Featured Window

Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: St. John Cantius Catholic Church (closed 2007)

Studio Name: Detroit Stained Glass Works, The

City: Detroit

Window Shape: 6 (gothic arched, more than 2 vertical sections)

Subject/Title of Window: Assumption

Brief Description of Subject: Background: The Assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven is the 4th of the "Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary". The Assumption is not covered in the Bible. There are no recorded witnesses to the event thus artists are free to use their imagination of what it might have looked like. The Mary of the Assumption is most often, as in this window, pictured as the woman described by John in Revelations 12:1 "and a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars.". The reason they believe she was Mary is that woman (Rev.12:5) "brought forth a male child, one who is to rule the nations with an iron scepter, but her child was brought up to God and his throne". Like the Assumption, The Immaculate Conception has no direct scriptures to guide artists. Most commonly, they also portray Mary as described in Rev.12:1, thus pictures of those two events can look very similar. For Example, Bartolome Murillo painted the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception many times and it is very difficult to figure out which are of the Assumption and which are of the Immaculate Conception. The left panel of this window is very similar to those works by Murillo.
 
Description of Window: At top is a picture of a woman saint, probably Mary, as the window is about her and the donor is a women's fraternal organization. The scene below features Mary on the left panel standing amidst clouds (heaven). On Her head is a halo which is surrounded by the light of the sun. She has her arms folded with hands on her heart and her clothes are colored blue (heaven) and white (purity). She is standing on a crescent moon and at her feet are putti, one of which is pointing up (heaven). Right panel, again in clouds (heaven), features a praying angel and putti -- one pointing up and carrying a bouquet of red roses (joy of heaven) and the other also pointing up and holding on to lilies (sign of purity).

Inscriptions: Inscription: Ofiarowal Zwiazek Polek (w Ameryce). Translation: Donated by the Polish Women's Alliance of America

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.

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