Stained Glass banner image

Featured Window

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

Click any image to enlarge.




Window

Building Name: St. Andrew Catholic Church

Studio Name: Emil Frei Associates, Inc.

City: Saginaw

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

Date of Window: 1912

Subject/Title of Window: To Ransom the Captives

Brief Description of Subject: From Faith in Stained Glass Saint Andrew Church booklet by Michael Bell, published August 15, 1976.

To Ransom the Captives-Sebastian
Sebastian, like Martin of Tours, was a soldier in the service of Rome. For his Christian beliefs he was sentenced to death by the Emperor Diocletian. He was supposed to be executed by a firing squad of archers which explains why he is often pictured pierced by arrows. He recovered from these wounds, however, and met his end when he publicly confronted the Emperor who thought Sebastian already dead. Diocletian ordered him beaten to death on the spot. The window depicts the time in Sebastian's life when he entered the Roman prisons to bolster up the faith of some of the Christians there. He so impressed the jailor and officials that they released the prisoners and were themselves baptized. Today, most of the events of Sebastian's life are considered legendary, although his actual existence is not questioned.

Condition of Window: Good

Height: 15

Width: 3

Type of Glass and Technique: Antique or Cathedral Glass

To Ransom Captives
To Ransom Captives

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