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Featured Window

Window of the Month
Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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Featured Windows, June 1999

First Unitarian-Universalist Church, Detroit, MI

Building: First Unitarian-Universalist Church

City: Detroit

State: Michigan


Parable of the Sower, Newcomb Memorial Window

The Newcomb Memorial Window at the First Unitarian-Universalist Church represents the "Parable of the Sower," as told in the Bible's Book of Luke. The central opening depicts the sower scattering seed, a symbol of the Word of God, across the field at sunrise. In three of the four side panels, some seed has fallen along the wayside and is being devoured by birds, while other seed has fallen on stony ground or among thorns where it will either wither or be choked. The panel at the far right pictures the golden wheat that will flourish on the fertile field, symbolizing the virtuous life. Angels of the sun and rain appear in the upper tracery openings. Inscribed below is the scriptural verse of the window's theme and the names of Cyrenius Adelbert Newcomb and Mary Eliza Haskell Newcomb, in whose memory the window was dedicated.

The window was created in 1916 by William and Annie Lee Willet, founders of the Willet Stained Glass Studios in Philadelphia. Established in 1898, the Willet firm has created many windows for churches and other buildings in Michigan and throughout the United States. To view another window by the same firm, visit the Window of the Month for April 1999.

(MSGC 1992.0015)