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

Subject/Title of Window: All Saints

Brief Description of Subject: This window is located behind the altar table in the Children's Chapel. All of the windows in the Chapel were designed to relate to children and provide a learning experience for them.
 
This is one of eight windows in the Chapel that have their roots in a children's song by Lesbia Scott, wife of an Anglican minister. She composed songs for her children to celebrate important feasts of the Church. She composed "I Sing A Song Of The Saints Of God," for All Saint's Day, an especially important day in the Episcopalian Church as it is one of only four days deemed appropriate for Baptism. The song was added to the Episcopal Hymnal as #292 and recommended to be sung on All Saint's Day.
 
This window, titled All Saints, features "saints of God, patient and brave and true, who toiled and fought and lived and died for the Lord they loved and knew," quote from the first two verses of Lesbia Scott's song.
 
Artistically the focal point of this window is the Divine Light of the Dove of the Holy Spirit raining down on the cross and illuminating the faces of the saints. The cross is located directly over the center of the altar table, appropriate for a Church that celebrates the Eucharist.
 
The Episcopal Church has two lists of the most important days in the calendar --- seven Principal Feasts and four Baptismal Feasts. In addition to All Saints Day, which appears on both lists, this window also alludes to some of the others:
 
The Dove of the Holy Spirit is a symbol for Pentecost which appears on both lists.
 
The Holy Spirit coming down from heaven like a Dove onto the cross (Jesus) comes from John's version of Christ's baptism, (John 1:32). The Baptism of the Lord is one of Baptismal feasts.
 
At the bottom right of the window is the Birth of Christ --- The Star of Bethlehem shining down on the Christ Child in a manger; a staff passing through the scene refers to the shepherds that came to pay homage to Christ, the Good Shepherd. Christmas is one of the Principal Feasts. 
 
The cross is a symbol for the Easter Vigil which is on the Baptismal Feasts list.
 
At the bottom left of the window is Noah's Ark which is a symbol for Baptism. This comes from 1Peter 3:20 - 21 (NRSV), In Noah's Ark "eight persons were saved through water, And Baptism, which this transfigured, now saves you ... through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who has gone to heaven." The fact of eight people aboard the ark has led to Baptismal fonts with eight sides. All Saint's day is one of the feasts recommended for Baptism.
 
The window is in the shape of an equilateral triangle, the symbol for the Trinity. With a little imagination, at the vertices of the triangle are the Holy Spirit, the Nativity of the Son, and Noah's Ark which involves the Creator -- The Father. Trinity Sunday is one of the Principal Feasts.

The window was designed by Margreta Overbeck for the Lamb Studios.

Height: 15'

Width: 18'

Type of Glass and Technique: Antique or Cathedral Glass

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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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