Featured Window

Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: Holy Name Church

Studio Name: Detroit Stained Glass Works, The

City: Birmingham

Window Shape: 3 (arched)

Date of Window: 1955

Subject/Title of Window: St. Thomas Aquinas

Brief Description of Subject: This is one of six aisle windows that portray Doctors of the Church. Due to an annex to the Church, this window is no longer able to receive sunlight. ​The Church has installed a spot light that illuminates the head region.

St. Thomas Aquinas (c.1226 - 1274) was born into nobility but against his parents wishes, he joined the Order of Preachers (Dominicans). He wrote extensively on Christian theology. His most influential book was "Summa Theologica."

His attributes seen here are:

Cross on a triangle. This refers to his writings on the Trinity.

Costumed in the habit of a Dominican Friar.

Red book with the name "Summa." This refers to his book "Summa Theologica" which laid the foundations of Christian Philosophy.

Star on chest. This illuminates the vision of a Dominican of Brescia who saw Thomas and St. Augustine as a "light for the Church."

Chalice and Host --- a symbol for the Eucharist, note the "IHC" on the host are the first three letters of the Greek word for "Jesus." There is a story that while Thomas was writing about the Eucharist his brethren saw Jesus and heard him tell Thomas, "You have written excellently about the sacrament of my body."

This window was designed by Margaret Bouchez Cavanaugh when she worked at the Detroit Stained Glass Works.

Condition of Window: Good

Height: 112"

Width: 34"

Type of Glass and Technique: Antique or Cathedral Glass, Lead Came, Vitreous Paint

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