American pop artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987) is perhaps best known for his flamboyant silkscreens of Marilyn Monroe and his depiction of American commercialism, as reflected in his iconic Campbell’s Soup can. He began his career as a commercial illustrator of women’s footwear; but his talent could not be contained: he achieved success in a wide range of artistic media including sketching, painting, printmaking, photography, silk screening, sculpture, and film. He managed and produced the rock band the Velvet Underground, which helped to establish punk rock as an art form. He founded Interview Magazine, wrote numerous books, and is credited with coining the often-used phrase “15 minutes of fame.”

Despite his growing international fame and success, Warhol was an enigmatic figure, to be sure. Embraced by Hollywood elites and the avante-garde for his offbeat artistic sensibilities, he avoided the glare of the spotlight and spurned public attention. Widely believed to be homosexual, he remained celibate and was, according to his closest associates, still a virgin at the time of his death.

Warhol was a deeply private man, and among the secrets he withheld from his admiring fans was his lifelong Catholic faith. Born to Slovakian immigrants, he was raised in the Ruthenian Rite, an Eastern rite which is in communion with Rome and which uses the Divine Liturgy of the Constantinopolitan Byzantine Eastern Rite.

As a boy, he worshipped with his family at St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church in Pittsburgh. Later, as an adult in New York City, Warhol stopped in almost daily at St. Vincent Ferrer parish on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Sometimes he would attend Mass; then, fearful that he would be recognized, he sat quietly near the back of the church — often missing the opportunity to walk forward and receive communion, in order to avoid being noticed. On other days, he stopped into the church in the mid-afternoon, lighting a candle and spending fifteen minutes in silent prayer.

Beside his bed, Warhol placed a handmade plaster-of-paris shrine, with a crucifix and a worn prayer book on his bedside table. Under his white shirt, he wore a cross on a chain around his neck; and in his pocket, he carried a rosary.

Andy Warhol’s Catholicism was evident in his philanthropy as well as his personal piety. He was a generous supporter of several organizations including a soup kitchen operated by the Church of the Heavenly Rest, an Episcopal church on E. 90th Street. Not content to only help financially, Warhol volunteered at the soup kitchen, ladling soup or helping in any way he could. And when his nephew announced that he wanted to become a Catholic priest, Warhol stepped up to finance the young man’s years of seminary study.

In his eulogy at Warhol’s funeral, British art historian John Richardson said,