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Featured Window

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

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Window

Building Name: Cathedral Abbey of St. Anthony, formerly St. Anthony Roman Catholic Church (closed 2006)

Studio Name: Tyrolese Art Glass Company

City: Detroit

Window Shape: 5 (gothic arched, 2 vertical sections)

Date of Window: 1902

Subject/Title of Window: Annunciation

Brief Description of Subject: This stained glass window is located directly above the side door on the gospel side. The side door was added to the building sometime between 1910 and 1927. The installation of that side door necessitated that the window be shortened -- thus this window now ends at the bottom of the Annunciation scene.

Decorative medallion at the top contains the head of an angel surrounded by wings that vary in shade from green to blue. This medallion is identical to the medallion in the Resurrection window which is located on the opposite side aisle.

The Annunciation is covered in Luke 1:26-38. Brief synopsis: the angel Gabriel is sent by God to tell the Virgin Mary that by the power of the Holy Spirit she will conceive a son that is to be called Jesus.

In the left panel, the angel Gabriel is seen holding a lily branch which symbolizes purity. Mary is seen kneeling and reading a book in her room. The book is usually explained as a Psalter or sometimes as opened to Isaiah 7:14 which prophesized that a virgin would bear a son and be called Emmanuel. The moment of conception is pictured with the Holy Spirit, in the form of a descending dove, shining divine light on Mary. A garden of roses is seen in the background which could symbolize many things -- one possibility is the "rosary" as that word comes from the Latin word "rosarium" which means "rose garden".

From archival material the window was donated by the "Sodality of the Blessed Virgin".

Height: ~11'

Width: 44"

Annunciation
Annunciation
Angel medallion
Angel medallion
Annunication close-up
Annunication close-up
Annunication outside
Annunication outside

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