Sentimental (Church Record) Sunday: St Michael Catholic Church, Old Town, Chicago - Stained Glass, West Side

While visiting my son in Chicago, Illinois, in August 2017, I was able to easily walk from the daylight basement apartment where we were staying in Lincoln Park to St. Michael Catholic Church in Old Town.  I made a couple trips there over the week we were visiting.  So far I have written about the exterior and some of its details, as well as a family connection at the rectory doors, the interior in general, and the main altar (the High Altar of Angels), and the four other altars in or next to the sanctuary of the church.  This week is the first of two posts about the stained glass windows.  Click on all photos to make them larger.

The stained glass windows in the nave (the main part) of the church, five windows on each side, were added (along with the five altars) in 1902 for the parish's 50th anniversary.  Franz Mayer & Company from Munich, Germany, designed and produced the windows.   They used precious metals to enhance the rich colors: gold dust for red; cobalt for blue; uranium for green.  The figures in the scenes are dressed in Renaissance-style clothing.

The windows on the west side of the nave depict scenes from the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of  Jesus Christ, and are called the Marian Windows.  Closest to the entrance is the Presentation of Mary at the Temple.

This event was not mentioned in the Gospels, but is part of Roman Catholic tradition, as all children were presented at the temple in those times. Saints Anne and Joaquim (her parents) bring Mary for the presentation. At first, one might think this is the Biblical Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.  The stars in her halo indicate it is Mary (Jesus' halo is a cross signifying the crucifixion to come).  St. Anne (in brown) is an older woman, while Mary as Jesus' mother is always presented as young.




The next window, moving towards the sanctuary, illustrates the Annunciation.







God the Father and the Holy Spirit (in the form of a dove) appear at the upper right.  The angel Gabriel (pictured better here) carries lilies, a sign of Mary's purity, and there is a lily plant in the foreground.  Mary is kneeling on a prie-dieu, and her bare feet signify her humility (humus - "of the earth").  Behind Mary is a horizontal curtain, a symbol of her modesty.




Again, you can see the stars in Mary’s halo.

The center window on the west side is a triplet, representing the Assumption of Mary.  In the top half of the center window, Mary is rising up to the Holy Trinity (Jesus, his Father, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove), who hold her crown to make her Regina Coeli, Queen of Heaven.  Angels surround her, and are also in the top third of the two smaller windows to each side (pictured better here, here, and here).

In the lower half of the main window, apostles and disciples surround Mary’s grave, which is filled with lilies, signifying her purity.

St. Michael's Church [3 September 2014] / Sean Birmingham / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

At the bottom of the center panel are representations of two of the Four Evangelists, Saint Luke (his symbol is an ox or bull), and Saint John (who is represented by an eagle).

The next window depicts The Visitation of Mary to her cousin, Saint Elizabeth. as recorded in the Gospel of Luke, 1:39–56.  Both women are pregnant, Mary with Jesus and Elizabeth with John the Baptist.  The angel Gabriel (pictured better here) also appears in this window, as he brought the message to Elizabeth's husband Zacharias (in purple on the balcony) that he and his wife, childless and older, are now expecting.

Mary again is barefoot, reflecting her humility and that she is poor. It's not clear who the other man (in the hat) is - perhaps Saint Joseph, Mary's husband, as it would have been unlikely that she would have traveled alone.

The final window, closest to the Holy Family or Saint Joseph Altar, represents the Epiphany, when the Three Kings or Three Wise Men visited Mary and Joseph and the infant Jesus.  One of the two angels above the scene (pictured better here, although mislabeled as the Christmas Window) holds a banner that reads Gloria in Excelsis Deo.  You can also see the Star of Bethlehem.

St. Joseph (on the left) and shepherds (with sheep, on the right), watch....

...as Mary and Jesus receive gifts from the Three Kings.

© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.