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Featured Window

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

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Window

Building Name: St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church

City: Detroit

Window Shape: 5 (gothic arched, 2 vertical sections)

Subject/Title of Window: Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

Brief Description of Subject: This is the last of 10 aisle windows depicting scenes in the life of Christ. With one exception, they are arranged in chronological order starting on the Epistle side.
 
The canopy features a five pointed star on a cross. The five pointed star is the "Star of Bethlehem." The five points symbolize the five wounds of Christ.
 
The entire story of Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene is covered in John 20:10 - 18. According to John, this is the first appearance of the risen Christ. The artist has based the scene on an existing painting of verses 16 and 17. At the empty tomb, a grieving Mary did not recognize Christ until "Jesus said to her, 'Mary.' She turned toward him and cried ... 'Teacher!' Jesus said, 'Do not touch me, for I have not yet returned to the Father.' "
 
The design for this window features a kneeling Mary looking up at the resurrected Christ. He is gesturing to her not to touch him and is pointing to heaven.
 
In using an already existing artwork for the design of a two lancet  window, a maker is confronted with the problem of the mullion dividing the space in two. This will necessitate design changes from the original. 
 
In the predella is inscribed the name of a donor, however it is no longer visible. In a photo taken years ago, the left pane indicated the donor was the Society of St. Joseph. 
 
The stained glass windows in the Church were restored in 2002.

Inscriptions: Bractwo Sw. Jozefa


Height: 12'

Width: 4' 6"

Type of Glass and Technique: Opalescent Glass

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene close-up
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene close-up
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene painting
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene painting

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