Featured Window

Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

Click any image to enlarge.

MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: St. Mary's of Redford Church

City: Redford

Window Shape: 3 (arched)

Subject/Title of Window: Comforter of the Afflicted

Brief Description of Subject: The clerestory windows are designed to let light into the Church and all have the same design --- a wide border of stylized lilies and three medallions. The center medallion will contain a symbol for an avocation found in the Litany of Loreto. The avocation in this window is "Comforter of the Afflicted, Pray for us."

Pictured in the center medallion is a lily-of-the-valley. The flowers drooping downwards suggest falling tears, and became known as "Our Lady's Tears" from the legend that as the Virgin Mary wept at the crucifiction of her Son, her tears fell at the foot of the cross and turned into blossoms of the lily-of-the-valley. The suitability of this symbol is described in the Salve Maria Regina Spring 2021 Bulletin on Mary's title as "Comforter of the Afflicted" in the Litany of Loreto:

"Thou art sorrowful and worthy of tears," says the Church in the Gradual of the Mass of the Seven Dolors,"O Virgin Mary, standing near the Cross of the Lord Jesus, Thy Son our Redeemer." One has but to recall the Stabat Mater, the most sublime meditation ever given on the Sorrows of Mary, with its aching prayer to share in Her grief, Her comfort to Her Son: Let me mingle tears with thee, mourning Him Who mourned for me, all the days that I may live. By the Cross with thee to stay, there with thee to weep and pray, is all I ask of thee to give."

Height: ~64"

Width: 36"

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