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

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Window

Building Name: St. Mary Catholic Church

City: Royal Oak

Window Shape: 3 (arched)

Subject/Title of Window: Ark of the Covenant

Brief Description of Subject: This clerestory window is one of 17 windows illuminating titles for the Virgin Mary found in the Litany of Loreto. The title pictured here is "Ark of the Covenant."
Pictured is the Ark of the Covenant as found in Exodus 25:10 - 16, "Make a chest of acacia wood ... overlay it with pure gold ... insert rings on the sides of the chest to carry it. ... And make two cherubim ... at the ends of the cover." The artist of this window has added "I - X" (1 - 10 referring to the tablets of the 10 Commandments).
In theology, The Ark of the Covenant is seen as a "type" of Mary, that is, the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant prefigures some aspect of the Virgin Mary in the New Testament.
The contents of the Ark of the Covenant (Old Testament) as enumerated in Hebrews 9:4 were a golden pot of manna (bread from heaven), the budded rod of Aaron (God's selecting of the first High Priest), and the Law (stone tablets of the 10 Commandments). In the New Testament these describe Christ --- In John 6:51, Christ declares "I am the living bread which came from heaven," In Hebrews 4:14. Christ is "a great High Priest that hath passed into heaven," and in Matthew 5:17, Christ said "Do not think that I am come to destroy the Law, ... I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." Thus for nine months, Mary's womb contained similar contents as that of the Ark of the Covenant.

Height: 10'

Width: 4'

Ark of the Covenant
Ark of the Covenant

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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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