Featured Window

Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

Click any image to enlarge.

MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: St. John's Episcopal Church

Studio Name: Willet Hauser Architectural Glass

City: Royal Oak

Window Shape: 2 (rectangle)

Subject/Title of Window: Zacchaeus and Mary Magdalene

Brief Description of Subject: Originally the bottom two medallions made up one window and the top medallion was added at a later time. These windows were designed for this parish's Gothic styled church which opened in 1926. Subsequently the congregation needed a larger church and replaced this Church with a modern styled church which opened in 1957, and moved all of the stained glass windows to the new Church. This window is located in the Chapel and looks out to the Resurrection Garden.

Top Medallion: Scene taken from "Zacchaeus the Tax Collector," found in Luke 19:1 - 10. Zacchaeus was a wealthy tax collector. As Jesus entered Jericho, Zacchaeus, short in stature, climbed a sycamore-fig tree that he might see Jesus over the crowd. Jesus tells him to come down from the tree and will eventually get him to give half of his wealth to the poor and make restitution to those he has harmed. The scene is surrounded by oak leaves and acorns, a symbol of strength and faith. The inscription at the bottom of this medallion reads "In loving memory A. William Esslinger 1888 - 1945.

Middle Medallion: Scene taken from "Jesus Anointed at Bethany," found in John 12:1 - 8. Six days before Passover, Jesus was given a dinner in Bethany for raising Lazarus from the dead. At the dinner Mary of Bethany, (thought to be the same person as Mary Magdalene), took nard, an expensive perfume, and poured it on Jesus' feet , and wiped his feet with her hair. One of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, proclaimed his disgust, saying, "It would have been better to have sold the nard and given the proceeds to the poor." (The Gospel explains that Judas was a thief and keeper of the money bag, and was only interested in taking the money for himself.) Jesus replied "You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me, (Verse 8 NIV)."The scene is surrounded by oak leaves and acorns.

Bottom Medallion: Scene taken from "Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene," found in John 20:10 - 18. On Easter Sunday, a crying Mary Magdalene had gone to Jesus' tomb, but found it empty. She saw two angels that inquired, "Why are you weeping?" She responded, "They have taken my Lord." When she turned around, she saw Jesus but didn't recognize him, mistaking him for the gardener. So she asked him, "Where have they taken the body?" Jesus said to her "Mary". At that moment, she recognized it was the risen Lord. The scene is surrounded by oak leaves and acorns. Below is the inscription, "To the glory of God. In loving memory Nora Edith Paton Robinson." Church records indicate this was a gift from her family and friends, and dedicated September 1947. At the bottom of this medallion is the signature of the maker, however only the "Willet Studio" is visible.

Inscriptions: In loving memory A. William Esslinger 1888 - 1945
To the glory of God. In loving memory of Nora Edith Paton Robinson 1870 - 1946


Condition of Window: Good

Height: 21"

Width: 17"

Type of Glass and Technique: Lead Came

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