Featured Window

Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church

Studio Name: Loire (Gabriel) Studios

City: Allen Park

Window Shape: 2 (rectangle)

Date of Window: 1968

Subject/Title of Window: Holy Mother of God

Brief Description of Subject: The artist has used symbols associated with Mary as the Holy Mother of God --- the Marian Cross and the Star of Bethlehem.
 
Marian Cross: In 1830, St. Catherine Laboure, a member of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, heard the voice of the Virgin Mary giving her instructions for a design of a medal now known as "The Miraculous Medal of Our Lady of Grace." Among the instructions, the medal was to include a large "M" on top of a cross --- this has become known as a "Marian Cross." According to the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, the large "M" symbolizes Mary as Mother and Mediatrix, and the cross symbolizes redemption.
 
Star of Bethlehem: This five pointed star appears in the story of the birth of Christ. The origins of this story in the scriptures begins with the prophecy in Numbers 24:17, "a star shall come forth from Jacob [traditional father of all Jews], and a scepter [symbol of a king] shall rise out of Israel." (RSVCE). Matthew Chapter 2 then relates how wise men saw a star in the East and interpreted that as the omen that this King of the Jews had been born. They wished to pay homage to the king and "lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place the child was." (Verse 7 RSVCE). In this window, the star is seen beaming light downwards to the place in Bethlehem where Mary's Christ Child was born.
 
At the bottom,The artist has signed the window:
 
Gabriel Loire
Chartres
France 1968

Height: 51'

Width: 7' 8"

Type of Glass and Technique: Slab or Faceted Glass (Dalle de Verre)

The MSGC is a constantly evolving database. Not all the data that has been collected by volunteers has been sorted and entered. Not every building has been completely documented.

All images in the Index are either born-digital photographs of windows or buildings or are scans of slides, prints, or other published sources. These images have been provided by volunteers and the quality of the material varies widely.

If you have any questions, additions or corrections, or think you can provide better images and are willing to share them, please contact donald20@msu.edu