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: The Resurrection

Brief Description of Subject: Background: The Resurrection is the first of the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary. All of the canonical Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John cover the story of the Resurrection starting with the discovery of the open tomb on Sunday however there is no scriptural writing describing the actual moment of the Resurrection itself. Artists are thus left to their own imagination if they want to depict this. Starting in the 16th Century to roughly the 18th Century, depictions of the Resurrection showing Christ hovering in the air were outlawed -- his feet needed to be on the ground. Some ideas became pretty much standard especially that of the risen Christ holding a white banner with a red cross. This symbol was first used on Roman shields in the era of Constantine and later was used by the Crusaders. It symbolized Christ's Resurrection as a victory over death.Only the Gospel of Matthew 27:65 and Matt 28:11-15 mention that there were guards placed at the tomb . All of the Gospels mention that what has been interpreted as an angel or angels present after the Resurrection.

Description of Window: At the top is the Archangel Michael, wings and dressed in armor and pointing to heaven. Among other things, Michael is associated with the second coming of Christ -- the day of the Last Judgment. The scene below features a risen Christ with his feet on the ground, holding a banner with a red cross. Next to the rock that had sealed the tomb is an angel kneeling and holding a palm frond which symbolizes victory over death. There are two guards, one looks to the risen Christ in awe and the other is recoiling in fear.

Inscriptions: Inscription Ofiarowali Jozef i Julianna Plaszczyca. Translation from Polish: Donated by Joseph and Julie Plaszczyca

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