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: 2 (rectangle)

Date of Window: 1955

Subject/Title of Window: St. John Chrysostom

Brief Description of Subject: This is one of six aisle windows that portray Doctors of the Church.

St. John Chrysostom (344 - 407) became a bishop in 385 and Patriarch (Archbishop) of Constantinople in 398. He is considered by many to have been the best preacher ever. His homilies were written down and circulated. They have since been translated into many languages and published. He is important to what is now the Greek Orthadox for "The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom."

His attributes pictured here:

The Trinity --- At the top are intersecting circles containing a seeing eye (Father), a fish (Son) as the Greek for "fish" forms an acronym for Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, and a descending dove (Holy Spirit), together they form a symbol for the Trinity. This attribute comes from Chrysostom's writings, especially his sermons titled "On the Incomprehensible Nature of God."

Wearing a pallium decorated with crosses (in blue) --- The pallium is a garment given to a bishop by the Pope. It is made of lambswool to symbolize that he is a shepherd that is entrusted with the care of his flock. Its "Y" shape reminds the bishop he is carrying the yoke of Christ. This symbolizes Chrysostom's position as a bishop.

Holding a book --- this symbolizes his writings as well as his preaching the word of God.

A chalice on a book (Bible) --- This symbol may point to one of his most popular quotes, "If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the Church door, you will not find him in the chalice." This would fit in a homily on the Parable of the Sheep and Goats found in Matthew 25:35-40.

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