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

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Window

Building Name: Cathedral of St. Paul

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

City: Detroit

Window Shape: 3 (arched)

Date of Window: 1979

Subject/Title of Window: North Clerestory Bay 4-David

Brief Description of Subject: Clerestory Windows

Each of the North Clerestories are named for a "Type of Christ" --- a person or an event which foreshadows or prefigures is some way, Christ, or an event in the life of Christ. The artist has chosen to illustrate this with a montage using material found in the cited scriptures below.

David

David the Psalmist-King, is represented in his window by a myriad of symbols. Anointed by Samuel as a youth, he was eventually chosen as the King of his people. "Christ" in ancient Greek is spelled XPICTOC and means the "anointed one", the name given to Jesus, the "King of the Jews". As David slew Goliath and saved his people so did Christ defeat sin and redeem his people. ("Oh death where is thy sting?") The "Chi-Rho" (XP) is a symbol long used by the Church for Christ (first two Greek letters). Further symbols of the shepherd's staff, ewe and ram, the harp and shield recall David's role as lowly herdsman, court musician and a great war leader.

1 Samuel 16:11 And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep.

1 Samuel 17:40 And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook...and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.

1 Samuel 16:23 .... when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. (Traditionally David had been considered to be the author of the Psalms and as such might have accompanied himself with the harp.)

Donna Swanson Taylor, formerly of Detroit won our national competition held in 1975 for the design of the 36 clerestory windows. She will assist in their construction at the J. & R. Lamb Studios in New Jersey, the company selected to execute and install the windows. Taylor is an accomplished musician as well as a professional artist and teacher.

North Clerestory Bay 4-David
North Clerestory Bay 4-David

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