stands above the great lawn of Malvern Retreat House, surrounded and bolstered by a masonry pedestal built by Nicola “Nick” DiProspero, Sr. and his company, Simiano Construction in Philadelphia.
They finished the job shortly after he went home to God on June 5, 2025.
“We’re so blessed to have been able to find (the retreat house) through his connections with the Knights of Columbus way back in the day,” said DiProspero, Jr., who has attended retreats at Malvern for 33 of his 43 years since his father began taking him. “He started going twice a year because he loved it so much.”
His father’s faith, a journey with God that began in Italy before his migration from there through Canada to the United States, came with a sense that God’s hand was always holding him, sometimes in miraculous ways.
“He fell off a two-story roof,” DiProspero, Jr. recalled. “He forgot he was close to a breezeway. On his way down, he narrowly missed an old fence post. After he got better in the hospital, he says he felt angels’ hands holding him and put him down gently. He only ruptured his intestines in three spots and was back to work in a week.”
DiProspero, Sr., who would regularly place a sign of the cross in cement before working the first brick, accepted the assignment at Malvern that would capstone his career on Earth and symbolize his faith in Christ.
“Last March I was giving one of my talks on the weekend to men in Malvern. Nick was in the crowd, and I didn’t know him before that,” said Mary Bea Damico, a Malvern Retreat House board member.
“Prior to that, I prayed for something very specific. We did not have any grants or money to (build) this shrine. The Holy Spirit provided for what we needed every step of the way.”
Damico gave her talk and started receiving thanks from the men in attendance, but DiProspero, Sr. waited to talk last with Damico.
He asked her what she needed and mentioned that he owned a masonry business building in brick and concrete.
“That’s exactly what I need!” Damico replied. “He gave me his big smile. We had no paper around. Everyone else had left. He found a piece of cardboard somewhere, and he wrote his information on this piece of cardboard. He said, ‘You keep this with you, and when the time comes, you call me.’”
Months later that call came from Damico, and DiProspero, Sr. and his team began the work.
“When we got that call about this cross, we literally put three other jobs on hold,” DiProspero, Jr. said.
“We called up our concrete excavator and said, ‘We need you out here tomorrow.’ (He said), ‘I’m there.’ I called up my building supply yard for the bricks, and they (said), ‘Nick, don’t worry about it. We have them in stock. Come get them.’
“Once (the contractors) started hearing about it, everybody just wanted to jump in. We worked around the clock. While I was dealing with my father toward the end, my concrete guy stepped up, (saying): ‘Lean on me. Just let me take control. I’ll have my guys here, six guys every day finishing this thing,’” he said.
The new masonry pedestal was finished in time for Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez to dedicate the cross on June 22.
“For that to be his last job is the best last job that you can ever work on,” DiProspero Jr. said. “Just hands down, there’s nothing else that comes close to that.”
That work of his hands stands as tribute to the hand of God in their lives, and a lasting legacy that countless people will encounter on the grounds of Malvern Retreat House in coming decades.
“Little did I know when I thought about these saints of Malvern that I talk about every weekend, that Nick would be one of them,” said Damico. “I didn’t know he would be so soon.”
The son believes that his father is enjoying his homemade wine with St. John Paul II, celebrating God’s handiwork — an image that brings a smile to his face.
“They’re definitely sipping on some of his wine,” DiProspero, Jr. said. “My dad’s probably saying, ‘I heard the call, and I answered it.’”
Share this story