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

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Window

Building Name: St. John's Episcopal Church

Studio Name: Willet Hauser Architectural Glass

City: Royal Oak

Window Shape: 2 (rectangle)

Date of Window: 1943

Subject/Title of Window: St. Simon the Zealot

Brief Description of Subject: This window was 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. They moved the stained glass windows to the new church. This window is now located on the second level of the facade, which features the Apostles.

This is the "St. Simon the Zealot Window," and is bordered with geometric patterns as well as pictures of animals, boats, angels, buildings, et alia.

The top level depicts an angel holding a shield with a fish on a boat hook, symbolizing he was a missionary --- a fisher of men.

Below this is the figure of Simon holding a Bible with a fish atop it, symbolizing a fisher of men through the power of the Gospel, and a saw, in legend, the instrument used in his martyrdom. Above his figure is the scene of an angel speaking to St. Jude and St. Simon and the inscription, "choose ye one of two things." The scene and quote (inscription was slightly altered from the archaic English) are found in Chapter 159 of the "Golden Legend" by Jacobus Voragine (1275) as translated into English by William Caxton (1483). St. Jude and St. Simon were evangelizing in Mesopotamia and entered the town of Suamar. There, 70 priests demanded they either make sacrifices to their idol or be put to death. "And then the angel of the Lord appeared unto the Apostles, and said to them: 'CHOOSE YE OF TWO THINGS THAT ONE, that is either that this people be suddenly dead or slain, or that ye be martyred.' To whom they said: 'We will that thou convert them here, and lead us to the pain of martyrdom.' " Through God, Jude and Simon exposed the idols, and the people were converted. The priests were so outraged, they seized the two Apostles and sawed them in half.

Below the figure is the inscription "St. Simon," and a memorial inscription. Only the very top of the memorial inscription is visible. Church records show that the window was given in memory of Cyril Riddell and his wife, Bernice as a gift from Cyril's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Riddell and dedicated December 5, 1943.

Inscriptions: Choose ye one of two things
St. Simon


Condition of Window: Good

Type of Glass and Technique: Lead Came

St. Simon
St. Simon
St. Simon top
St. Simon top
St. Simon bottom
St. Simon bottom

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