St. Paul’s has some wonderful stained glass windows that are only seen by a select few – members of the congregation who gather for worship on Sunday and Wednesday mornings! You cannot see stained glass artistry from the outside of the building, nor can you see them without natural sunlight. You have to be inside during the day to get the full effect.
All of the stained glass windows in the worship space are memorial gifts and have themes related to the Christian faith. The east window has a central representation of Christ carrying a lamb and illustrating Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Flanking the centre panel are St. Peter on the right and St. Paul on the left. Many of the windows depict scenes from the bible such as the Nativity, Jesus praying in the garden at Gethsemane, and Jesus breaking bread with the two travellers to Emmaus. There is also a version of Holman Hunt’s famous painting of Jesus as the light of the world.
The windows, though installed over the course of many decades, have a common style. The reason for this is that they were all created by the same firm, McCausland of Toronto. McCausland’s is the oldest surviving stained glass studio in North America having been founded in 1856 and continuing to be operated by the same family for five generations. Their reputation for excellence was established early on and they have been the preferred stained glass artists for Anglican churches throughout Canada. The richness of the colours and the quality of the design make them outstanding.
In the narthex (the entrance area) we have several small windows with coloured glass. We’ve been thinking of replacing these with real stained glass images. Currently we have the offer from one parishioner for a window honouring St. Patrick. I can easily see all of the windows becoming icons of saints so that we are compassed about by a great cloud of witnesses as we enter the church.
Another project, more quickly accomplished, is to have photos of our windows on our website. But far better you should come to St. Paul’s and see them for yourselves.
Comment(1)
terry dranitsaris says:
September 7, 2015 at 5:01 pmWhen I look through stained glass I become a time traveller, I am in another world or dare say dimension. I peer into the multifaceted colours and my mind seems to enter into this magnificent window and I get lost in the story. The adventure begins when you peer into long enough and the people the scenery the vibrant colour on the window are singing to you and praising our Lord. I do however think some may think I am slightly strange, and they’d be right. Could one only wish for a moment in time to live on a piece of stained glass telling the people stories from the Bible?
I love stained glass window and have a fine appreciation for it. I own two pieces of stained glass that I inherited from my aunt when she passed away. One is larger that the other.
As too with mine I can stare into that coloured window with figures of people or scenes such as the nativity doing and I get so deeply involved as if I am living in the story. Our imagination endless. God grants people with great abilities and gifts, to have this gift of making stained windows is one of the best gifts of all. Thanks be to God for giving people such talents so they can give Him glory in your houses of worship around the world.