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Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: St. John Armenian Church

Studio Name: Loire (Gabriel) Studios

City: Southfield

Window Shape: 3 (arched)

Date of Window: 1966

Subject/Title of Window: Saint Andrew

Brief Description of Subject: Overall description of the dome windows provided by the architect:
 
"Your eyes are drawn upwards to the center disk at the top of the domed ceiling, seventy-two feet above the floor. From this central disk, sixteen arched windows, each glazed with faceted glass, portray saints important to the Armenian Church --- thirteen apostles [includes Saint Paul] and three Armenian saints."
 
Saint Andrew is depicted with attributes of a book and an "X" shaped cross (saltaire cross).
 
The book is the symbol for a missionary. Andrew began evangelizing in Ethiopia and then to Asia Minor. The story of his death is recorded in the Acts of Andrew. In the city of Patras, Andrew ran afoul of Egeas, the procounsel, and was crucified. Tradition has him crucified on an "X" shaped cross, now commonly referred to as a Saint Andrew's Cross.
 
The water color of this window was by the maker. It would have been sent to the Church for final approval or any changes the Church wanted before the actual making of the window. In this case the Church wanted the cross to be green. Green is the color of new life, so a green cross would symbolize victory over death, eternal life.

Height: 8'

Width: 2'

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