Saint Louis King of France Master
St. Louis King of France Catholic Church, Austin, Texas
“Beauty, then, is not mere decoration, but rather an essential element of the liturgical action, since it is an attribute of God himself and his revelation. These considerations should make us realize the care which is needed, if the liturgical action is to reflect its innate splendour.”
Pope Benedict XVI
Church of the Transfiguration, Philadelphia
History
All of the stained glass windows in the St. Louis chapel came from the Church of the Transfiguration in Philadelphia. The following is a brief history of that church out of respect for those who loved these windows as much as we do now.
The Church of the Transfiguration of Our Lord in Philadelphia began as a small wooden structure built on farmland in 1905, but by the 1920s the parish has expanded to warrant a larger building for worship.
In 1925, a lower level of the new church was constructed and open to services, while the more elaborate upper level was worked on and completed in 1928. This new edifice was one of Philadelphia's largest churches at the time, and the combined levels could seat over 2,100 people.
Designed by Henry D. Dagit, the exterior was of a solid stone construction, and faience tiles and mosaics adorned the interior in almost every corner.
The windows originated from world-famous Zettler stained glass in Munich, and twelve varieties of marble clad the pillars, altars, and steps were quarried from Italy and France. A massive 1,200 sq. ft. mosaic was installed above the altar depicting the Crucifixion, using 3/8 square glass tiles set by hand. The church was affectionately nicknamed "Transy" by the local parishioners in later years.
When the area's demographic began to shift away from the Irish Catholic families who worshiped here, the parish's congregation dwindled, as did the funds needed to maintain this massive structure. In 2000, the church merged with St. Carthage, however the Archdiocese opted to keep Carthage's building and shuttered the historic Transfiguration campus instead of making the necessary repairs and maintenance.
It was soon purchased by a con-artist who promised to transform various closed churches into community centers, but spent the money on himself until he was sent to prison.
The property was subsequently bought by The Boys' Latin of Philadelphia Charter School, who, only being interested in the school that was on the property, quickly proceeded to demolish the rectory and church. In 2009, almost all of Transfiguration's beautiful tile work, marble, and limestone carvings were destroyed and tossed into a landfill despite local efforts to salvage these materials.
References: https://opacity.us/site269_transfiguration_of_our_lord.htm
https://www.abandonedamerica.us/church-of-transfiguration
https://philadelphiastudies.org/category/church-of-the-transfiguration/
Church of the Transfiguration, Philadelphia.
This shows the seven sacraments as originally installed over the main altar. Most of the stained glass windows in the St Mary Cathedral in Austin were made by Zettler as well.
Church of the Transfiguration, Philadelphia
A closer view of the seven sacrament windows over the altar in the original church.
Church of the Transfiguration in Philadelphia
The original installation of the windows. The Amos window is on the left; the Zacharias window is on the right. Because of space constraints, Saint Louis did not acquire the large windows in the center. All of these windows were made by the world-famous F.X. Zettler Studio.
St. Louis Chapel
The icon in the center of the apse in the chapel is the pantocrator (or pantokrator), an ancient Christian icon. The icon of Christ Pantocrator is one of the most common religious images of Orthodox Christianity. In the Medieval eastern roman church art and architecture, an iconic mosaic or fresco of Christ Pantocrator occupies the space in the central dome of the church, in the half-dome of the apse, or on the nave vault. At St. Louis, the Christ Pantocrator is the dominant icon in the chapel, and can be seen on the half-dome of the apse.
Interestingly, although common in Eastern Orthodoxy, the Christ Pantocrator is less commonly seen in western (Roman Catholic) churches. However, the "Christ Pantocrator" watches over Christian pilgrims from the Catholicon Dome inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem.
In the icon, Christ is shown with his right hand symbolizing a blessing, and cradled in his left arm is the New Testament.
The letters IC HC represent the name of Jesus Christ in Greek. In Greek, Jesus Christ is IHCOYC XPICTOC. By taking the first and last letter of each word, the monogram IC XC is formed.
Christ's fingers are depicted in a pose that represents the letters IC, X and C, thereby making the Christogram ICXC (for Jesus Christ).
If you look closely, you will see that the two sides of the face of Christ are asymmetrical. This symbolizes that Christ is both man and God in one.
Notice that the books of the New Testament are closed. The book are closed when the icon is showing Jesus Christ as God. There are versions of the icon showing the books open, and this symbolizes Jesus Christ the Teacher.
Saint Louis Vespers 4 Aug 2019
Blue in iconography represents transcendence, mystery, and the divine. It is the color of the sky and as a result is viewed as a heavenly color.
Red in contrast is seen as an earthly color, the color of blood.
Jesus is typically depicted in icons with a blue outer garment and a red inner garment, symbolizing how divinity wraps his humanity.
Mary on the other hand is seen with a red outer garment and a blue inner garment, representing how she carried divinity (Jesus) within her humanity.
View of chapel during vespers
Saint Louis Chapel and seven sacrament windows with choir
View of choir and apse (filtered)
From Saint Louis Chapel
Mary icon
Icons are representations of the Heavenly. They are expressions of our faith, teaching, and worship.
The Greek word for "Icon" is, "Αγιογραφία," which can be separated into two words:
Άγιο, meaning Holy or not of this world (Heavenly)
Γράφω, meaning to write
In this way, icons are said to be written rather than painted.From Saint Louis Chapel
Mary icon
Left of the altar is the icon of Mary as the Mother of Christ (in the Roman Catholic Church, the Madonna). This icon is usually present on the left side of the iconostasis in the Orthodox church as in our chapel.
In this icon, Mary is identified as the Mother of God by the letters ΜΡ ΘΥ which is an abbreviation of the Greek Meter Theou - the Mother of God. In Eastern Orthodoxy, she is known as the Theotokos. In the Roman Catholic Church, this she is known as Mater Dei, the Madonna.
Mary is shown wearing a veil typical of Jewish women of the period, an historical fact no doubt, but which also reveals to us her humility and piety. The veil is red, the color of divinity, whilst the clothes under the veil are blue, the colors of humanity. Although she looks directly at the viewer, her right hand is directing our attention to the Infant cradled in her left arm.
Mary is shown holding the Christ Child. The letters around the Christ Child are the same (and mean the same) as the Pantocrator on the ceiling of the apse.
The three-dimensional aspect of the icon as well as the liberal use of shadow indicates Roman Catholic art rather than Orthodox iconography.From Saint Louis Chapel
Mary icon
Filtered with added contrast
Blue in iconography represents transcendence, mystery, and the divine. It is the color of the sky and as a result is viewed as a heavenly color.
Red in contrast is seen as an earthly color, the color of blood.
Jesus is typically depicted in icons with a blue outer garment and a red inner garment, symbolizing how divinity wraps his humanity.
Mary on the other hand is seen with a red outer garment and a blue inner garment, representing how she carried divinity (Jesus) within her humanity.From Saint Louis Chapel
Jesus Christ icon
To the right of this altar is a unique illustration of Christ Pantocrator (from the shoulders up) combined with the Divine Mercy of Christ as shown to Saint Faustina.
As in the Orthodox Church, this icon showing Christ as an adult (fully formed, as opposed to the Christ Child held by Mary) is placed to the right of the Holy Doors (in the Orthodox Church) and the three steps that lead up to the chancel.
Remember that all aspects of Eastern Orthodox iconography adhere to traditional iconographic methods. The composition, theme, meaning, and aesthetic criteria – each detail is regulated by a set of standards developed in the 11th-13th centuries. The Roman Catholic Church has no such canon, and therefore the iconographer has much more freedom to develop their art.
This Catholic icon is also reminiscent of the original painting Divine Mercy by Eugene Kazimirowski based on the words of St. Faustina. The first apparition of Divine Mercy appeared to St. Faustina on February 22, 1931.
This icon is a perfect example of such freedom, the marrying of the Christ Pantocrator (dating to the 7th Century) with Christ as Divine Mercy (an apparition that came to Saint Faustina in the 20th Century!).
The panocrator aspect of this image shows the Greek letters Ὁ Ὤ Ν in the halo around Christ's head. These are the Greek letters (omicron, omega, nu) which are an abbreviation of the Greek “the being” or more precisely “He who is”. The letters above Christ's shoulders (IC XC) are the abbreviation for the Greek "Jesus Christ."
Below are the words "Jesus, I trust in you" (The depiction contains the message "Jesus I trust in you" (Polish: Jezu ufam Tobie). Jesus told St. Faustina; “The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is — trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive” (Diary, 1578).From Saint Louis Chapel
Jesus Christ icon
Jesus is shown as raising his right hand in blessing and pointing with his left hand on the Sacred Heart from which flow forth two rays: one red and one pale. The rays that stream out have symbolic meanings: red for the blood of Jesus, and pale for the water (which justifies souls) that flowed from his side..
FilteredFrom Saint Louis Chapel
Samuel Judge
Left Windows #1
Samuel, Judge
Bright
These images have been brightened and corrected from the source image.
Interestingly, the theme of the window is established by the first pane, usually a prophet or judge from the Old Testament. Then, the panes are organized from the top down. In this gallery, I have reorganized the panes so that the thematic structure is more easily understood. The images of the entire windows are how they are seen in the chapel at St. Louis.
Samuel Judge
Left Windows #1
Samuel, Judge
Source
This is the original image with a dark exposure that avoided the washing out of the windows.
Samuel Judge - Pane #1
Left Windows #1
Pane #1
Reading: "So he took his firstborn, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a burnt offering upon the wall. The wrath against Israel was so great that they gave up the siege and returned to their own land." II Kings: III:27
1) Samuel Judge (left window #1, bottom panel)
2) Daniel window (left window #2, pane #4)
3) Zacharias window (left window #4, pane #1)
4) Eli window (right window #1, pane #1)
In each case, OT prophets are shown dressed as high priests, wearing ephods and a distinctive headdress. Ephods were embroidered linen rectangles worn on the chest, to which a jeweled breastplate was attached. The Biblical references are Exodus 28:4-30, 29:5, 39:2-21; Leviticus 8:7-8.
The same passages specify that the high priest should wear a "mitre" (in the Douai-Rheims; the NRSV translated it as "turban") in Exodus 28:36-7, which specifies that a gold plate to be worn on the front of the turban); same in Exodus 39:29-30. Leviticus 8.9 also places such a plate on the front of the turban.
The mitres worn by the OT prophets in the windows are more like crowns, with protrusions off to the sides. As such, they follow in a western Christian artistic tradition that became fully established by the 15th century, a design something like a bishop's mitre worn sideways. The design might also have been prompted by some vague awareness of crowns worn by eastern Orthodox clergy. Rabbis are often shown, in both Italian and Northern Renaissance art, wearing a headdress divided down the middle, giving rise to exaggerated protrusions, as seen in the windows.
Samuel Judge
Left Windows #1
Pane #5
Reading: "But the Pharaisees said: Thou hast a devil." Matthew IX:34
John VII:19-20 is another verse that perhaps more accurately explains this panel.
Samuel Judge
Left Windows #1
Pane #4
Reading: "The chief [and] priests appointed him thirty pieces of silver." Matthew XXVI:15
Notice that the chief priest is handing a bag marked XXX to Judas.
Samuel Judge
Left Windows #1
Pane #3
Reading: "And Jesus said to Ischariot: Friend, where to art thou come?" Matthew XXVI:50
Samuel Judge
Left Windows #1
Pane #2
Reading: "Away with this man, release unto us Barabbas." Luke XXIII:18
Daniel
Left Windows #2
Pane #5
Reading: "Before the cock crow, thou wilt deny me thrice. Matthew XXVI:75
Look closely and you will see the cock crowing over the head of Peter. Jesus is in the upper left being led away with his cross, looking back at Peter.
Daniel
Left Windows #2
Pane #4
Reading: "And the high priest said: If thou be the Christ: Tell us." Luke XXII:66
Daniel
Left Windows #2
Pane #3
Reading: "Herod questioned him in many words but he answered him nothing." Luke XXIII:9
Daniel
Left Windows #2
Pane #2
Reading: "His blood be upon us and upon our children." Matthew XXVII:25
The entire USCCB reading helps with context:
"When Pilate saw that he was not succeeding at all, but that a riot was breaking out instead, he took water and washed his hands in the sight of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. Look to it yourselves.”
And the whole people said in reply, “His blood be upon us and upon our children.”
Then he released Barabbas to them, but after he had Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified."
The Prophet Amos
Left Windows #3
Pane #1
Reading: "On that day—oracle of the Lord GOD—I will make the sun set at midday and in broad daylight cover the land with darkness." Amos VIII:9
This foreshadows Matthew 27:45 - "From noon onward darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon," the time that Jesus dies on the Cross.
The Prophet Amos is the first Hebrew prophet to have a biblical book named for him.
Amos
Left Windows #3
Pane #5
Reading: "He put forth his hand and took the sword to sacrifice his son." Genesis: XXII:10
If you look closely at the lower left, you will see the ram that is caught in the thicket that will be sacrificed instead of Isaac.
This is the entire reading from Genesis in the USCCS (Gen XX:10-13):
"Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.
“Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the angel. “Do not do the least thing to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you did not withhold from me your son, your only one.”
Abraham looked up and saw a single ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son.*
Amos
Left Windows #3
Pane #4
Reading: "Whosoever being struck shall look on it shall live." Numbers: XX!:8
The full reading in the USCCB is as follows (Numbers XXI:7-9):
"Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray to the LORD to take the serpents from us.”
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses: "Make a seraph and mount it on a pole, and everyone who has been bitten will look at it and recover."
Accordingly Moses made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever the serpent bit someone, the person looked at the bronze serpent and recovered."
Moses appears in two windows, left window #3, panel #4, and right window #3, panel #1. In both cases, Moses is shown with rays of light protruding from his head. In the Douai-Rheims Version, Exodus 34:29: "And when Moses came down from the mount Sinai, he held the two tables of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord." It seems that when St Jerome did his Vulgate translation, he read a Hebrew word as "horns," which may instead have been intended to indicate rays of light.
Amos
Left Windows #3
Pane #3
Reading: "He was wounded for our inequities. He was bruised for our sins." Isaiah 53:5
The spelling for Isaiah shown on this window is "Isaías," which is Spanish for Isaiah. I have no explanation for why.
Amos
Left Windows #3
Pane #2
Reading: "And platting a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head." Matthew XXVII:29
The Prophet Zacharias
Left Windows #4
Pane #1
Zacharias, Prophet
Reading: "And God made the two great lights–the greater light (the sun) to rule the day and the lesser light (the moon) to rule the night. He also made the stars." Zach 13:16
Also Genesis 1:16 "God made the two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night, and the stars."
Zacharias
Left Windows #4
Pane #5
Reading: "And bearing his own cross he went forth to Golgatha." John XIX:17
Zacharias
Left Windows #4
Pane #4
Reading: "Attend and see if there are any sorrow like to my sorrow."
Although there is no reference on the window, this quote is from Lamentations I:12.
Zacharias
Left Windows #4
Pane #3
Reading: "And they wrapped him in fine linen and laid him in a sepulchre [sepulcher]." Luke XXIII:55
Zacharias
Left Windows #4
Pane #2
Reading: "They made the sepulchre [sepulcher] sure, sealing the stone." Matthew XXVII:66
Archaic spelling of sepulcher.
