The Great Western Rose Stained Glass Window by Charles Connick

The church website provides a very detailed description of the Great Western Rose Stained Glass Window by Charles Connick. I copied material from the website describing the individual panels. The first part starts at the left circle in the middle of the photo and goes from left to right.

At the bottom are the 15 Mysteries of the Rosary:

The Glorious Mysteries start on the left: 1) The Resurrection – Jesus conquers death by rising to a new and more glorious life. 2) The Ascension – Jesus ascends to the Father. 3) The Descent of the Holy Spirit – The Holy Spirit comes down upon the disciples and Mary at Pentecost. 4) The Assumption of Mary – The Mother of God is taken up, body and soul, to heaven. 5) The Coronation of Mary – Mary is given a share in Christ’s sovereignty over all things.

In the middle tier are the Sorrowful Mysteries, from left to right: 6) The Agony in the Garden – Jesus sweats blood as he prepares to accept his death on the cross. 7) The Scourging of Jesus at the Pillar – Jesus’ body is whipped and beaten. 8) The Crowning with Thorns – Jesus is cruelly mocked and humiliated by soldiers who crown him with thorns and bow before him. 9) The Carrying of the Cross – Jesus hauls the wood on which he will die to Calvary. 10) The Crucifixion – Jesus is nailed to the cross and dies for our sins.

On the bottom, from left to right, are the five Joyful Mysteries:

11) The Annunciation – Mary humbly accepts the call delivered by the angel to be the mother of the Savior. 12) The Visitation – Mary is recognized as mother of the Savior by her cousin Elizabeth. 13) The Nativity – Jesus is born. 14) The Presentation of the Lord – Jesus is presented in the Temple and prophecies are made about the path of his life. 15) The Finding of Jesus in the Temple – The wisdom and knowledge of Jesus are manifested as he teaches the Temple elders.

Charles Connick (1875-1945) produced the spectacular stained glass windows in the church. Connick was a prominent artist best known for his work in stained glass in the Gothic Revival style. He was born in Crawford Country, Pennsylvania and developed an interest in drawing at an early age. He left high school when his father became disabled to become an illustrator on the staff of the Pittsburgh Press. At the age of 19, he learned the art of stained glass as an apprentice in the shop of Rudy Brothers in Pittsburgh, where he stayed through 1899. He worked for a number of stained glass companies in Pittsburgh and New York. He went to England and France to study ancient and modern stained glass, including those in the Chartres Cathedral. His first major work was First Baptist Church in Pittsburgh in 1912.

Connick settled in Boston opening a stained glass studio in Back Bay in 1913; the Charles J. Connick Associates Studio continued to operate after his death until 1986. He produced many notable windows in such churches as Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Saint John the Divine, the Princeton University Chapel, and Saint Vincent Ferrer. According to Wikipedia, the Charles J. Connick Associates Studio produced some 15,000 windows in more than 5,000 churches and public buildings.

According to Wikipedia, “Connick preferred to use clear "antique" glass, similar to that of the Middle Ages and praised this type of glass as "colored radiance, with the lustre, intensity, and baffling vibrant quality of dancing lights." He employed a technique of "staggered" solder-joints in his leading and bars, which English stained-glass historian Peter Cormack says gives the windows their "syncopated or 'swinging' character." His style incorporated a strong interest in symbolism as well. Connick expressed the opinion that stained glass's first job was to serve the architectural effect and he believed that his greatest contribution to glasswork was "rescuing it from the abysmal depth of opalescent picture windows" of the sort popularized by Louis Comfort Tiffany and John La Farge. Although firmly committed to a regenerated handicraft tradition, Connick welcomed innovation and experimentation in design and technique among his co-workers at his studio.”

According to the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation website “Using pure, intense color and strong linear design, this guild of artists led the modern revitalization of medieval stained glass craftsmanship in the United States. Their work reflected a strong interest in symbolism in design and color, and stressed the importance of the relationship between the window’s design and its surrounding architecture. As if with one mind and one pair of hands, the craftsmen in the Connick Studio worked collectively on their windows like the 12th- and 13th- century artisans whose craft inspired them.”

The Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation was formed after the studio closed in 1986. According to the foundation website “The mission of the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation, Ltd. is to promote the true understanding of the glorious medium of color and light and to preserve and perpetuate the Connick tradition of stained glass.” Here is an interesting video from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Connick. In December 2008, the foundation donated materials to the MIT’s Rotch Library of Architecture and Planning to form the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation Collection.

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