Featured Window

Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: St. James Episcopal Church

Studio Name: Lamb (J. and R.) Co.

City: Birmingham

Window Shape: 2 (rectangle)

Subject/Title of Window: Blessed Are The Meek - The Virgin Mary

Brief Description of Subject: This is the fourth of six windows that use a Saint to illustrate one of the Beatitudes. The third Beatitude is "Blessed are the meek: For they shall inherit the earth," Matthew 5:5 KJV. For this window, the Virgin Mary has been chosen to illustrate this Beatitude.
 
The window depicts the Virgin Mary at the moment of the Annunciation. Thus the dove of the Holy Spirit and the rays of light preceding from Heaven spread over the upper pane. Mary is shown wearing the traditional undergarment of red, and the cloak of the heavenly Madonna blue. Surrounding her feet are the blossoming flowers, symbolic of new birth and life coming into being.
 
In the borders are woven in an unobtrusive way, a series of symbols for titles of the Virgin Mary. Marian titles with symbols in parenthesis: Morning Star (star), Mother of Divine Grace (fountain, her Son is the Fountain of Grace), Mystical Rose (thornless rose), House of Gold (house with gold "M" on top), Tower of David (tower with 6 pointed star above), Gate of Heaven (stairway leading up to an entryway), Virgin of Virgins (lily), Queen (crown with Marian monogram below). Also, woven throughout, appear the Rose Thorn blossoming into little roses standing for the pain of Sacrificial Love,
 
Below Mary appears the inscription of the Beatitude, one particularly fitting for the Handmaiden of God.

Inscriptions: Mary
Blessed Are The Meek For They Shall Inherit The Earth


Height: 57"

Width: 37"

Type of Glass and Technique: Antique or Cathedral Glass

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.

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