The neoclassical facade of the colonial-era Catedral Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in Santiago de Cuba, southeastern Cuba. As Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba from 1851 to 1857, St. Anthony Mary Claret used this cathedral as his primary pastoral seat, tirelessly preaching to the public and overseeing structural recovery efforts after a devastating earthquake left the building in ruins in 1852. Faced with widespread poverty, illness, and systemic inequalities, he championed the people’s well-being by establishing hospitals, schools, and diverse family-owned farms to combat the economic hardships of the local populations and enslaved workers. Photo Credit: BluesyPete / CC BY-SA 3.0
St. Anthony Mary Claret (1807-1870) combined intense personal holiness with tireless missionary activity, becoming one of the nineteenth century’s most influential Catholic reformers. From preaching missions and extensive pamphlet writing across Spain and the Canary Islands to servingas Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Claret devoted his life to evangelization, education, social justice, and the reform of Church and society.
Photograph of Saint Anthony Mary Claret taken by Jean Laurent in 1862. At the time, Claret was serving as personal confessor to Queen Isabella II of Spain. The year marked a particularly productive period in his ministry, including the completion of his celebrated Autobiography in May, an intensive six-week preaching campaign during which he delivered more than 200 sermons to laypeople, clergy, seminarians, and charitable communities, and important developments in the growth of the Claretian order he had founded. Public Domain.
Early Spiritual Awakening
St. Anthony Mary Claret (1807-1870), whose feast day is October 24, was one of the great missionaries and social reformers of the nineteenth-century Catholic Church.
Born in Sallent, Catalonia, Spain, Anthony grew up in a devout Catholic family. At the age of five, lying awake one night, he reflected on God, judgment, Heaven, and Hell, lessons he had learned from his parents. As he tried to comprehend eternity, he became deeply troubled by the thought of souls separated forever from God’s love. The experience left a profound impression on him and inspired a lifelong desire to bring others closer to Christ.
Devotion to Mary and Extraordinary Graces
Throughout his life, Anthony reported receiving visions and special spiritual consolations, although he spoke of them only when doing so might strengthen the faith of others.
In his autobiography, he recounts an incident from his youth when he was swept out to sea by a powerful wave while wading near a beach with friends. Unable to swim and facing almost certain death, he prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary for help. Moments later, he found himself safely on shore. Anthony viewed the event as a sign of Mary’s maternal protection and frequently encouraged others to seek her intercession in times of danger and distress.
A panoramic view of Sallent from the castle, located in Catalonia, Spain, the historic birthplace of St. Anthony Mary Claret. Anthony Mary Claret was born in this small manufacturing town on December 23, 1807. The Llobregat River running through the town powered the local textile industry. Claret spent his youth here working as a weaver in his father’s textile mill, mastering the trade before moving to Barcelona to further his studies in manufacturing.Photo Credit: Joan / CC BY 3.0
Missionary Across Spain and the Canary Islands
Ordained a priest in 1835, Anthony quickly became known as one of Spain’s most dynamic and effective preachers. Unable to enter the foreign missions because of poor health, he instead devoted himself to missionary work throughout Catalonia and the Canary Islands, often traveling on foot from town to town. His powerful sermons attracted enormous crowds, and he became renowned for his ability to communicate Catholic teaching in a direct and compelling manner.
Recognizing the growing influence of the printed word, he also published books, pamphlets, and catechetical materials on a massive scale, making religious instruction accessible to ordinary people. In 1849, he founded the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, today known as the Claretians.
A Lifelong Admiration for the Jesuits
As a young priest, Anthony Mary Claret felt strongly drawn to the missionary spirit of the Society of Jesus. In 1839, he traveled to Rome and entered the Jesuit novitiate, hoping to dedicate himself to missionary work abroad. Although recurring health problems forced him to leave before completing his formation, the experience left a lasting mark on him.
Claret never lost his admiration for the Jesuits. He was deeply influenced by their discipline, intellectual rigor, missionary zeal, and devotion to the service of the Church. Throughout his life, he maintained close relationships with members of the order and frequently recommended the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola as a means of spiritual growth. The Jesuit emphasis on evangelization, education, and obedience to the Church resonated strongly with Claret’s own vocation and would help shape his ministry as a preacher, founder, bishop, and reformer. Even though he did not remain a Jesuit, he carried many Ignatian ideals into the missionary work that made him one of the most influential Catholic figures of nineteenth-century Spain and Cuba.
Historic photograph depicts St. Anthony Mary Claret engaged in his extensive writing ministry, commonly referred to as his “apostolate of the pen.” It was taken by French photographer Antoine René Trinquart in Paris in December 1868. Public Domain.
Archbishop and Reformer in Cuba
Later in 1849, Pope Pius IX appointed Anthony Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, a position he held until 1857. His years in Cuba were among the most demanding and fruitful of his ministry.
He traveled tirelessly throughout his vast archdiocese, preaching missions, hearing confessions, founding schools, and promoting religious education. Determined to improve both the spiritual and material conditions of the people, he established savings banks, supported agricultural initiatives, aided the poor, and spoke out against abuses associated with slavery. Local, wealthy landowners and plantation owners reacted to St. Anthony Mary Claret’s reforms with intense and often violent hostility. Because Cuba’s wealthy elite relied heavily on a rigid, slave-reliant agricultural monopoly, they viewed his social and economic initiatives as an existential threat to their power. By dividing land, teaching modern agricultural techniques, and encouraging poor peasants and enslaved workers to run self-sufficient family farms, he threatened the cheap labor supply that major sugar plantations depended on.
Preaching Human Dignity
His fierce advocacy for racial equality, the defense of enslaved workers, and his efforts to legitimize marriages across racial lines directly disrupted the social order the plantation owners fought to maintain control over.
Anthony also undertook sweeping reforms of the clergy. Priests were required to demonstrate their ability to celebrate Mass properly and to fulfill their pastoral duties. He famously argued that it was better for a village to have no priest than to have an unworthy one. In his records explaining why he refused to ordain or assign substandard candidates, he wrote his full reasoning: “If God does not send me men who are truly called, God himself will have to take care of the men and souls by means of his angels. A call is God’s gift. I must not bring the unworthy into the sheepfold to destroy it instead of tending it.” His insistence on moral reform extended to society at large as he preached forcefully against adultery, concubinage, and other practices he believed undermined Christian family life.
His efforts won him widespread admiration among the faithful but also powerful enemies among those whose interests were threatened. The elite tried to silence him by launching a series of smear campaigns, labeling him a dangerous subversive, and hiring hitmen to eliminate him. In 1856, he survived a violent assassination attempt in Holguín, Cuba, where an assassin slashed his face and arm with a knife. Yet he responded with forgiveness and mercy toward his attacker and later successfully advocated to commute his attacker’s death sentence to a prison term.
Cloister garden of Fontfroide Abbey, founded in 1093 by Aymeric I, Viscount of Narbonne. In 1870, St. Anthony Mary Claret found refuge here after fleeing political persecution in Spain. Sheltered by the abbey’s Cistercian monks and hidden for his own safety within these ancient walls, Claret spent his final weeks walking, praying, and preparing for death among these Gothic cloisters constructed largely in the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries. He died peacefully at Fontfroide on October 24, 1870. Photo Credit: Nancy / CC BY-SA 4.0
First Vatican Council, Exile, and Death (1870)
St. Anthony Mary Claret died in exile on October 24, 1870, at the Cistercian Monastery of Fontfroide near Narbonne in southern France at the age of 62. Following the Glorious Revolution of 1868, which deposed Queen Isabella II, Claret fled Spain alongside the royal family. After spending time in Paris and attending the First Vatican Council in Rome—where he spoke ardently in favor of Papal Infallibility—his presence continued to draw intense hostility from his Spanish political enemies, a powerful coalition of anticlerical revolutionaries, radical liberals, and Freemasons.
Because Claret was the Queen’s personal confessor, the new radical secular government viewed him as a dangerous political opponent and a symbol of the monarchy they were determined to destroy. They weaponized the legal system against him, trumping up political charges of treason and subversion to justify his arrest, suppress his religious orders, and seize Church property. Suffering from rapidly failing health, Claret initially sought peace with an exiled Claretian community in Prada de Conflent in the French Pyrenees. However, when Spanish government agents and diplomats tracked him there to execute the warrant, he was forced to flee once more in the middle of the night.
He found his final sanctuary at the isolated Cistercian Abbey of Sainte-Marie de Fontfroide near Narbonne and the Spanish border, where the monks shielded him under practical house arrest for his own safety. He passed away peacefully at the monastery shortly after his arrival, succumbing to his illnesses. Although he was initially buried in France, his remains were later returned to his homeland and are entombed today at the Claretian sanctuary in Vic, Spain.
Legacy of a Missionary Saint
St. Anthony Mary Claret was officially recognized by the Catholic Church as Venerable in 1899 by Pope Leo XIII; Beatified in 1934 by Pope Pius XI; and formally canonized a saint on May 7, 1950, by Pope Pius XII.
St. Anthony Mary Claret was a preacher, publisher, missionary, bishop, social reformer, and founder. Whether traveling through rural Spain, evangelizing in the Canary Islands, or reforming the Church in Cuba, he was driven by a profound concern for the salvation of souls and the welfare of the poor. Remembered as the “Spiritual Father of Cuba,” he remains a powerful example of missionary zeal, devotion to Mary, and courageous Christian leadership.
Feature image: Exterior of Holy Trinity Polish Catholic Church, Shots of Holy Trinity Polish Mission can be seen throughout 20th Century-Fox’s 1948 film noir Call Northside 777 starring James Stewart, the first Hollywood feature film to be shot on location in Chicago. July 2013. Author’s photograph.
Holy Trinity Polish Catholic Church in Chicago is more than an architectural landmark. Through its art, stained glass, icons, and devotional imagery, it preserves the religious faith, national memory, and spirit of endurance that sustained Poles through foreign occupation, war, communism, and immigration to the United States.
Founding of a Polish Landmark
Holy Trinity Parish was founded in 1872 to relieve overcrowding at St. Stanislaus Kostka, Chicago’s first Polish parish. The Congregation of the Holy Cross was chosen to serve the new congregation under the leadership of Father Casimir Sztuczko, CSC. From its earliest years, Holy Trinity became closely associated with the Polish National Alliance, as many of the organization’s most active members belonged to the parish.
During the twentieth century, Holy Trinity stood at the heart of Chicago’s historic Polish community. However, construction of the Kennedy Expressway through the center of Polish Downtown displaced thousands of residents and marked the beginning of a long demographic decline for the parish. Despite these changes, Holy Trinity remained an important cultural and spiritual center for Polish Americans.
Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy attended Mass at Holy Trinity during the festivities surrounding Chicago’s annual Polish Constitution Day Parade in 1961. Administration of the parish passed to the Resurrectionists in 1975 and later to the Society of Christ Fathers in 1988, who continue to serve the congregation today. On September 14, 2006, Polish Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński visited Holy Trinity and attended a Mass celebrated during his Chicago visit.
Holy Trinity has also appeared on the silver screen. Exterior views of the church can be seen throughout Call Northside 777 (1948), starring James Stewart, the first Hollywood feature film shot on location in Chicago.
Building the Present Church
By the turn of the twentieth century, parish growth demanded a larger church. Initial designs were prepared by Herman Olszewski, better known by his artistic pseudonym Von Herbulis. Because of financial limitations, the plans were scaled back and refined by Chicago architect William Krieg. Construction began in 1905, and the magnificent new church was completed in October 1906.
The imposing façade combines several architectural traditions. Twin towers frame a monumental entrance portico supported by four Corinthian columns. The lower stages of the towers feature Corinthian pilasters and classical pediments, while the upper levels become increasingly Baroque in character, culminating in ornate cupolas. Above the portico rises a dramatic Baroque superstructure of brick and stone, while iron framing supports the segmental vaults and tower interiors. Gothic and Romanesque influences appear throughout the church’s windows and decorative details.
Architecture Inspired by Poland
The church’s eclectic design reflects the architectural history of Poland itself. Many medieval Polish churches evolved over centuries, rebuilt after wars, fires, and other disasters, often incorporating the artistic tastes of successive generations. Frequently, renovations were halted when funds ran out, resulting in interiors and exteriors executed in entirely different styles.
Holy Trinity deliberately follows this tradition. Its mixture of Classical, Gothic, Romanesque, and Baroque elements evokes the appearance of many historic churches in Poland and would have offered immigrant parishioners a powerful reminder of the homeland they had left behind.
A Monumental Interior
The church interior remains remarkably intact and retains much of its original appearance. Measuring approximately 125 by 200 feet, the sanctuary is both spacious and richly ornamented. Iron construction made it possible to create broad vaulted spaces without the forest of support columns found in many churches of comparable scale.
Murals depicting religious scenes cover the walls and ceilings, including compositions honoring the patron saints of Poland. Every stained-glass window was selected to reflect symbols familiar to Polish immigrants. Among the most prominent are depictions of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa and Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn. Other windows portray Polish saints, martyrs, national emblems such as the Polish eagle, and traditional folkloric motifs.
The church’s interior decoration was executed by K. Markiewicz in 1914, while the large vault murals were completed in 1926. Most of the stained-glass windows, selected in 1940 and ultimately installed in 1955, were created by noted Polish artist Irena Lorentowicz.
Sacred Memorials and National Memory
Holy Trinity also serves as a repository of Polish historical memory. In 1990, a statue of Our Lady Queen of Emigrants by Professor Wiktor Zin was installed and blessed by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. Two years later, an urn containing soil from Kharkiv, Katyn, and Mednoye was placed in the church. Each site contains mass graves of Polish victims murdered by Soviet authorities during World War II.
Additional commemorative plaques were installed in the narthex during 1993 and 1994. One honors Father Casimir Sztuczko, CSC, whose leadership guided the construction of the present church. Another marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino, one of the most significant Polish military victories of World War II.
Renewal for a New Century
As Holy Trinity approached the centennial of its current church building, an ambitious restoration campaign was launched in 2005. The work included the installation of new copper cupolas atop the towers, new granite flooring in the sanctuary, extensive interior restoration, and conservation of decorative artwork.
New religious imagery was added to reflect figures especially revered by contemporary Polish Catholics. A large mural of St. Cecilia accompanied by an angelic choir was installed above the choir loft. New depictions of St. Faustina, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, Cardinal August Hlond, founder of the Society of Christ Fathers, and St. John Paul II further connected the parish’s historic mission with modern Polish spirituality.
The Millennium Doors, created by artist Jerzy Kenar, had already begun welcoming worshippers and visitors into the sanctuary in 2000.
The Catacombs
Among Holy Trinity’s most distinctive features are its remarkable “Catacombs,” located beneath the church. Father Casimir Sztuczko envisioned a place where relics of saints and the blessed could be venerated, drawing inspiration from the underground burial chambers and gathering places used by early Christians during periods of persecution in the Roman Empire.
The resulting devotional space consists of winding passageways lined with niches containing sacred relics. The route culminates in a chamber representing the Tomb of Christ, creating a deeply symbolic pilgrimage experience within the church itself.
The Catacombs became the first major area restored during the centennial renovation campaign after years of neglect, particularly during the period when parish closure was being considered. Since then, the collection has expanded to include relics of newly canonized saints, as well as stones gathered from important biblical sites in the Holy Land. Today, the Catacombs remain open to visitors on Sundays following Masses and throughout the season of Lent.
The interior of Holy trinity Polish Catholic Church (Trójcowo) in Chicago, built in the grand Polish Cathedral style. This architectural style was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for large churches serving Polish immigrant communities in the American Midwest. July 2013. Author’s photograph.
Architectural Style
The building is a monumental blend of Renaissance Revival and Baroque Revival architecture, designed by architect Herman Olszewski and completed in 1906. The style mimics the ornate, historic cathedrals of Poland to evoke a sense of cultural heritage, using monumental scales, vaulted ceilings, and extensive gold leaf.
Key Interior Details
The Ribbons / Banners: The interior features sweeping, ceremonial colored fabric swags draped across the nave. These include red and white (the national colors of Poland), alongside yellow and white (the colors of the Vatican/Holy See).
The High Altar: Centered at the front is a towering, white-and-gold carved wooden altarpiece modeled after traditional European Gothic and Renaissance structures, complete with saint statues tucked into delicate architectural niches.
The Ceiling Vaults and Frescoes: The nave is covered by a barrel-vaulted ceiling adorned with elaborate, large-scale religious frescoes. The walls are completely filled with decorative murals, intricate stenciling, and gilded cornices rather than being left blank.
Monumental Columns: In the foreground stands a massive, thick supporting pillar with a striking, faux-marble green scagliola finish and decorative gold trim at the top.
Stained Glass Windows: The side walls are lined with tall, arched stained glass windows featuring intricate geometric borders and detailed figurative portraits of saints, flooding the sanctuary with colored natural light.
The Pews: Long, polished oak wooden church benches line both sides of a carpeted center aisle, featuring beautifully carved, swirling scroll patterns on each aisle end cap.
The spectacular high altar and vault frescoes inside Holy Trinity Polish Catholic Church (commonly known to the local community as Trójcowo), located in Chicago, Illinois. July 2013. Author’s photograph.
The High Altar Piece
The massive, hand-carved white and gold wooden altarpiece (retable) represents the namesake of the parish—the Holy Trinity:
The Center Panel: Features a large painting of God the Father and Jesus Christ sitting side-by-side. Between them rests an open book inscribed with “A Ω” (Alpha and Omega, representing the beginning and the end). Hovering directly above them is a glowing white dove representing the Holy Spirit, completing the Trinity.
The Surrounding Statues: The Gothic-style niches built into the towers of the altar hold painted statues of various Catholic saints, including Saint Peter (holding the keys) and Saint Paul flanking the immediate sides of the central painting.
The Crucifixion (Foreground): A traditional crucifix stands directly on the lower tabernacle tier, centering the altar around the sacrifice of Christ.
The large, semi-circular mural painted on the wall directly above the altar structure illustrates the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Heaven, surrounded by notable figures from Polish religious history. July 2013. Author’s photograph.
Above the altar of Holy Trinity Polish Catholic Church in Chicago, a large semi-circular mural installed during a major restoration and renovation completed in 2007 depicts the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Heaven, surrounded by prominent figures from Polish religious history. At left, clad in a red cassock, is Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński (1901-1981), Archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw, Primate of Poland, and a steadfast spiritual leader who defended the Polish Church during both the Nazi occupation and the Communist era; he was beatified by Pope Francis in 2021. Beside him stands Saint Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938), portrayed in a dark hooded habit. The Polish nun and mystic’s visions of Christ inspired the worldwide Divine Mercy devotion, one of the most influential Catholic spiritual movements of the twentieth century, and she was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000. Also represented is Saint John Paul II, the first Polish pope, whose historic pontificate profoundly shaped both the Church and modern Poland; he was canonized by Pope Francis in 2014. At right, vested in red and black, is Cardinal August Hlond (1881-1948), the Polish Salesian prelate who served as Archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw and Primate of Poland from 1926 until his death. Created cardinal by Pope Pius XI in 1927, he was arrested by the Gestapo in 1944, becoming the only cardinal imprisoned by the Nazis, and after his release in 1945 became an outspoken defender of Church autonomy and religious education against Soviet-backed Communist policies in postwar Poland.
The interior combines religious devotion with specifically Polish historical memory.
The elements within the sanctuary of Holy Trinity Polish Catholic Church hold deep cultural, architectural, and geographical significance. July 2013. Author’s photograph.
The Meaning of the Banners
The sweeping, decorative fabric banners (swags) draped across the upper nave are intentionally colored to celebrate the parish’s dual identity:
Red and White: These represent the national colors of Poland, paying homage to the heritage of the immigrant community that built the parish.
Yellow and White: These represent the official colors of the Vatican (The Holy See), symbolizing the parish’s absolute allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope.
Style of the Stained Glass
These windows are executed in the Munich Style (or German Pictorial Style) of stained glass. Unlike medieval windows that used rough patches of colored glass separated by thick lead lines, this late 19th-century technique involved painting highly detailed, realistic religious scenes directly onto large sheets of glass with enamels before firing them in a kiln. The result mimics classic European oil paintings, featuring vibrant colors, lifelike human anatomy, and dramatic depth.
When and Where They Were Made & Installed
Where They Were Made: The windows were commissioned and custom-made in Munich, Germany, primarily by the renowned F.X. Zettler Studios (The Royal Bavarian Art Institute for Stained Glass), which specialized in producing windows for grand American immigrant churches.
When They Were Installed: They were fabricated and shipped to Chicago, where they were installed inside the church sanctuary between 1905 and 1906, perfectly aligning with the completion and dedication of the current church building.
The reason these windows look more abstract, ornamental, and geometric than the windows at St. Edmund Church in Oak Park comes down to a major difference in when they were actually made and the specific artistic style the parish chose.
While both sets are attributed to the legendary F.X. Zettler Studios of Munich, they represent completely different eras and design goals:
Different Eras: 1907 vs. 1955
St. Edmund (Oak Park): These windows were commissioned, crafted, and installed during the church’s initial construction between 1907 and 1910. They feature Zettler’s signature turn-of-the-century “Munich Style”—which behaves like highly realistic, multi-perspective oil paintings saturated with lifelike figures and complex New Testament scenes.
Holy Trinity (Chicago): While the church building itself was completed in 1906, the parish did not select or order these specific nave windows until 1940, and they were not installed until 1955. Because they were built decades later, Zettler’s post-WWII artisans utilized a more mid-century approach, heavily favoring bold, geometric, and decorative glass frameworks over dense, cinematic storytelling scenes.
Art Nouveau and Folkloric Design Intentions
The interior design of Holy Trinity intentionally veers away from standard, literal Roman-style narratives to celebrate Polish identity. The church’s design scheme relies heavily on Secessionist / Art Nouveau flairs—strongly inspired by the geometric and floral work of legendary Polish artist Stanisław Wyspiański.
Polish artist Irena Lorentowicz (1908-1985) taken in the late 1920s or early 1930s. This period aligns when she was an art student at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts, studying under celebrated figures like Tadeusz Pruszkowski. Her abstract windows at Holy Trinity weren’t actually fabricated and shipped to Chicago until 1955. Public Domain.
To match this unique interior energy, the lower sections of these windows focus heavily on stylized, abstract geometric borders, folk art color patterns, and prominent Polish eagles and traditional cultural motifs. Instead of massive, full-window portraits, the figurative depictions of Polish saints and martyrs are intentionally condensed into smaller, ornamental medallions nestled within a sea of abstract, light-filtering patterns.
Before the current abstract stained glass windows were installed in 1955, the window frames at Holy Trinity Polish Catholic Church held standard, temporary windows common to newly constructed churches of that era.
When the building was completed in 1906, the parish was entirely out of funds due to the immense cost of constructing such a massive, ornate structure. To get the building open for services, they installed temporary panes of clear or basic frosted cathedral glass, which lacked any of the intricate figures or colorful Polish motifs seen today.
The openings remained this way for nearly 50 years. While internal stenciling was added in 1914 and the monumental ceiling vault frescoes were painted in 1926, the empty clear windows were kept until the parish could finally afford a permanent artistic upgrade. They officially selected the final custom designs from Munich in 1940, but due to the disruptions of World War II and the post-war recovery in Germany, the abstract Irena Lorentowicz windows weren’t actually fabricated and shipped to Chicago until 1955.
A Shift to Polish Folk Art & “Young Poland” Imagery
When the parish finally had the funds to complete the windows, they consciously chose to step away from traditional Roman or German imagery. They hired prominent Polish artist Irena Lorentowicz, a theatrical designer and painter who was deeply influenced by the Młoda Polska (Young Poland) Art Nouveau movement.
Lorentowicz deliberately chose to make the windows more geometric and abstract. Rather than filling the panels with traditional, heavy biblical scenes, she seamlessly wove stylized Polish geometric folk patterns, folkloric textiles, and Polish eagles directly into the light-filtering glass grids. This choice honored the mid-century modern aesthetic while proudly celebrating the specific identity of the Chicago Polish community.
View of the sanctuary inside Holy Trinity Polish Catholic Church (Trójcowo) in Chicago during a service. July 2013. Author’s photograph.
The Congregation: Parishioners are seated in the rows of dark wooden pews in the foreground, facing the altar area. Several people can be seen standing or moving in the aisle near the front left.
The High Altar (Center): The illuminated main altar stands out in the back center of the sanctuary. It is a large, multi-tiered white and gold structure featuring a central painting of the Holy Trinity and flanked by statues of saints.
The Side Altars: Two smaller, matching side altars flank the main altarpiece. The left side altar features a statue of the Virgin Mary, while the right-side altar features another prominent religious figure, with a traditional crucifix nearby.
The Circular Rose Windows
Two vibrant, blue-dominated circular stained glass rose windows are visible on either side of the sanctuary walls above the altars. The two circular rosette (rose) stained glass windows positioned on either side of the high altar are an exception to the later 1950s additions—they are actually part of the original 1906 Munich-style installation.
Who Made Them and When
The Manufacturer: They were custom-crafted in Germany by F.X. Zettler Studios of Munich (The Royal Bavarian Art Institute for Stained Glass).
The Date: They were shipped to Chicago and installed between 1905 and 1906, perfectly aligning with the initial completion and dedication of the church building. Unlike the vertical nave windows that feature a more abstract mid-century look, these two transept rose windows follow the highly traditional, literal Munich Pictorial Style. Because they were imported before World War I, they display the signature rich, vibrant blues and multi-layered enamel painting techniques that made early 20th-century Bavarian glass studios world-famous.
The Left Rose Window: This window represents The Joyful Mysteries and features an intricate central portrait medallion of the Annunciation, surrounded by petal-like geometric panels blooming outward.
The Right Rose Window: This window honors the Blessed Virgin Mary as Queen of Heaven, showcasing a central portrait medallion of her coronation, matching the theological theme of the massive wall mural painted directly below it.
Ceiling Murals
While the massive, overarching barrel-vaulted ceiling murals were completed in 1926 by artist K. Markiewicz, the artwork on the church walls was painted across multiple decades:
1914 Decorating: K. Markiewicz actually began executing the initial intricate ornamental stenciling, borders, and interior decorations along the walls earlier in 1914.
The 1926 Ceiling Wave: The dramatic, large-scale religious scenes canvas fresco painting on the high roof vaults were executed as a unified phase in 1926.
Modern Wall Additions (Post-WWII): Many of the specific historical portraits and wall paintings seen today—such as the large fresco directly above the high altar depicting Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński—could not have been painted in 1926. Those modern figures were added much later in the 20th century to honor contemporary Polish religious heroes.
The Black Madonna of Częstochowa represents both faith and national survival. The church became a place where Polish-Americans maintained connections to struggles against Nazism and Communism.
In this corner inside Holy Trinity Polish Catholic Church showcases how the parish blends traditional religious artwork with distinct Polish national identity. The three prominent artworks, their frameworks, and the surrounding architecture are detailed below. July 2013. Author’s photograph.
The Three Artworks & Their Iconography
Our Lady of Częstochowa (Far Left Side Altar)
The Subject: This is a replica of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, Poland’s most sacred religious relic. It depicts the Virgin Mary holding the child Jesus. A defining iconographical detail is the two scars on her right cheek, which historically represent slashes made by a Hussite raider’s sword in 1430. Both Mary and Jesus are adorned with elaborate, relief-sculpted gold crowns and gowns (sukienki).
The Style & Artist: Painted in the strict Byzantine Hodegetria style (meaning “She who shows the Way”), Mary points her hand toward Jesus as the source of salvation. This specific replica was commissioned anonymously by a parishioner and painted by a traditional Polish iconographer in the early 20th century.
The Carrying of the Cross (Center Altar Niches)
The Subject: This is the Fifth Station of the Cross, depicting Simon of Cyrene helping a weary, thorn-crowned Jesus carry his heavy wooden crucifix toward Calvary. A Roman soldier stands behind them aggressively directing their path.
The Style & Artist: This is a high-relief, polychrome Academic Realism sculpture made of painted plaster and wood. It was hand-carved by European artisans in the late 19th century and integrated directly into the structural architecture of the side altars.
Portrait of Pope John Paul II (Far Right Wall)
The Subject: A formal portrait of Pope John Paul II (labeled underneath as Bł. Jan Paweł II, meaning “Blessed John Paul II,” referencing the period after his beatification but prior to his canonization as a saint). He wears his papal white cassock and a bright crimson velvet mozzetta (cape) while looking warmly toward the congregation.
The Style & Artist: Executed in a traditional Contemporary Realism painting style, this canvas portrait was added to the sanctuary wall in the early 2010s to celebrate the historic Polish pope, who visited Chicago and this specific neighborhood during his lifetime.
Architectural Frames & Wall Details
The Side Altar Frame (Left & Center): Built in a heavy Renaissance Revival style, the shrines are constructed from polished white marble and matching painted plaster columns. The pillars feature classic Corinthian capitals dipped in gold leaf, supporting an ornate, multi-tiered pediment that mimics a miniature European cathedral facade.
The Wall Stenciling (Background): The walls are covered in spectacular, intricate Beaux-Arts / Baroque Revival stenciling painted by artist K. Markiewicz. The patterns feature looping gold leaf arabesques, floral cornucopias, and hidden cherubim medallions woven directly into the beige background.
The Stained Glass Window: Rising above the papal portrait is one of the custom 1955 Munich-style windows. It frames geometric patterns and abstract floral glass panels that echo the shapes of traditional Polish paper-cutting folk art (wycinanki).
The Staircase Railing (Foreground): The white marble staircase railing leading up toward the sanctuary features a line of open geometric circle-and-scroll cuts, which parishioners have beautifully decorated with hanging ornamental painted globes, adding a unique festive texture to the architecture.
The Icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa (The Black Madonna)
Devotion to the Black Madonna of Częstochowa has anchored Polish spirituality since the late 14th century, when Prince Władysław Opolczyk brought the sacred icon to the Jasna Góra Monastery in 1382.
While Catholic and Orthodox pious tradition holds that Saint Luke the Evangelist painted the image on a cedar tabletop crafted by Saint Joseph for the Holy Family, modern art historians classify the artwork as a Byzantine Hodegetria icon—a style depicting Mary pointing toward Christ as the Way—and estimate its original creation between the 6th and 9th centuries.
The icon’s physical composition changed forever on Easter Monday in 1430, when Hussite raiders plundered the monastery, slashed the Virgin Mary’s face with a sword, and shattered the wooden panel. King Władysław Jagiełło commissioned the realm’s finest artists to restore the holy image, but they faced a technical hurdle. The icon had originally been rendered using an ancient, wax-based encaustic technique, which rejected the artists’ medieval tempera paints.
Unable to seamlessly patch the damage, the restorers ultimately repainted the image onto the original holy panel. As lasting testament to the icon’s survival and a reminder of the desecration, the artists intentionally carved the deep slash marks back into the Virgin Mary’s cheek.
The Black Madonna became the ultimate emblem of defiance against 20th century tyranny
Our Lady of Częstochowa, a replica of the Black Madonna, occupies a place of honor within the church. Poland’s most revered religious icon depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child. A defining feature of the image is the pair of scars on Mary’s right cheek, traditionally associated with sword blows inflicted during a Hussite raid in 1430. Both Mary and Jesus are adorned with elaborate relief-sculpted gold crowns and jeweled gowns (sukienki) as Mary gestures toward Jesus as the source of salvation.
Few images have carried greater significance in Polish history than Our Lady of Częstochowa. Housed at the Jasna Góra Monastery, the Black Madonna became a powerful symbol of national survival, religious faith, and spiritual resistance through successive occupations and political regimes.
Both Nazis and Communists feared her power: the former saw her as a spark of Polish nationalism, the latter as a rallying point for faith and freedom. When Germany invaded in 1939, monks at Jasna Góra Monastery hid the original icon inside a heavy oak table while Nazi officers unknowingly worked on the exact tabletop above it. Despite Nazi bans and threats of public execution, pilgrims still came in the hundreds of thousands, and the monastery’s catacombs became a hub for the Polish Resistance.
After 1945, the Communist regime tried to suppress her veneration, seeing her title as “Queen of Poland” to be subversive. Yet devotion only deepened.
By the 1970s and 1980s, images of Our Lady of Częstochowa appeared widely alongside Pope John Paul II and the emerging Solidarity Movement, symbolizing the enduring connection between faith, human dignity, and the Polish struggle for freedom. Lech Wałęsa famously wore a small image of the Black Madonna on his lapel, helping transform the icon into one of the most recognizable symbols of resistance to Communist rule in Eastern Europe—the same Madonna that Fascists and Communists alike failed to destroy.
Portraits and memorials honor modern Polish heroes such as John Paul II and Jerzy Popiełuszko.
The painting’s subject is Blessed Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, a Polish Roman Catholic priest and martyr. He is depicted wearing red liturgical vestments — a chasuble embroidered with gold, symbolizing martyrdom and sacrifice. His hands are clasped in prayer before his chest, and his expression is solemn yet peaceful, reflecting spiritual strength. A halo encircles his head, marking his beatified status. The ornate red-and-gold frame reinforces reverence and sanctity, while the inscription “BL. Ks. JERZY POPIEŁUSZKO” identifies him as Blessed Father Jerzy Popiełuszko. July 2013. Author’s phograph.
Life and Advocacy
Popiełuszko became a symbol of faith and resistance during Poland’s communist era, known for preaching truth and human dignity until his assassination in 1984. Born in 1947 in northeastern Poland, he was ordained as a priest in 1972 by Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. Father Popiełuszko became closely linked with “Solidarity” (Solidarność), the first independent, anti-communist trade union bloc in the Soviet zone. He served as the spiritual leader and chaplain for Warsaw factory workers and steelworkers. During the dark years of martial law in Poland, he celebrated monthly “Masses for the Homeland”. His moving sermons centered on truth, human dignity, freedom, and spiritual resistance. He famously urged his followers to “overcome evil with good”.
Martyrdom
Because his speeches drew tens of thousands of people and unified opposition to the state, he became a prime target of communist authorities. On October 19, 1984, at just 37 years old, Father Popiełuszko was ambushed, kidnapped, and brutally beaten to death by three agents of the communist Internal Affairs Security Service. His body was subsequently dumped in a reservoir along the Vistula River. His funeral turned into a massive, peaceful anti-communist demonstration attended by up to one million citizens.
Legacy and Beatification
Recognizing his ultimate sacrifice for his faith and people, Pope Benedict XVI beatified him as a martyr on June 6, 2010. The text at the bottom of the painting reads “Bł. Ks. Jerzy Popiełuszko”, where “Bł.” stands for Błogosławiony (Blessed) and “Ks.” stands for Ksiądz (Priest) in Polish. His vestment is adorned with the IHS christogram.
FEATURE image: Feature Image: Newly-Blessed Fulton J. Sheen posing for an official promotional portrait for the wildly popular NBC radio program, The Catholic Hour, which he hosted on Sunday nights. He launched the show with NBC in 1930, where his voice reached millions of households across the America each week, establishing him as America’s first true “media priest.” During his 20-year run on the radio Fulton Sheen pioneered a distinct blend of deep theology, patriotism, and sharp cultural commentary. For example, in the midst of the Great Depression (1929-1941) Sheen frequently attacked the moral failures of unbridled greed and monopoly capitalism, while simultaneously warning the poor not to fall for the “siren song” of class warfare. He consistently hosted sociology and labor experts on the program to advocate for worker rights, fair wages, and interracial justice, declaring that all people “have equal rights as children in the house of the Lord.” Public Domain. Fulton Sheen’s Beatification Illuminates His Message – WSJ – retrieved September 24, 2026.
How Fulton J. Sheen’s Irish-American family heritage, Catholic education, intellectual gifts, academic accomplishments, and disciplined spiritual life combined to form the future priest, bishop, evangelist, and eventual Blessed of the Catholic Church.
On September 24, 2026, the Catholic Church officially beatified Bishop Fulton J. Sheen during a historic ceremony in St. Louis, declaring him a Blessed of the Church. This milestone recognizes a lifetime of profound faith, intellectual brilliance, and pioneering media evangelization that began from immigrant Irish and Midwestern roots.
Family Roots and Early Life
Blessed Bishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979), known for his perfect Catholic school penmanship, rarely made mistakes during his live, unscripted broadcasts. Born into an everyday working-class background in El Paso, Illinois, near Peoria, he was the eldest of four sons of Newton and Delia Sheen, both of Irish descent. Delia (1864–1943) grew up on a farm near Kickapoo in Peoria County, and Newton (1863–1944) was born in El Paso. Bishop Sheen’s maternal grandparents were born in Ireland; his paternal grandfather was from Dublin, Ireland, and his grandmother from Indiana.
Relatives remembered Delia—“Aunt Dee”—as laid back, cordial, sociable, and an excellent cook. Newton, short and slim, was generally quiet with a mechanical bent of mind. Newt first married Ida, a woman from Ohio, in 1886; she died in 1892, leaving him with a daughter (Eva Sheen married Luke Walsh in 1907). Afterward he married Delia, and the couple settled in El Paso, where Newton and his brother opened a hardware store. In 1900, while operating two farms on each side of Peoria, the family moved to 111 Seventh Street in Peoria, where Newt, Delia, their four sons, and Delia’s parents lived together. Fulton inherited his mother’s dark hair and deep-set eyes. The family moved from the farm directly into the city of Peoria for the express purpose that Fulton and his brothers could enroll in school.
Sheen’s holiness, intellectual achievement, disciplined spiritual life, and groundbreaking use of mass media were all deeply rooted in the formative influences of his family, education, and early experiences in Peoria.
Formative Education in Peoria
His parents prioritized their children’s education, enrolling Fulton in St. Mary’s Cathedral grade school and later the elite $60,000 Spalding Institute boys’ academy founded in 1899 by Peoria’s first bishop. There, Sheen not only served as an altar boy and discovered his priestly vocation but, in his class of 43 aspiring boys, graduated as the valedictorian of the class of 1913. His time there was highly influential, formed by the rigorous discipline of the Marianist brothers (not to be confused with the Marist Brothers), a French order founded in Bordeaux in 1817 by Blessed William Joseph Chaminade who staffed the school (Brother Gerald, S.M. was its first principal) from its founding until 1933 when the Benedictines took over (those were the days when they had the numbers to do that!).
Fulton J. Sheen’s high school graduation portrait from 1913. He was 18 years old having just concluded his time at the Spalding Institute in Peoria, Illinois. It was for this exact graduation milestone that he earned top academic honors and delivered the commencement address as the class valedictorian. A classmate recalled that at 18, Sheen possessed a terrifyingly good memory and a “golden tongue” that kept the entire auditorium pinned to their seats. Core themes of Sheen’s address included moral integrity over intellect, devotion to the truth, and a call to action as the vocation of the educated Christian man. Public Domain.
Higher Education, Debating, and Ordination
Fulton Sheen entered St. Viator College in Bourbonnais, Illinois, where he earned a combined B.A./M.A. in philosophy in 1917. Sheen was a star debater at the school, leading St. Viator to a legendary triumph over the University of Notre Dame, showing the golden dome fellows that the real fighting Irish lay everywhere (though that is a slightly later moniker under Knute Rockne and Notre Dame President Father Matthew Walsh). After college, Sheen entered the seminary in Minnesota and was ordained a priest in September 1919 at St. Mary’s Cathedral, where he had gone to grade school and served as an acolyte.
Fulton Sheen’s official ordination portrait taken in September 1919.He was 24 years old and had just been ordained a Roman Catholic priest on September 20, 1919, at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria, Illinois. As a priest he made two resolutions that he kept for the rest of his life: He resolved to offer the Holy Eucharist every Saturday in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary to petition her lifelong protection over his priesthood. He noted that according to the Epistle to the Hebrews, a priest must offer sacrifices not just for his congregation, but for his own soul. He also resolved to spend one continuous, uninterrupted hour every single day in prayer and adoration directly in front of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament (the Tabernacle). While the Saturday Masses anchored his weeks, the Daily Holy Hour became the defining spiritual signature of his life. Even when he became a massive television celebrity with an exhausting travel schedule, Blessed Bishop Sheen never broke the vow. PHOTO: Public Domain. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016860626/
Academic Brilliance and the “Peoria Product”
Sheen’s aspiration and capability led him to become a canon lawyer where he completed his studies at The Catholic University of America in 1920. The arguably not yet over-educated Sheen now earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium (where he became the first American to win their prestigious Cardinal Mercier Prize) as well as an S.T.D. (Sacrae Theologiae Doctor) at the Angelicum in Rome.
This man from an everyday Midwestern family’s first assignment was a parish priest at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Peoria, Illinois, in 1926. This was partly so that the church could show off their new product to the folks at home and to see how he plays in Peoria—a time of perfect joy for Sheen—though some narratives imply it as a mere test of his humility. The only thing humbled is the diocese itself, who closed St. Patrick’s in Sheen’s lifetime in 1976 for dwindling attendance for shattered perceptions of the Church, liturgical confusion, and an unintended loosening of strict church laws after Vatican II. see – Review: Why did so many Catholics leave after Vatican II? – America Magazine – retrieved September 25, 2026.
Young Rev. Sheen in a portrait taken around 1930 by Harris & Ewing Washington D.C. portrait studio. Rev. Sheen was approximately 35 years old. At the time Sheen was a young professor teaching philosophy at The Catholic University of America (CUA). This was the exact year Sheen launched into the national spotlight by becoming the first regular host of The Catholic Hour—a Sunday night NBC radio program that quickly grew to reach an estimated 4 million weekly listeners. Public Domain.
The Catholic University of America and National Fame
The Catholic University of America now called him to Washington to join their School of Theology, become a professor, launch his radio career, and begin his path to international fame and holiness. The first course Sheen regularly taught was “God and Religion in Contemporary Thought.” He taught at CUA until 1950, where his course offerings expanded as he transitioned into the School of Philosophy.
Consecrated as an auxiliary bishop of New York the previous year (1951), this photograph was taken in 1952 on the custom-designed library set of his groundbreaking, Emmy-winning television series, Life Is Worth Living. Dressed in his formal clerical attire—including his cassock, zucchetto, pectoral cross, and flowing structural ferraiolo cape—the image captures him at the absolute height of his national cultural influence. Airing on Tuesday nights on the DuMont Television Network, his unscripted, chalkboard-driven program surprisingly went head-to-head with “Mr. Television” Milton Berle, drawing up to 30 million weekly viewers of all faiths and backgrounds. PHOTO: “Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, full-length” by libraryofcongress is marked with CC0 1.0.
Blessed Bishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979), known for his perfect Catholic school penmanship, rarely made mistakes during his live, unscripted broadcasts.
On a personal visit in August 2007 (my wife Deb is pictured) to the Archbishop Fulton John Sheen Spiritual Center and Communication Room, located inside the Historic Railroad Depot in his birthplace of El Paso, Illinois. The vintage studio spotlight on the left, old radios, and typewriter props in the room are deliberate design choices meant to recreate the atmosphere of Bishop Sheen’s pioneering mid-20th-century radio and Emmy-Award-winning television programs like The Catholic Hour and Life Is Worth Living. In October 2000, the museum founder first set up a modest Bishop Sheen exhibit in the “Reading Corner” of the newly restored historic depot. By July 2001 this dedicated, separate large, full-size room officially opened within the depot— the exact space in this photo. At his beatification Mass on September 24, 2026, the papal delegate and presider, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, called Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen a “son of Illinois, son of the United States of America,” and “indeed, son of the world.” Author’s photograph.
FEATURE Image: The many prayer intentions received at the National Shrine of St. Jude in Chicago are placed at the patron of hopeless cases’ devotional altar in the main sanctuary. These petitions are remembered at the National Shrine’s Masses and devotional prayers throughout the years. June 2018 80% 7.76mb DSC_9191. Author’s photograph.
Chicago’s National Shrine of St. Jude is more than a local religious landmark. It is a place where faith, devotion, and personal transformation intersect, most famously in the life of Danny Thomas, whose prayers to St. Jude here helped inspire a career that ultimately led to the founding of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The shrine stands as a living testament to the powerful role that religious faith and pilgrimage can play in individual lives and broader humanitarian endeavors.
The National Shrine of St. Jude at 3208 E. 91st Street on Chicago’s far southeast side at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish church was canonically established in 1929. Its official decree was promulgated on November 15, 1929, by Chicago Cardinal Archbishop George Mundelein (1872-1939). June 2018 88% 7.72mb DSC_9173. Author’s photograph.
The pastor of the church at the time was Fr. James Tort, a Claretian missionary, who had a deep personal devotion to St. Jude, patron of hopeless cases and those that are almost despaired of. The saint, not to be confused with the traitor, Judas Iscariot, is honored by the church universally as the saint who brings visible and speedy help in most dire circumstances. A portrait of the founder of the Claretians, Spanish priest and bishop, St. Anthony Mary Claret (1807-1870), is one of the artworks that greet visitors into the main sanctuary. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is over the main altar. The devotional altar to St. Jude is right of the main altar. The altar to St. Jude contains a major relic of the saint: a piece of his bone. June 2018 84% 7.78 DSC_9177. Author’s photograph.
The shrine contains a major relic of St. Jude and serves as an active center of prayer and pilgrimage.
The shrine altar to St. Jude (right). In the darkest days of the Great Depression, Father Tort petitioned St. Jude with a request to help complete the parish church building for the people. In gratitude for the granting of this great favor. Fr. Tort promised to never cease to honor the saint, a true blood relative of Jesus and Mary, by dedicating a shrine altar to him in the church and to do all in his power to spread devotion to him. June 2018 2.29mb DSC_9186 (1). Author’s photograph.
This is one of the stained-glass windows in Chicago’s St. Jude Shrine. It depicts Jude preaching in Persia. Tradition holds that Saint Jude preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia and Libya. He is also said to have visited Beirut. In addition to being patron of hopeless cases, Jude is patron of vegetarians. That Jude is portrayed holding an image of Jesus Christ has an interesting origin. During Jesus’s public ministry, a king had an incurable condition and was dying in Edessa. He sent a letter asking for Jesus to come. Instead of going himself, Jesus sent Jude. As Jude set out on this journey, Jesus pressed a cloth against His face, and when he gave it back to Jude, it had the Lord’s image on it. When St. Jude then went to the dying king in Edessa, and the king looked at the cloth with Christ’s miraculous impression, he was immediately healed. June 2018 6.47mbDSC_9184 (4). Author’s photograph.
Danny Thomas, struggling to establish himself in show business, learned of the shrine while in Chicago and prayed to St. Jude there for assistance. Soon afterward, Thomas received the career opportunity that launched him to national fame as a comedian, television star, and entertainer.
In 1940 when entertainer Danny Thomas (1912-1991) came to Chicago to do radio commercials, he found early success doing stand-up comedy in nightclubs. When work was finished, often around dawn, Thomas went to 6 a.m. Mass at St. Clement Church. There Thomas learned about Chicago’s National Shrine of St. Jude on the far southeast side. A couple of years earlier, Thomas, starting out in show business in Detroit— and with his first child, Marlo Thomas, on the way— had dedicated himself to St. Jude as the patron of hopeless cases. Soon after visiting and praying at the Chicago shrine, Thomas was offered a stand-up comedy job in New York City at La Martinique at 57 West 57th Street. This job launched his entertainment career into the big time. Following World War II, Thomas was performing for $3,750 a week at New York’s Roxy Theater just off Times Square and was performing in nightclubs across the country as well as offered film roles. In 1953 he starred in his own television show, Make Room for Daddy (later, The Danny Thomas Show). The sitcom ran for 11 consecutive seasons and became more popular with each year. By 1957 it was the no.2 show on television and, when the sitcom ended in 1964, it was in the top ten. PHOTO: “Danny thomas kayrouz” by Hany raymond rahme is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Remembering his promise to give back if he succeeded, Thomas founded St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis in 1962, creating one of the world’s most respected pediatric medical institutions.
The National Shrine of St. Jude in Chicago was canonically established in 1929 and became one of the most important centers of devotion to St. Jude in the United States.
Altar of St. Jude, The National Shrine of St. Jude in Chicago. St. Jude Thaddeus was one of Jesus’ 12 apostles and. legend has it, that it was Jude who was the groom at the wedding feast of Cana where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine (John, chapter 2). Matthew states that Jude was one of the “brothers” of Jesus usually interpreted as a blood cousin. St. Jude, pray for us! June 2018 73% 7.89mb DSC_9182. Author’s photograph.
Derek Worlock was one of the most important ecumenical church leaders in modern Britain, whose lasting legacy was not simply his role as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool but his determined effort to bridge historic divisions between Catholics and Anglicans through friendship, collaboration, social engagement, and practical Christian unity.
Derek Worlock: Archbishop of Liverpool
Derek Worlock (February 4, 1920 – February 6, 1996) was an English priest of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Liverpool. A leading figure in post‑war British Catholicism, he became known for his pastoral warmth, public presence, and commitment to unity among Christians.
A Ministry Shaped by Collaboration
Worlock devoted his episcopal life to fostering cooperation across Christian traditions. His partnership with Anglican Bishop of Liverpool David Sheppard became one of the most celebrated ecumenical friendships in modern Britain. Together they co‑authored Better Together and With Hope in our Hearts (both 1995), works that embodied their shared vision for a reconciled, outward‑facing Church. His episcopal motto, Caritas Christi eluceat—“For the Shining Light of Christ”—captured the spirit of his ministry.
His partnership with Anglican Bishop David Sheppard became one of Britain’s most influential and visible examples of Christian cooperation. Their efforts sought to overcome centuries of Catholic-Anglican rivalry and demonstrate that reconciliation between churches could help foster reconciliation within society.
Bishop Worlock’s mitre, placed at his tomb, recalls a pivotal moment in his early episcopal ministry. In 1973, while serving as Bishop of Portsmouth, Worlock was preparing to attend the upcoming Roman Synod of Bishops. Asked to suggest a theme for the Synod’s work, he proposed “Evangelization”—a choice Pope Paul VI accepted.Worlock’s proposal did more than set the agenda for a major global gathering. It highlighted two convictions that shaped his entire episcopate:
that evangelization is rooted in the Church’s ancient mission shared by all the baptized, and
that the spirit of Vatican II’s outreach to others—its ecumenical openness, its desire for dialogue, its pastoral warmth—must animate that mission.
In 1994, Worlock received the Freedom of the City of Liverpool, a civic acknowledgment of his decades of service to the city. Two years later, in 1996, he was appointed a Companion of Honour, one of the United Kingdom’s most distinguished awards.
A Memorial on Hope Street
After his death in 1996, plans began for a public memorial. Commissioned in 2005 and funded through widespread public donations, the sculpture was created by British artist Stephen Broadbent (b. 1961). Placed at the midpoint of Liverpool’s Hope Street, the memorial stands symbolically between the city’s Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals—an architectural embodiment of the unity Worlock championed throughout his life.See it here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/newfolder/2535308455
Worlock and Sheppard worked together through joint pastoral letters, civic leadership, public appearances, and shared responses to social crises, giving Liverpool a united Christian voice. The Hope Street memorial sculpture symbolizes their shared ministry, standing midway between Liverpool’s Anglican and Catholic cathedrals.
David Sheppard and Derek Worlock memorial, Hope Street, Liverpool.The placement is deliberate: halfway between the two cathedrals, exactly where their work met with space between them for everyone. PHOTO: “DSCF0029” by geraldmurphyx is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.
A Shared Mission of Reconciliation
The statue commemorates the extraordinary partnership between Archbishop Derek Worlock and Bishop David Sheppard, two churchmen who refused to let centuries of division define Liverpool’s Christian life. At a time when Catholic–Anglican relations still could be frosty and suspicious, they pointed to a a different path of public friendship, joint action, and a united moral voice for their city.
Their collaboration was not symbolic but deeply practical. They issued joint pastoral letters, appeared together at civic events, and spoke with one voice during moments of crisis. In a city marked by economic hardship, sectarian memory, and social fragmentation, they insisted that Christian leadership must be shared leadership. Their partnership became a model for ecumenical cooperation across Britain.
Healing Historic Divisions
Worlock and Sheppard understood that Liverpool’s religious landscape had long been shaped by rivalry—Catholic and Anglican identities often hardened by class, migration, and political history. Their work aimed to soften those boundaries. They promoted joint prayer services, encouraged cooperation between parishes, and supported community initiatives that crossed denominational lines.
Their message was simple but radical: unity was not an optional ideal but a pastoral necessity. They believed that reconciliation between churches could help foster reconciliation within the city itself.
A Memorial to Unity
The statue’s purpose was to create a permanent reminder of this shared ministry. It honors not only two individual leaders but the ecumenical vision they embodied. Positioned on Liverpool’s Hope Street—linking the Anglican Cathedral at one end and the Catholic Cathedral at the other—the memorial stands as a physical metaphor for the bridge they built.
Above: Archbishop Derek Worlock London‑born Derek Worlock was ordained a Catholic priest in 1944 and began his ministry as curate at Our Lady of Victories, Kensington, then London’s wartime pro‑cathedral. For nearly two decades he served at the heart of English Catholic leadership as private secretary to three Archbishops of Westminster, a role that shaped his administrative skill and national profile. He later spent a year as Rector and Rural Dean of the Church of SS Mary and Michael—one of London’s historically largest parishes—before being appointed Bishop of Portsmouth, serving the English Channel region for eleven years. In 1976 he became Metropolitan Archbishop of Liverpool, the post that defined his public legacy. PHOTO: “File:Sheppard-Worlock Statue 2017-2.jpg” by Rodhullandemu is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Detail from the Sheppard-Worlock statue Liverpool. Anglican Bishop David Sheppard was Worlock’s closest ecumenical partner and the other half of Liverpool’s most influential Christian alliance. Before Derek Worlock’s appointment as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool in 1976, the Anglican archbishop of Liverpool, David Sheppard, was consulted over a meal together with Pope Paul VI’s Papal Nuncio in Britain, Archbishop Bruno Heim. Before he became one of Liverpool’s most respected church leaders, David Sheppard was a national sporting hero—a stylish right‑handed batsman whose cricketing career made him a household name across Britain. His cricketing fame gave him a public platform long before he entered the clergy, and he later used that visibility to speak on issues of poverty, racial justice, and urban renewal. Public Domain (Man vyi – Self-photographed. Own work, all rights released).
The ecclesiastical Coat of Arms of Archbishop Derek Worlock, Metropolitan Archbishop of Liverpool. The green galero with fifteen tassels and the golden double-barred cross denote his rank as an archbishop. The shield combines the pallium and Lancaster Rose of Lancashire with a fleur-de-lis and blazing sunburst. The scroll below bears his motto, + CARITAS + CHRISTI + ELUCEAT + (“May the love of Christ shine forth”), expressing the pastoral vision that guided his ministry. PHOTO: “Uk rc liverpool worlock” by EborArmorist is licensed under CC BY 3.0.
Influenced by the reforms of Vatican II, Derek Worlock viewed Christian unity as a pastoral duty rather than an abstract theological goal.
This striking bronze monument honors the powerful ecumenical alliance between Bishop David Sheppard (left) and Archbishop Derek Worlock (right), whose joint leadership provided comfort and unity to Liverpool during severe social and economic hardships in the late 20th century. Designed by sculptor Stephen Broadbent and unveiled on Hope Street in 2008, the statue features two bronze panels facing each other across the sidewalk, symbolizing their historic partnership in building bridges across deep religious and political divides. PHOTO: “5783 Sheppard Worlock Statue” by steeljam is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Worlock’s commitment to ecumenism predated his Liverpool years. As Bishop of Portsmouth, he developed practical approaches to interchurch cooperation, including the famous “Portsmouth solution” involving a Catholic-Anglican marriage.
Worlock’s Early Ecumenical Leadership
Archbishop Derek Worlock served as bishop and archbishop from 1965 to 1996—years that spanned the close of the Second Vatican Council and the unfolding of its new teaching on ecumenism. From the beginning of his episcopal ministry, he treated the Council’s call to Christian unity not as an abstract ideal but as a pastoral responsibility.
The Portsmouth Years: Learning to Live Together in Love
As Bishop of Portsmouth, Worlock was already experimenting with practical ways for Catholics and Anglicans to share life, sacraments, and community with greater charity. His most famous initiative, later nicknamed the “Portsmouth solution,” emerged in the early 1970s when the daughter of a local Anglican bishop wished to marry a Catholic.Worlock crafted a pastoral compromise that honored both traditions:
The marriage rite and promises were celebrated first in the Catholic church, fulfilling canonical requirements.
Later that same day, the couple’s marriage was celebrated again in the bride’s Anglican parish, with her father—the Anglican bishop—presiding.
This arrangement was bold for its time. It respected Catholic sacramental discipline while acknowledging the Anglican family’s pastoral and emotional needs. More importantly, it modeled the kind of mutual recognition, goodwill, and shared joy that Worlock believed should characterize Christian life.
Worlock played a significant role in broader Church leadership, supporting evangelization, lay participation, justice, peace initiatives, and advocacy for the poor and homeless.
A Foreshadowing of His Liverpool Partnership
The Portsmouth solution was not an isolated gesture but an early sign of the ecumenical instincts that would later define his partnership with David Sheppard in Liverpool. It showed Worlock’s willingness to take risks, to trust the good faith of other Christians, and to build unity through concrete acts rather than theoretical statements.
The precise source for this quote is an interview published in the London Observer newspaper on December 16, 1990. In the article, Archbishop Derek Worlock used this poignant phrasing to address the growing homelessness and poverty crisis in the United Kingdom during the winter of 1990. He directly reframed the biblical “brother’s keeper” concept to highlight the urgent moral duty society has toward marginalized individuals struggling with homelessness (“sleeping rough”). This sentence distills the core of his ministry: the conviction that Christian leadership must be measured by its solidarity with the most vulnerable.
Building bridges across historic divisions
Archbishop Worlock’s mitre, resting at his tomb, evokes a churchman whose influence extended far beyond Liverpool. Over more than three decades as bishop and archbishop, he became a driving force within the episcopal conference, shaping how the Catholic Church in Britain engaged with the modern world.
He helped lead national initiatives on the media, the laity, and justice and peace, urging the Church to speak with clarity, courage, and compassion. His advocacy for the poor was especially memorable. When drawing attention to Britain’s growing homelessness crisis, he captured the moral urgency in a single, searing line: “I am my brother’s keeper, and he’s sleeping pretty rough these days.” London OBSERVER, December 16, 1990. (on the homeless).
FEATURE Image: St. Francis de Sales, 18th c, Besançon, 96 x 131 cm. Public Domain.
St. Francis de Sales stands as one of Christianity’s most practical and accessible spiritual teachers because he showed that holiness is attainable in ordinary daily life through love, gentleness, humility, perseverance, and faithful acceptance of God’s will. His enduring importance lies not only in his role as Bishop of Geneva and founder of the Visitation Order, but in his ability to translate Catholic doctrine into practical spiritual guidance for everyday people.
Saint Francis de Sales sitting in front of a copy of his work, “Introduction to the Devout Life,” oil on canvas, c.1790s, 77 cm x 99.5 cm, unknown artist. Hovering above the 17th century French Catholic bishop, saint, and Doctor of the Church are two cherubs who regard him with kindness. Public Domain. Francis de Sales became one of the most respected theologians in Christianity. A great preacher and writer, Francis de Sales ascended the seat of Bishop of Geneva, Switzerland, and, with widowed Baroness Jeanne de Chantal (1571-1641), founded the religious order of the Visitation. As a diplomat and man of prayer, Francis de Sales exerted a significant influence within the Catholic Church and among the temporal powers of the day. https://www.antiques-delaval.com/en/paintings/7068-hst-large-portrait-saint-francois-dirty-life-devote-cherubs-xviiieme.html -retrieved January 24, 2023. Public Domain.
CANONIZED ON APRIL 8, 1665, IN ROME BY POPE ALEXANDER VII, ST. FRANCIS DE SALES IS THE PATRON OF WRITERS, JOURNALISTS, THE CATHOLIC PRESS, CONFESSORS, THE DEAF AND EDUCATORS. ST. FRANCIS WAS DECLARED A DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH IN 1877 BY PIUS IX.
INTRODUCTION.
By all accounts, St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622), whose feast day is January 24, was a gracious and holy man. His writings were, similar to the Jesuits of whom Francis was a student, admirer and close friend, directed to society’s well-to-do and concerned with how, as society’s current elites, they can practice, most basically, Christian “noblesse oblige” within their privileged social station. St. Francis de Sales’ writing defended and explained Catholic doctrine to a Europe which, in an age of Renaissance and Reformation, was very much in revolt against it. To preserve and endorse (1) a social order and (2) perfect belief in doctrine, St. Francis de Sales communicated in everything that both were attainable simultaneously, and did so famously in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life (1608).
Like the sons of St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis de Sales was active in the direction of souls. For Introduction to the Devout Life, Jesuit father Jean Fourier, S.J. strongly encouraged a noble lady around 1607 to prevail upon her local bishop (de Sales) to have his personal writings of spiritual direction to her and others printed to reach a wider audience at court and elsewhere among the ruling class. St. Francis de Sales was also eager to have his personal instructions in print for the advancement and perfection of individual souls. Introduction to the Devout Life became an instant international bestseller and, over 400 years later, remains a spiritual classic. As John K. Ryan, S.J. observed, “Its greatness lies in many things: in its originality, its completeness, its sincerity, its balance, its penetration and its style…(and) as such it is beyond adverse criticism in any important way.”1
His spiritual classic, Introduction to the Devout Life (1608), taught that holiness is not reserved for priests or religious but can be pursued by people living ordinary lives in the world. His writings emphasized gentleness over harshness, love over fear, and steady spiritual growth rather than dramatic religious experiences.
Francis Bonaventure was born into nobility in August 1567 in Sales castle in Savoy, France, where there were tremendous social pressures to marry and settle into a life of wealth and prestige. Sent to Paris by his family, they wanted him to attend the prestigious College of Navarre in the fine hôtel de Navarre with its renowned library in rue Saint André des Arts, but Francis chose to attend the new Jesuit College of Clermont, which at that time was known for its religious and moral vision as much as its academic achievement.2 At the Jesuit school St. Francis de Sales came into contact with the post-Tridentine humanism taught by faculty such as Father Possevin, S.J. and Francis took to it like a duck to water so that he could express its intellectual tenets afterwards quite well.3 St. Francis de Sales worked out his spiritual life in prayer in Saint-Étienne-des-Grès in the Latin Quarter. The church (now demolished) on Rue Saint-Jacques was the center for Christianity among students. Another saintly Frenchman who later frequented Saint-Étienne-des-Grès was St. Vincent de Paul (1581-1660). Francis de Sales as a college-age layman was finding he had serious religious scruples and temptations to lust.4 it was in Saint-Étienne-des-Grès that St. Francis de Sales ultimately took a personal vow of chastity before a statue of the Virgin Mary which allowed him to pursue his spiritual desires.
After studying for five more years at the University of Padua, St. Francis de Sales emerged in 1591 with the equivalent of a J.D.- Ph.D. and was ordained a priest in 1593. In those years the young nobleman was surrounded by the Renaissance writings of philosophers and poets such as Marsiglio Ficino (1433-1499), Giovanni della Casa (1503-1556) and contemporary French theologian Pierre Charron (1541-1603).5 Now in his mid-20’s Francis was given by his bishop the nearly impossible task to reconvert John Calvin’s citizens of Geneva to Catholicism. Needless to say, Francis’s efforts failed. In fact, the Wars of Religion (1562-1598) were in full swing and made for impassioned attitudes on all sides and complicated factors in politics. An individual, Protestant or Catholic, had to practice their faith in a fragmented society.6
In 1602 St. Francis de Sales was sent to Paris to negotiate the condition of Catholics in reconverted territories in France. As a diplomat St. Francis de Sales was smooth – peaceful, positive, charitable and temperate in his words and persona. At meetings taking place at the court of French King Henry IV ( (1553-1610), St. Francis de Sales met some of the great figures of the religious and mystical revival occurring in France including Henri, Duc de Joyeuse (1563–1608), a General commander in the Wars of Religion and member of the Catholic League who became a Capuchin Franciscan after the death of his wife, Catherine de La Valette; Pierre de Bérulle (1575-1629), one of the most important mystics of 17th century France and, later, a Catholic cardinal; and Madame Acarie (1566-1618), mother of seven children, and foundress and lay sister of the Discalced Carmelites in France. She was perhaps the most widely respected religious person in Paris and certainly the go-to contact for the wealthy whenever they desired to help the poor because she made sure their alms got to the poor and not the professional charitable class. St. Francis de Sales, a respected theologian, also influenced the temporal powers – the dukes of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel I (1562-1630) and Victor Amadeus I (1587-1637), the regent of Savoy Christine de France and kings Henry IV and Louis XIII of France.
Charles Emmanuel I. Duke of Savoy (1562-1630) by Jan Kraeck. Public Domain.
Victor Amadeus I (1587-1637), artist unknown. Public Domain.
St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) became one of the most respected Catholic theologians, writers, preachers, and spiritual directors of the Counter-Reformation era.
In July 1602 following the death of Bishop Grenier, St. Francis de Sales became Bishop of Geneva. Francis de Sales traveled ceaselessly around the diocese and beyond, preaching and hearing confessions, and the people quickly realized they had a holy bishop. It was by way of one of his penitents, St. Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal (1572-1641), that St. Francis de Sales worked his vision of the foundation of a new order, the Visitation, whose charism was to serve the sick and the poor with “the charity and gentleness of Jesus Christ.”7
St. Francis de Sales with Sisters of the Visitation, Francisco Bayeu y Subias (1734-1795), c. 1760, oil on canvas, 56 x 34 cm, Prado, Madrid, Spain. The 18th century painting, once in the Royal Collection, is today housed in a regional art museum in Salamanca. Public Domain.It was by way of one of his penitents, St. Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal (1572-1641), that St. Francis de Sales worked his vision of the foundation of a new order, the Visitation, whose charism was to serve the sick and the poor with “the charity and gentleness of Jesus Christ.” https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/san-francisco-de-sales/540cb0b9-ca15-4c43-b011-d2d71f7c5820?searchMeta=san%20francis – retrieved January 24, 2023. Francisco Bayeu y Subías (1734-1795) is one of the leading of Spanish late Baroque painters using quick and fluid touches and vivid and exquisite colors though later assuming neoclassicism with formal, sometimes cold, pictures based rigorous observation of nature. Bayeu, born in Zaragoza, trained there in the workshop of Danish painter Juan Andrés Merklein (1716-1797) and in the drawing classes of José Luzán Martínez (1710-1785). In 1758 at 24 years old he obtained a two-year scholarship to the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, but left two months later because of disputes with the professor Antonio González Velázquez (1723–1793). Bayeu returned to Zaragoza and painted several commissions for churches and convents. In 1762 he was helping German painter Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779) in the decoration of the Palacio Nuevo. Thanks to Mengs’ influence, Bayeu started his decorative collaborative undertakings that earned him the appointment of court painter in 1767. He worked mainly as a fresco painter. In addition to his courtly commissions, he did church commissions such as of the vaults of the Holy Chapel of the Basilica of Nuestra Señora del Pilar completed in 1776. He painted 11 scenes for the the cloister of the Cathedral of Toledo between 1776 and 1787. He was then entrusted with the decoration of the royal chapel in the Palace of Aranjuez. After Mengs’s departure in 1777 for Rome, Francesco Bayeu assumed all Mengs’ duties as first painter, though not obtaining the appointment. Like other Spanish artists he worked developing cartoons for Real Fábrica de Tapices de Santa Bárbara (Royal tapestry Factory). Bayeu supervised the work of a talented newcomer, Francisco Goya (1746- 1828) who was Bayeu’s brother-in-law since 1773. In 1785 Charles III entrusted Bayeu and Mariano Salvador Maella Pérez (1739 –1819) with the restoration of the paintings in the royal collections. When he fell ill in 1786, Goya replaced Bayeu at the Academy of San Fernando, which Bayeu had been director of painting. Despite declining health from overwork, the commissions kept coming in. The Prince and Princess of Asturias hired Bayeu for the decoration of the dining room vault in the Palace of El Pardo. Bayeu returned to Zaragoza in 1788 until he was called again in 1791 to Aranjuez where he painted for the oratory of the Royal Palace and the vault of the King’s bedroom. This would be his last work when he died, in Madrid, in 1795. see – https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/artista/bayeu-y-subias-francisco/b218fee4-053b-4656-8577-9aa001ad1989 – retrieved January 24, 2025.
It was in this first decade of the 17th century amidst this flurry of evangelizing and other activity that the 40-something bishop wrote the Introduction to the Devout Life (1608). The book, written in short chapters with titles on topical challenges, problems, and opportunities in the Christian life in the world, provides its responses based on practical counsels. The Introduction to the Devout Life much as his later work, On Love of God, are very reliant on the Bible for its teaching and sprang directly from the bishops’ care of souls that he was doing actively and sacramentally from his diocese in southeastern France. Francis’s generous range of literary sources reflected his education in Renaissance humanism and included classical authors, Montaigne, contemporary poets as well as medieval saints and spiritual writers such as Sts. Anselm, Bonaventure and Bernard. Francis was also familiar with the writings and religious vision of the 16th century Spanish mystics and saints such as Teresa of Avila and Ignatius of Loyola.8
The exceedingly practical St. Vincent de Paul observed about St. Francis de Sales’ On the Love of God: “A truly admirable book, which has as many admirers of the sweetness of its author as it has readers. I have carefully arranged that it shall be read throughout our Society [the Vincentians], as the universal remedy for all feeble ones, the good of slothful ones, the stimulus of love, and the ladder of those who are tending to perfection. Oh! that all would study it as it deserves! There should be no one to escape its heat.”9
A recurring theme in his counsel is that Christians should focus on today’s duties, trust in divine providence, and avoid anxiety about the future. He taught that charity and love are the measure of all Christian action, giving value even to the smallest tasks when performed for God.
St. Francis de Sales by J. J. Owens. c. 1905, based on the Turin portrait. Public Domain.
St. Francis de Sales, now in his early 50s, visited Paris in 1618 where he preached sometimes twice each day. His great work was to show how ordinary daily life, particularly a busy and successful life, could be a path of holiness. No issue was too large or small for the saint to address – from parties, clothes, flirtations, daily life among marrieds – but all directed to the purpose of imitation of Christ and the love of God. St. Francis takes for granted one’s daily life in French society and proposes no maxim which involves any violent upheavals from it. Part of the saint’s genius is to see that there can be no dispute between the social order and the Christian life. At the same time, St. Francis is no easy teacher or grader – he asks that the Christian virtues be upheld and practiced. That insistence on Christian virtue informing one’s daily life is also the genius of his doctrine. While highly educated and imbued with the grace of mind of the Renaissance, St. Francis carried naturally within himself and conveyed the wisdom of the French soil of Savoy, its terroir. As Francis took one’s daily life in French society for granted, he took Catholic doctrine as if for granted. He then explained it with a highly cultivated mind and gracious spirit that expressed itself with a sweetness and gentleness of style that expounded it as “the universal remedy…the stimulus of love…the ladder …to perfection” as St. Vincent de Paul recognized to those with faith or not, or in trouble in day-to-day life.
St. Francis de Sales perhaps speaks to the 21st century most clearly by way of his theology that is presented without sentimentality or melodrama and is clearly explained and lived to be particularly possible and desirable. Francis said: “He who lives for God, frequently thinks of Him during all the occupations of life.”12
January 24 is the memorial feast day of St. Francis de Sales on the General Roman Calendar of 1969. St. Francis de Sales is the patron of writers, journalists, the Catholic press, confessors, the deaf and educators. He was proclaimed a saint and doctor of the Catholic Church. The following quotes are taken from his many published works of spiritual edification, counsel, exhortation, and solace.
Canonized in 1665 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1877, St. Frances De Sales remains the patron saint of writers, journalists, educators, confessors, and the Catholic press.
NOTES:
Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales, trans. and edited by John K. Ryan, Image books (Doubleday) Garden City New York, 1955, p.11.
Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal: Letters of Spiritual Direction, trans. by Péronne Marie Thibert, V.H.M. and selected and introduced by Wendy M. Wright and Joseph F. Power, O.S.F.S. Paulist Press New York, 1988 p.19.
CF. Elisabeth Stopp, “St. Francis de Sales at Clermont College,” in Salesian Studies, 6 (Winter 1969). pp. 42-43.
Wright & Power, p. 20.
Wright & Power, p. 22.
The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary, edited by John Coulson, Guild Press, New York, 1957, p. 305.
Maxims and counsels of St. Francis de Sales for every day in the year, Ella McMahon, M.H. Gill & Son, Dublin, 1884, p. 12.
QUOTATIONS.
There are certain birds..(that) have such short and weak legs as to be of no use to them; it is as if they did not even have them. Should they fall to the ground, they remain there, unable to take flight because, without the use of legs or feet, they cannot rise and take wing. Consequently, they remain on the ground and die there, unless a gust of wind, compensating for their inability, lifts them up, as it often does with other things. If, in that case, they flap their wings in response to the thrust of the wind, the wind itself will continue to help them by thrusting them ever higher, in order to help them to fly higher and higher.Keep yourself faithfully in the presence of God. Avoid hurry and anxiety, for there are no greater obstacles to our progress in perfection.Cast your heart gently, not violently, into the wounds of our Savior and have an unlimited confidence in his mercy and goodness.To make good progress we must devote ourselves to getting over that portion of the path which lies close before us, and not amuse ourselves with the desire to attain the last step before we have accomplished the first.We must make our imperfections die with us from day to day. Dear imperfections, which cause us to recognize our misery, which exercise us in contempt of self, and the practice of virtue, and notwithstanding which God accepts the preparation of our hearts which is perfect.I recommend simplicity to you; look before you, and not at the dangers which you behold in the distance. Keep your will firmly bent upon serving God with your whole heart. While you are thus occupied in forecasting the future you expose yourself to some false step.Have no care for tomorrow. Think only of doing well today. And when tomorrow shall have become today, then we shall think about it.We must make a provision of manna for each day only. Let us not be afraid that God will fail to send down more upon us tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and every day of our pilgrimage.Since the Heart of our Lord has no more loving law than meekness, humility, and charity, we must firmly maintain these dear virtues in us.True sanctity lies in love of God, and not in foolish imaginings, raptures, &c. Let us devote ourselves to the practice of true meekness and submission, to renouncement of self, to docility of heart, to love of abjection, to consideration for the wishes of others : this is true sanctity and the most amiable ecstasy of the children of God.May you belong to God forever in this mortal life, serving Him faithfully through its trials, bearing the cross after Him, and may you be His forever in life eternal with the whole celestial court!
Saint Francis gives the rule to Saint Jeanne de Chantal (Study for the Chapel of the Visitation at Nantes), 19th century, Elie Delaunay (1828-1891), Louvre. Public Domain.
The reason persons are in the world is to receive and carry the gentle Jesus: on our tongue by proclaiming him and in our arms by doing good works.I am as human as anyone could possibly be.See the divine lover at the gate. He does not simply knock once. He continues to knock. He calls the soul: come, arise my beloved, hurry!…In short, this divine Savior forgets nothing to show that his mercies are above all his works, are greater than his judgment.Solitude has its assaults, the world its busyness – in either place we must be courageous since in either place divine help is available to those who trust God and humbly and gently ask for his fatherly assistance.Since this congregation does not have as many austerities or indissoluble bonds as formal orders, the fervor of charity and force of a deep personal resolution must supply for all that…so that might be realized the saying of the Apostle which affirms that charity is the perfect bond.
Saint François de Sales blesses Saint Jeanne de Chantal, Chapelle de la Visitation at Nantes n° 61 XIXe siècle. Elie Delaunay (1828-1891), Musée d’Arts de Nantes. Public Domain.
It is the height of holy disinterestedness to be content with naked, dry, and insensible acts carried out by the superior will alone….In the end, the savior wants us to be His so perfectly that nothing else remains for us, and to abandon ourselves to His providence without reservation.Since the heart is the source of all our actions, as the heart is, so are they.For myself, I cannot approve the methods of those who try to reform a person by beginning with external things, such as bearings, dress or hair. On the contrary, it seems to me that we should begin inside.I beg you, my dear Sister, govern your community with a great expansiveness of heart…The more solicitous, open, and supportive you are with them, the more you will win their hearts.I had the courage to my give [my own dying mother] the last blessing, to close her eyes and mouth and to give her the last kiss of peace at the moment she passed away; after which my heart swelled and I wept….
Saint Francis de Sales healing a lame man, Chapelle de la Visitation at Nantes n° 61 XIXe siècle. Elie Delaunay (1828-1891), Musée d’Arts de Nantes. Public Domain.
Then let us belong wholly to Him, and live but for Him, desiring only to please Him, and for his creatures in Him, through Him, and for Him. Make your little efforts sweetly, peacefully, and amiably to please this Sovereign Goodness, and do not be astonished at difficulties.We must be constant in aspiring to the perfection of holy love, in order that love may be perfect. For the love which seeks anything less than perfection cannot fail to be imperfect.Never permit your soul to be sad and live in bitterness of spirit or scrupulous fear, since He who loved it and died to give it life is so good, so sweet, so amiable.God, who calls us to Him, sees how we are approaching, and will never permit anything to happen but what is for our greater good. God knows what we are, and will hold out his paternal hand to us in a difficult step, in order that nothing may stop us.God has preserved you so far. Only keep yourself faithful to the law of his providence and He will assist you at all times. And where you cannot walk, He will carry you.
Saint Francis de Sales healing a lame man, Chapelle de la Visitation at Nantes n° 61 XIXe siècle. Elie Delaunay (1828-1891), Musée d’Arts de Nantes. Public Domain.
An over-sensitive mind can neither receive nor endure anything without telling of it, and it is always a little astonished at the lowly places which humility and simplicity choose.I see you with your vigorous heart which loves and wills powerfully. I like it, for what are those half -dead hearts good for? We must make a particular exercise once every week of willing to love the will of God more tenderly, more affectionately than anything in the world, and that, too, not only in bearable but in the most unbearable events.Plant in your heart Jesus Christ Crucified, and all the crosses of this world will seem to you like roses.Lord Jesus, without reserve, without an if, or a but, without exception or limitation, may you holy will be done in all things and at all times.Regard not the appearance of the things you are to do, but Him who commands them, and who, when He pleases, can accomplish his glory and our perfection through the most imperfect and trifling things.
Painting of St. Francis de Sales in Don Bosco’s rooms at the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales in Turin. Public Domain.
Behold this great Artisan of mercy. He converts our miseries into graces and our iniquities into salutary remedies for our souls. Tell me, I pray, what will He not do with the afflictions, the labors, the persecutions which assail us?Never think you have attained the purity of heart which you owe to God until your will is freely and joyfully resigned to his holy will in all things, even in the most repugnant.Daily strengthen yourself more and more in the resolution, which you formed with so much affection, of serving God according to his good pleasure. Regard Him who commands them and, when He pleases, can accomplish his glory and our perfection through the most imperfect and trifling things.A true servant of God has no care for tomorrow, but performs faithfully what is required today, and tomorrow will do what is required without a word.The meek Savior would have us meek, so that, though surrounded by the world and the flesh, we may live by the Spirit that, amidst the vanities of earth, we may live in heaven; that, living among men, we may praise Him with the angels.
St. Francis de Sales, 18th c, Besançon, 96 x 131 cm. Public Domain.
Here is the great lesson – we must discover God’s will, and, recognizing it, endeavor to do it joyfully, or at least courageously.The sight alone of our dear Jesus crucified can speedily soften all sorrows, which are but flowers compared with his thorns.Our great rendezvous is an eternal heaven and compared with the price of eternity, what are the things which end with time?Continue to unite yourself more and more with our Lord. Plunge your heart into the charity of His, and say always with your whole soul: May I die and may Jesus live !” Our death will be a happy one if we have died daily.Lord Jesus, what true happiness for a soul consecrated to God to be strongly exercised in tribulation before leaving this life!
Saint Francis Sales, antique pendant, Lyon, France. Public Domain.
Nothing can give us deeper peace in this world than to frequently contemplate our Lord in all the afflictions He endured from his birth to his death. Contempt, calumnies, poverty, abjection, weariness, suffering, nakedness, wrongs, and grief of every kind.Let us faithfully cultivate that resignation and pure love of God which is never wholly practiced but amid sufferings. For to love God, when He feeds us with sweetness is nothing more than children do. But to love God when He feeds us with gall is to offer Him the cup of our loving fidelity.It is not in my power to propose to Him anything for you, save that He may, according to his holy will, fashion your heart for his dwelling, and reign there eternally. And whether He fashion it with the brush, hammer, or chisel, must be according to his good pleasure.I desire that your cross and mine should be wholly the cross of Jesus. This or that burden, or making any choice, God knows what He is doing and why He does it. It is certainly for our good.God wishes that, like Job, I should serve Him in the midst of dryness, suffering, and temptation. Like St Paul, that I serve Him according to His desire. You will see that one day He will do all and even more than you can desire.
St. Francis de Sales. medallion. Public Domain.
At the very thought of God, one immediately feels a certain delightful emotion of the heart, which testifies that God is God of the human heart.I said everything in just two words, when I told you to refuse nothing and to desire nothing; I have nothing more to say to you.Do you see the baby Jesus in the crib? He accepts all the discomforts of that season, the bitter cold and everything that the Father lets happen to him. He does not refuse the small consolations that his Mother gives him; we are not told that he ever reached out for his Mother’s breast, but left everything to her care and concern. So too, we ourselves should neither desire nor refuse anything, but accept all that God sends us, the bitter cold and the discomforts of the season.It is love that grants perfection to our works. I will tell you much more. Take a person who suffers martyrdom for God with an ounce of love; that person merits much, since he could give nothing greater than his own life. Yet another person who has only suffered a scratch with two ounces of love will have much more merit, because it is charity and love that give value to our works.You know, or you should know, that contemplation is in itself better than activity and the active life; nonetheless, if one finds greater union [with God] in the active life, then that is better. If a Sister in the kitchen holding a pan over the fire has greater love and charity than another Sister, that material fire will not hold her back but instead help her to become more pleasing to God. It frequently happens that people are united to God as much in activity as in solitude; in the end, it always comes back to the question of where the greatest love is to be found.In Holy Church, everything pertains to love, lives in love, is done for love and comes from love.Whatever may happen, Lord, you who hold everything in your hands and whose ways are all justice and truth, … I will love you, Lord, … I will love you here, O my God; I will hope always in your mercy and ever repeat your praise… O Lord Jesus, you will always be my hope and my salvation in the land of the living.I wonder whether another difficulty can also be raised concerning your reform: perhaps those who imposed it on you have treated the wound too harshly… I appreciate their method, although it is not what I am in the habit of using, especially with regard to noble and cultivated spirits like yours. I believe it is better simply to indicate the disease and put the scalpel in their hands, so that they themselves can make the necessary incision. Yet do not for this reason neglect the reform that you need.
Saint Jeanne de Chantal. antique pendant, Lyon, France. Public Domain.
The world is becoming so delicate that, in a little while, no one will dare any longer to touch it except with velvet gloves, or tend its wounds except with perfumed bandages; yet what does it matter, if only men and women are healed and finally saved? Charity, our queen, does everything for her children.My intention is but to represent, with simplicity and straightforwardly, without artifice and certainly without false colors, the history of the birth, progress, decline, operations, properties, advantages and sublime qualities of divine love.The power of grace does not constrain the heart, but attracts it. Grace possesses a holy violence, not to violate our liberty but to guide it to love. Grace acts strongly, yet in such a pleasing way that our will is not overwhelmed by so powerful a force; while pressing us, it does not oppress our liberty. Consequently, we are able, before all its might, to consent to or resist its promptings at our pleasure.God’s inspirations, Theotimos, anticipate us and make themselves felt before we are even aware of them, but once we become aware of them, it is up to us either to consent and follow their lead, or to refuse and reject them. They make themselves felt by us without us; yet without us they do not bring about our consent.All these fine people, commonly considered devout, most surely are not.In the end, charity and devotion can be said to differ from one another as fire from a flame. Charity is a spiritual fire that, when fanned into flame, is called devotion. Devotion thus adds nothing to the fire of charity but the flame that makes charity prompt, active and diligent, not only in the observance of God’s commandments but also in the exercise of his divine counsels and inspirations.Almost all those who have treated of devotion have sought to instruct persons living apart from the world, or at least they have taught a kind of devotion that leads to such isolation. I intend to offer my teachings to those who live in cities, in families, at court and who, by virtue of their state in life, are obliged to live in the midst of others.
FEATURE image: Profile portrait of director Alfred Hitchcock taken in 1962 by American celebrity photographer Albert Watson. PHOTO: “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” by twm1340 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Alfred Hitchcock’s I Confess (1953) transforms the conventions of film noir and psychological suspense into a profound moral drama about conscience, faith, and justice. Through Father Michael Logan’s refusal to violate the seal of confession, Hitchcock examines the conflict between religious duty and the demands of the law, revealing how silence can become an act of sacrifice while guilt, deception, and public prejudice threaten an innocent person.
Montgomery Clift plays a Catholic priest, Father Michael Logan, who becomes a murder suspect because he cannot reveal what he learned about the real murderer in sacramental confession. Hitchcock’s film explores guilt, self-sacrifice, public prejudice, and moral responsibility in a gripping black-and-white noir. PHOTO: Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain).
In I Confess, a 1953 film noir by Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) from Warner Bros., a Catholic priest, Fr. Logan (played by Montgomery Clift) hears the confession of a man who works in the rectory and just killed another man.
For the police Inspector (Karl Malden) and prosecutor (Brian Aherne), that the killer had been dressed as a priest and other circumstantial evidence, points to Fr. Logan as the primary suspect for the murder of Villette, a prominent lawyer.
Because of the seal of confession— that is, when a person confesses his sins to a priest in Confession, the priest must maintain absolute secrecy about anything that the person confesses—Fr. Logan cannot and does not under any circumstances divulge the identity of the confessed killer though he (and the audience) knows it.
Even after Fr. Logan is arrested for the crime and put on trial for the murder, the priest does not reveal the identity of the killer but only protests for his own innocence.
Father Michael Logan hears Otto Keller’s confession to murder. Bound by the seal of confession, Logan cannot disclose the killer’s identity, even when he becomes the principal suspect.
Hitchcock’s black-and-white film was shot by cinematographer Robert Burks (1909-1968) who would later shoot Hitchcock’s The Birds in 1964. It is edited by German-born Rudi Fehr (1911-1999) who would go on to edit Hitchcock’s triumphant color feature, Dial M For Murder, in 1954.
The story in I Confess was based on a 1902 play by Paul Anthelme Bourde (1851-1914), a French journalist and colonialist who coined the term “decadent” for the indecipherable Symbolist poets in his native France in the late 19th century.
The film follows the play which is about a killer who confesses to a priest knowing his crime cannot be betrayed. To complicate matters further, the killer blackmails the priest for a long-ago love affair he had with Ruth Grandfort (Anne Baxter), the wife of a leading citizen, and who still loves him. For the priest, the love affair is in the past though for Mrs. Grandfort it is not.
Father Logan’s former relationship with Ruth Grandfort, played by Anne Baxter, gives Keller an additional means of exploiting the priest’s vulnerability.
A primary conflict between the actress and director was that Hitchcock, who was notoriously fastidious about his leading ladies’ appearances, demanded that Baxter dye her hair. This work is in the public domain in the U.S. because it was published in the U.S. between 1927 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice.
When Alfred Hitchcock’s film noir I Confess was filmed on location in Quebec City in 1952 and released in early 1953, Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter were among Hollywood’s most prestigious and sought-after young actors. Both had achieved major career-defining successes, yet their approaches to acting—and their relationships with Hitchcock—could hardly have been more different.
By 1952, Montgomery Clift was widely regarded as a revolutionary force in American cinema. He had recently received an Academy Award nomination for A Place in the Sun (1951) and was preparing to film From Here to Eternity (1953), which would earn him another Best Actor nomination. Clift’s deeply introspective, psychologically nuanced approach to performance, however, sometimes clashed with Hitchcock’s preference for technical precision, carefully choreographed blocking, and exact camera placement. Hitchcock reportedly grew impatient with the Method actor’s persistent questions about a character’s motivation. The tension was further complicated by Clift’s heavy drinking, which occasionally left him appearing glazed during filming. Supporting actor Karl Malden sometimes served as an intermediary between Clift and Hitchcock, whose was famously non-confrontational.
Anne Baxter, by contrast, approached I Confess from a different professional perspective. Already an Academy Award-winning actress, she was known for her discipline and versatility, moving with apparent ease between contrasting roles. In 1953, Baxter parted ways with 20th Century Fox to establish herself as a cutting-edge freelance actress. She subsequently signed a lucrative two-picture deal with Warner Bros., with I Confess serving as a high-profile vehicle for this new phase of her career.
For Clift, I Confess remains an important testament to his extraordinary talent. Despite the reported behind-the-scenes tensions, his restrained, inward-looking portrayal of Father Michael Logan has been praised for its unusual intensity and concentration. His performance gives the film much of its emotional and moral force, demonstrating how a deeply internalized portrayal could become one of the most compelling elements of Hitchcock’s filmography.
Clearly, for Hitchcock in I Confess, the priest in this situation is a highly curious figure. By the end of the film, it becomes clear that the seal of confession is a cross for the priest because of his priesthood – and though sins do not always deal with high crime – demonstrates the personified sacramental nature of self-sacrifice that is involved for the priest with each confession he hears. Throughout the film, Fr. Logan is a tragi-comic figure as he simply does not state the obvious of who the murderer is on behalf of social justice and his own innocence, but equally personifying the religious nature of living with and taking on another’s sin particularly when a person refuses their own responsibility and makes amends for it. In I Confess, the murderer has no intention of turning himself in and is content to let the priest under seal of confession take the rap in the courtroom of the law and public opinion.
Clift portrays Logan as restrained, vulnerable, and morally resolute, making the priest’s silence central to the film’s emotional tension. PHOTO: Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
Fr. Logan never impedes law enforcement’s investigation. He continually states his own innocence for which a jury of his peers is brought in to decide what to believe.
The sin of commission/omission – and in I Confess it is for and surrounds the gravity of murder – remains with the impenitent Otto Keller (O.E. Hasse) although his loving wife, Alma (Dolly Hass), to whom Keller confessed the crime outside confession’s seal, cannot abide by his secret.
Keller attempts to escape the consequences of his crime by allowing an innocent man to suffer in his place. The contrast between the two men is central to the film’s moral argument. PHOTO: “I, Confess animation” by doc_tor_matt is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
If, despite the seal of confession, crimes can be revealed to government investigators then the sanctuary of the law of the cross is extricated to get at evil – which is not contradiction nor improvement to the confessional box (the priest may ask the penitent for a release from the sacramental seal to discuss the confession) but its obligatory public replacement. As there is often no transparency and plenty of state secrets in and around various government agencies, this becomes no less problematical than breaking down a Catholic (and Lutheran) church’s confessional door as well as, in the United States, violating the free exercise of religion (the First Amendment).
Even after Logan is acquitted, public hostility demonstrates how suspicion and appearances can overpower reasoned judgment.
Though the jury finds Father Logan not guilty due to a lack of definitive physical evidence, the angry mob outside the courthouse is unconvinced by the verdict. They jeer and assault Logan as he tries to leave, believing a guilty murderer has escaped justice on a technicality. PHOTO: “I, Confess animation” by doc_tor_matt is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
The investigation and trial raise questions about whether legal institutions can adequately recognize innocence when crucial evidence cannot be disclosed.
Unable to bear the sight of the innocent priest being attacked, and consumed by escalating panic, the killer’s wife, Alma Keller, snaps. She steps forward to publicly denounce her husband and scream the truth to the crowd. In a frantic attempt to escape, Otto Keller pulls a gun, shoots and kills his wife, and flees into the grand Château Frontenac hotel. PHOTO: “I, Confess animation” by doc_tor_matt is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Although found “not guilty” for lack of evidence to convict, the presiding judge expresses his disbelief in Fr. Logan’s innocence. When Fr. Logan exits the court building, he is followed and faced by a hostile crowd – “Preach us a sermon, Logan!” The prosecutor, as he watches the ugly scene from his office above, is forced to lament his actions: ”Do you think I enjoyed it?” he says, washing his hands. After Fr. Logan is crashed into a car window in the crowd, Alma, Keller’s wife, (her name means “soul”) rushes in towards the priest to tell what she knows—and which an accompanying police guard relates to the Inspector—“She said he was innocent.”
Trapped by the police, a desperate Keller tries to shoot Father Logan, completely exposing his own guilt. The police return fire, fatally wounding Keller. In his final dying moments, Keller begs for forgiveness, and Father Logan steps forward to administer the last rites and grant absolution to his own framing torturer—fully resolving his priestly duty, clearing his name in the eyes of the public, and permanently closing the door on his past life with Ruth.
Considered Hitchcock’s once most Catholic of films, I Confess is a tight drama with a truly despicable villain, whose murderous rampages do not stop. The film is ahead of its time in terms of direction – presaging camera angles, editing, pacing and themes of later international crime and psychological dramas that came to fruition in the decades ahead.
Black-and-white cinematography, visual tension, dramatic pacing, and psychological suspense reinforce the film’s themes of entrapment and moral isolation.
Original 1953 theatrical poster for Alfred Hitchcock’s I Confess functions as a misleading piece of marketing, deliberately disguising a religious, somber, psychological drama to become a volatile, sensationalized Hollywood romance. “A shame confessed – a sin concealed! This is love with the brand of Hitchcock burned in!” leans into pure melodrama with an implied promise of a romance overflowing with passion, betrayal, and scandalous secrets. The smaller tagline asks the audience a direct moral riddle: “If you knew what he knew, what would you do?” which establishes the film’s high-stakes moral dilemma, keeping the focus on a personal crisis of conscience. In reality, the movie is a dark, slow-burn, atmospheric film noir rooted in guilt and legal bureaucracy. Notably, the poster completely hides Montgomery Clift’s priestly collar in which he spends nearly the film’s entire runtime. Warner Bros. concealed the movie’s religious core, fearing from a marketing perspective that a story about a devout, celibate Catholic priest might alienate mainstream moviegoers looking for a Hollywood romance. As a standard one-sheet theatrical poster, this was displayed in theater lobbies, outside cinemas, and on street billboards in early 1953 to drive ticket sales. Warner Bros. leaned heavily on the bankable star power of Clift and Baxter, placing their names in giant red font across the bottom to draw crowds. Ultimately, while the poster succeeded in getting audiences into theaters, its heavy emphasis on sensationalized romance contributed to mixed reactions at the time, as viewers expecting a passionate thriller instead received a brooding meditation on faith, duty, and the silence of the confessional. PHOTO: Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain). An online search by title at the US copyright office yielded no copyright renewal. In the absence of renewal of the US copyright, this poster art entered the public domain 28 years after its US publication date.
CONCLUSION
Upon its theatrical release in early 1953, I Confess underperformed at the box office and met with a mixed, largely lukewarm critical reception. While it did not reach the commercial heights or unanimous acclaim of Alfred Hitchcock’s top-tier thrillers, its reputation has evolved significantly over time. Today, the movie has transitioned out of obscurity and holds a solid 84% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, widely re-evaluated by modern film historians as beautifully shot and intellectually challenging and a worthy entry in Hitchcock’s golden era.
In 1953, U.S. critics found the movie heavy-handed and slow, calling the screenplay dull and noting that the killer’s identity being known from the very beginning robbed the narrative of excitement. Most American reviewers felt the central romance flashback was unsuccessful and lacked genuine on-screen chemistry. However, Robert Burks’ moody, German Expressionist shadow cinematography was universally praised. The Catholic Church responded positively to I Confess as it treated Catholic beliefs with dignity and portrayed Father Logan as a devout priest. Yet, in 1950’s Catholic Ireland, the film apparently was not Catholic enough: and it was banned there for what censors considered its unacceptable innuendos. The film’s biggest champions at the time, however, were the young French critics of Cahiers du Cinéma who hailed I Confess as an absolute auteur masterpiece. They argued that the film’s brilliant “transference of guilt” motif and Montgomery Clift’s internalized acting perfectly captured the integrity of the spiritual isolation of the human condition.
FEATURE image: Erected in 1939, St. Francis Xavier Church stands at 524 Ninth Street in Wilmette, Illinois, within a mature residential neighborhood just a few blocks west of Lake Michigan. Rather than dominate its surroundings, the church was deliberately designed to harmonize with the architectural character of Chicago’s North Shore, reflecting the desire of the local Roman Catholic community to create a dignified house of worship that blended naturally into its well-established suburban setting.June 2014. Author’s photograph 3.56mb
Though outwardly modest and deliberately integrated into its residential setting, St. Francis Xavier Church reveals the sophistication of twentieth-century Catholic design, using architecture, sculpture, and stained glass to transform doctrinal teaching into a fully immersive visual experience.
St. Francis Xavier church, Wilmette, Illinois. December 2018. Author’s photograph. 11.6mb
The English Gothic‑style church—typically associated with establishment mainline Protestants—was designed to be both sophisticated and simple. When the parish community formed in 1904, it built a smaller multi‑purpose church‑and‑school on this same corner of 9th Street and Linden Avenue. That first structure supported the parish through its early decades, serving as both classroom and worship space as the community grew into the congregation that would later commission the present building. Built by McCarthy, Smith & Eppig, St. Francis Xavier Church adopts the character of a sturdy country church, marked by low walls, massive external buttresses, and a sloped, elongated roof.
The church was intentionally designed to blend into the surrounding North Shore neighborhood rather than stand as a monumental urban landmark.Massive buttresses, low walls, and an elongated roof create the character of a sturdy English country church.
St. Francis Xavier church, Wilmette, Illinois. June 2014. Author’s photograph. 4.64mb
Erected in 1939, St. Francis Xavier Church sits within an established, well‑maintained residential neighborhood in Wilmette, Illinois, just blocks inland from Lake Michigan. The area’s Roman Catholics intentionally sought a design that would blend unobtrusively into the North Shore streetscape, ensuring the church harmonized with its surroundings rather than dominating them or otherwise stand out. Placing the 1904 parish under the patronage of St. Francis Xavier, the premier Jesuit missionary and intellectual, reflected the cultural and educational aspirations of the region’s affluent English‑speaking Catholic families, whose spiritual identity was shaped by the strong Jesuit presence on Chicago’s North Shore.
WHO IS ST. FRANCIS XAVIER (1506-1552), FIRST JESUIT MISSIONARY TO THE FAR EAST AND CO-PATRON OF FOREIGN MISSIONS?
Parish patron and namesake St. Francis Xavier is depicted in marble at the entrance to the sanctuary in Wilmette, Illinois. namesake. Holding a crucifix, the Basque Jesuit priest is dressed in a black cassock draped by an alb and stole. June 2014. Author’s photograph. 4.05 mb
The unobstructed interior provides clear sightlines to the sanctuary and reflects evolving twentieth-century liturgical priorities.The inverted-barque ceiling symbolically references St. Francis Xavier’s missionary voyages to Asia.
Nave looking to main altar. June 2014. Author’s photograph. 5.99 mb
Unobstructed Sanctuary
There are no columns interrupting the view toward the marble altar and crucifix. After Vatican II, the tabernacle was moved to a niche on the right; originally it stood on the main altar beneath the crucifix. The extra‑wide altar rail—with cross‑shaped legs meant to evoke being at table with Christ for communicants—was also removed.
Modern Streamlining
Although St. Francis Xavier Church is traditional in overall form, its detailing is modern, chic, and streamlined, giving the sanctuary a flexible, adaptable character suited to later liturgical changes.
Symbolic Ceiling
The ceiling is shaped like an inverted barque, a visual metaphor for St. Francis Xavier’s missionary voyages across the seas to the Far East.
Its architecture combines English Gothic Revival forms with a notably streamlined and modernized interior treatment.
View of sanctuary. July 2014. Author’s photograph. 5.85mb
Architects & Origins
Among the leading ecclesiastical designers of the 1930s, McCarthy, Smith & Eppig worked closely with Chicago’s Cardinal George Mundelein. Joseph W. McCarthy (1884–1965), once a young architect under Daniel Burnham, shaped much of Chicago’s Catholic built environment from the 1910s through the 1930s.
Wilmette Commissions
In 1939, McCarthy completed two major Wilmette churches—St. Francis Xavier and the more monumental St. Joseph—standing barely a mile apart. The design of St. Francis Xavier was executed primarily by the firm’s younger partners, David Smith and Arthur Eppig.
Design & Cost
The church’s restrained architecture, enriched by fine detailing, cost $200,000 to build in the late Depression years—roughly $4 million in 2022.
Beyond Chicago
While most of McCarthy’s work rose in the Chicago region, his portfolio also includes significant projects such as the cathedral in Springfield (1928) and the parish church built in 1918 for what later became the Diocese of Joliet.
Organ loft. December 2017. Author’s photograph. 7.90 mb 77%
There are 8 major stained-glass windows in St. Francis Xavier Church: four in the west wall and four in the east wall.
Panels of three different windows.October 2015. Author’s photographs
Smaller stained-glass oculi and panels are scattered throughout the interior. These stained-glass windows were designed by parishioner Henry Schmidt. They are quite beautiful, scintillating in their pseudo-English Tudor style, and illumined by the usually soft eastern and tree-obscured western exposures. While their subject matter feels somewhat chaotic—a hodgepodge in its traditional and idiosyncratic admixture of hagiography, scripture, and popular piety—one aspect of their enduring appeal is that the glass can be seen close up and at eye level. This intimate perspective is vividly captured in the side panels: the left detail illustrates the Agony in the Garden, showing Christ kneeling on the Mount of Olives as an angel descends with the chalice of His Passion; the center panel depicts the Finding in the Temple, with the twelve-year-old Jesus teaching the elders while Mary and Joseph look on; and the right panel depicts the Annunciation, capturing the Archangel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary under the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
ST. PETER WINDOW & THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY WINDOW.
The visual program of the St. Peter stained-glass window —particularly its central panel showing St. Peter holding the keys next to the Latin words for Saint Peter, flanked by scenes of Mary’s active intercession by way of her heavenly coronation and Assumption into Heaven—beautifully illustrate this very link between established apostolic authority on earth and the heavenly governance of Christ and His Mother.
The window’s left panel of the Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven refers to the moment the Trinity receives her, body and soul, following the Assumption. In Catholic tradition—as in the Fifth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary—the Coronation marks her crown of heavenly glory. Though rooted in Scripture—especially the ‘woman clothed with the sun’ of Revelation 12:1—the literal act of the Trinity placing a crown on Mary is held as pious tradition rather than defined dogma like the Assumption. Consequently, parish practices such as a May Crowning remain devotional customs rather than formal liturgical acts.
St. Peter window. June 2014. Author’s photograph. 4.98 mb
CENTER PANEL: Saint Peter, leader of the apostles, holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:19). Peter holds a book, a representation of St. Peter’s New Testament letters (1 and 2 Peter) and sermons (Acts). Below is St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City in Rome with its famous dome.
LEFT PANEL: Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven by Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). From the Council of Ephesus in 431, depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary wearing a regal crown was used in Christendom.
RIGHT PANEL: While biblical texts point directly to the defined dogma (431) of Mary as Theotokos (Mother of God), the literal event of her Assumption is not explicitly recorded in the New Testament. Instead, this latter dogma (1950) dictates that at the end of her earthly life, she was taken—or ‘assumed’—body and soul into heavenly glory. Scriptural imagery of going ‘up’ to heaven is utilized here to express a profound spiritual reality, drawing a deliberate theological parallel to Jesus’ own Ascension (Acts 1:6–17; Luke 24:50–53). This phenomenon of a bodily assumption is mirrored in the Old Testament accounts of Moses and Elijah, both of whom later appeared alongside Christ at His Transfiguration (Matt 17:1–9; Mark 9:2–10; Luke 9:28–36; 2 Peter 1:16–21). Anchoring these soaring heavenly narratives visually, identical angel figures rest directly below the window panels.
Assumption (right panel), St. Peter Window. October 2015. Author’s photograph. 4.81mb DSC_0504 (1)
The Queenship of Mary, while in one continuous arc with the crowning of Mary, is an established doctrine of the Church. In 1954, Pope Pius XII formalized this long-standing tradition by issuing the papal encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam (To the Queen of Heaven), establishing the universal Feast of the Queenship of Mary. The systematically-minded Pope Paul VI later moved the memorial to August 22—exactly seven days after the Solemnity of the Assumption—to underscore their inseparable theological connection. The Queenship refers to Mary’s eternal, structural office and state of reigning over the entire Created Order. Catholic theology teaches that her reign is not passive; rather, Mary actively exercises her exalted role as Intercessor, Advocate, and Mediatrix of graces on behalf of the entirety of creation, both the living and the dead, until the end of time. The maternal character of her office stems from the ancient Davidic kingdom, where the queen was not the king’s wife, but the king’s mother. In ancient Israel, this Queen Mother held a powerful office of advocacy, listening to the needs of the citizens and bringing them directly to the King. Mary reigns in this exact Old Testament typological capacity. As Pope Pius XII noted, Mary’s authority is characterized entirely by maternal solicitude and humility. Her power to rule flows directly from her absolute submission to God’s will, meaning her crown is the ultimate reflection of perfect, Christian discipleship and sacrificial agape.
Queenship of Mary window. December 2018. Author’s photograph.
CENTER PANEL: The Queen of Heaven who reigns from the right hand of her son, is depicted in her role as mother of Jesus Christ. Below, a crown hovers over what may be a heart-shaped letter “M” for Mary’s first initial and/or her sacred heart.
LEFT PANEL: The presentation panel depicts Jesus being offered by Mary and Joseph in the Temple, where they meet Simeon, a ‘just and devout’ man of Jerusalem (Luke 2:25–35). Celebrated as the Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary, the Presentation occurs forty days after Jesus’s birth. In accordance with Luke’s narrative, Mary and Joseph journeyed to the Temple in Jerusalem to fulfill the requirements of Mosaic Law: completing Mary’s ritual purification after childbirth and offering the prescription for the redemption of the firstborn son (Leviticus 12; Exodus 13:12–15)
RIGHT PANEL: Nativity of Jesus in Bethlehem (Luke 2: 1-7 and Matthew 1: 18-25) is the Third Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. Below each side panel are identical Angel figures.
ST. BONIFACE WINDOW.
St. Boniface Window. June 2014. 3.93 mb
CENTER PANEL: St. Boniface (675–754) is widely regarded as the “St. Patrick of Germany.” A missionary bishop who labored during Europe’s Early Middle Ages, Boniface was primarily responsible for organizing the Church in western Germany. While the ancient sees of Cologne and Mainz already existed, he fundamentally restructured and elevated them to serve as the pillars of his reform movement. Acting under the direct mandate of the Roman pope, Boniface anointed Pepin the Short (714–768)—son of Charles Martel (c. 688–741) and father of Charlemagne (747–814)—as King of the Franks. Pepin’s subsequent 751 coronation established a powerful precedent for future European royal coronations, marking a definitive milestone in the formation of the modern European state
LEFT PANEL: Jesus meets his mother is the fourth station of the cross. The Holy Face, below, is a devotion proclaimed by Pope Leo XIII in 1885.
RIGHT PANEL: Jesus mocked and crowned with thorns (Luke 22:63-65 and John 19:2-3) is the sixth station of the cross.
ST. PATRICK WINDOW.
St. Patrick Window. July 2014. 7.58mb
CENTER PANEL: St. Patrick (418–493) is one of the patron saints of Ireland, alongside St. Brigid (c. 451–525) and St. Columba (540–615). In Wilmette, Illinois, St. Joseph Church was founded in the 1840s to serve German immigrants, while St. Francis Xavier Church was established in 1904 as an English‑speaking territorial parish for the expanding North Shore community.
The depiction of Patrick as the archetypal, bearded Irish bishop—in green vestments, with miter and pastoral staff—rose to prominence in the late 1700s. His iconography includes a book, symbolizing both Holy Scripture and his own Latin works, the Confessio and the Epistola to Coroticus. Patrick also holds the traditional three‑leafed shamrock, the emblem he used to explain the Holy Trinity to the Irish people. Beneath him rests the harp, Ireland’s historic national emblem and one of the world’s oldest musical instruments.
LEFT PANEL:Jesus Christ’s Resurrection from the dead stands as the cornerstone of the Christian faith (1 Cor. 15:17). His empty tomb testifies to Christ’s deity (John 5:26; Rom. 1:4). Through the Resurrection, Christ redeemed humanity from sin (Rom. 4:24–25; Heb. 7:25), granted believers the promise of future resurrection (John 14:19; 1 Cor. 15:20–23), and infused them with spiritual power (Rom. 6:3–4; Eph. 1:19–21).
The window shows the resurrected Jesus holding the banner of victory over death, while a Roman guard collapses before the radiant light of the Risen Christ, accompanied by a ministering angel. Christ’s three‑part cruciform halo traditionally bears the Greek letters ὁ ὤν, meaning “He Who Is” (or “I Am Who Am”), a definitive sign of His divinity.
Although all four Gospels recount the aftermath of the Resurrection, none describe the moment or essence of the event itself — a mystery at the heart of Christian belief.
RIGHT PANEL: The Crucifixion of Jesus shows Him on the cross, flanked by Mary and John the Apostle at its base. Above Christ’s head appear the letters INRI, the Latin initials for Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Judaeorum, the official charge written by Pontius Pilate, meaning “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews.” This title is recorded in John 19:19. Resting symmetrically below each side panel are identical anchoring angel figures, grounding the composition and framing the scene’s solemn balance.
Altar design includes tall candlesticks and a detailed, compact baldacchino. June 2014. 4.61 mb
The rood-beam crucifixion group by Fritz Muhlhauser revives a medieval English church tradition within a modern American Catholic setting.
Crucifixion scene in basswood. December 2018. Author’s photograph. 8.47mb
A striking depiction of the Crucifixion carved in basswood stands atop the sanctuary’s rood beam, positioned at the ceiling line directly above the main altar. Hand‑carved by German sculptor Fritz Muhlhauser, the work revives a medieval English Gothic tradition: the rood beam marking the threshold between nave and chancel, symbolizing the bridge between earth and heaven through Christ’s sacrifice.
Muhlhauser executed the composition in basswood (Lindenwood), a fine‑grained European carving wood prized for holding intricate facial expressions and sharp drapery folds without splitting. The sculptural grouping presents Christ on the cross, His head crowned with thorns beneath the INRI inscription, flanked by Mary on the left and John the Apostle on the right. At the base of the cross, Mary Magdalene, bowed in profound grief, embodies the faithful women who witnessed the Passion (John 19:25; Luke 23:27, 49).
Stylistically, the figures are elongated and vertically dramatic, allowing their features to read clearly from the pews far below while harmonizing with the soaring vertical lines of the church’s late Gothic Revival architecture.
STS. ANN AND MARY WINDOW.
Sts. Ann and Mary Window. December 2018. 16.24mb. Author’s photograph.
Overview & Architecture
The late Gothic Revival stained-glass window illustrates the sacred maternal lineage that prepared the world for Christ. These nave windows are positioned so that they are sitting almost entirely at eye level. This intimate placement allows parishioners to stand directly beside the glass so that it functions much like an illuminated manuscript page, inviting them to appreciate its rich colors, expressive faces, and intricate details. Compositionally, the window’s narrative layout reads from right to left in terms of scriptural chronology (the Annunciation on the right moving to the Visitation on the left), flanking and bowing inward toward the central, towering figures of Saint Ann and Mary.
Center Panel: St. Ann and the Child Mary
This panel features the child Mary alongside her mother, Saint Ann, celebrating the vital generational link of Mary’s own birth. Because nothing is explicitly recorded in the New Testament about Mary’s parents or her nativity, early apocryphal Christian texts—such as the Protoevangelium of James—provide the vital historical framework. see – CHURCH FATHERS: Protoevangelium of James – retrieved September 8, 2026. These texts detail the miraculous nature of Mary’s birth to her long-barren parents, cementing an enduring legendary tradition of her immaculate beginnings. This familial focus is reinforced by the distinct vertical typography stitched directly into the blue glass background borders, with clean, capital letters clearly marking “SAINT ANN” and “SAINT MARY”—a design that rewards close-up reading from the aisle. Anchoring the base of this central structure is a miniature depiction of an angel.
Left Panel: The Visitation
The left detail depicts the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1:39–45). Following the Annunciation, Mary journeyed into the hill country to remain at the home of Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah for three months. Both women were experiencing miraculous pregnancies—Mary carrying Jesus by virgin birth, and Elizabeth conceiving John the Baptist in her advanced age. The window captures the precise moment John the Baptist leaped with joy in Elizabeth’s womb upon hearing Mary’s greeting (Luke 1:41). The Visitation is celebrated as the Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary.
Anchoring the base of this left panel scene is a miniature architectural tabernacle or ark; Luke heavily structured his Visitation narrative around Old Testament accounts in 2 Samuel and 1 Kings regarding the physical journey of the Ark of the Covenant. Accordingly, paragraph 2676 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church formally identifies Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant: “Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person, the Ark of the Covenant, the place where the glory of the Lord dwells. She is ‘the dwelling of God . . . with men.’”
Right Panel: The Annunciation
The right panel illustrates the Annunciation, wherein the Archangel Gabriel proclaims that Mary will bear the Son of God, Jesus Christ, greeting her with the words: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” It is through Mary’s faithful acceptance of the divine will—“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:26–38)—that the Incarnation takes place. A traditional vase of white lilies sits positioned between Gabriel and Mary, serving as a classic art-historical symbol of her perpetual virginity and spiritual purity. The Annunciation constitutes the First Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. Anchored at the base of this right-panel scene is the fruit of Mary’s womb, the infant Jesus, wrapped in swaddling clothes (Luke 2:7, 2:12). He appears as he did when Mary laid him in a manger in Bethlehem, because there was no room for them at the inn.
ST. JOSEPH WINDOW.
St. Joseph Window. December 2018.12.34 mb
CENTER PANEL: St. Joseph was the foster father of Jesus and served as His guardian protector. Joseph’s symbology includes his holding a carpenter’s square (Matt. 13:55) along with a white lily to symbolize his faithfulness and chastity toward Mary (Matt. 1:25), as well as his absolute holiness and obedience to God (Matt. 1:24; 2:14, 21, 22). This devotional aspect is made explicit by the vertical text framing his figure, reading “SAINT JOSEPH” on the left and “PRAY FOR US” on the right in stark, clean capital letters. An angel figure is positioned directly below St. Joseph.
LEFT PANEL: The left detail depicts the Holy Family in Nazareth, illustrating the hidden years where Jesus was obedient to Mary and Joseph and “progressed steadily in wisdom, age, and grace before God and men” (Luke 2:52). Jesus is shown being instructed by St. Joseph in the carpenter’s trade, holding a prophetic wooden cross upon His knees. The flowering grass below is highly decorative and signifies the flowering staff of St. Joseph, which symbolized that he was specially chosen by God to be Mary’s husband. This imagery was heavily drawn from the Old Testament type where Aaron’s staff, placed before the Ark of the Testimony, miraculously sprouted with almond blossoms as a divine sign of his election (Num. 17:8; Vulgate 17:23).
RIGHT PANEL: The right panel captures Mary and St. Joseph finding the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple sitting among the doctors of the Law (Luke 2:41–52), which constitutes the Fifth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. This scriptural event marks the only time in the Gospels where Jesus makes a public appearance between His infancy narrative and His later baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist at the start of His public ministry (Matt. 3:3–17; Mark 1:9–11; Luke 3:21–23; John 1:29–33). Compositionally, the twelve-year-old Jesus is visually elevated above the scroll-holding doctors, sitting upon a small stone cathedra or teaching chair, which subtly emphasizes His divine authority over the earthly teachers of the Law.
Compositional Harmony Across the Base
The window’s lowest register displays a deliberate symbolic balance between the two side panels. Directly beneath the Nazareth home scene on the left, an ornate vase holds three stylized lilies representing the domestic purity of the Holy Family. This perfectly counterbalances the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments on the right, which are inscribed with Roman numerals (I through X) beneath the Eye of Providence—a symbol of the Holy Trinity hovering within an equilateral triangle. Together, the window visually tracks Jesus’s growth from the quiet, private household raised by his parents (the left) into the public, formal structures of divine law where He takes up His true spiritual mission as the Son of God (the right).
ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE WINDOW.
St. Paul Window. June 2022. Author’s photograph. 4.28 mb
CENTER PANEL: This panel features St. Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles. He is depicted in a traditional pose of apostolic authority, with his right hand raised in blessing and his left hand holding a large volume representing the Holy Scriptures and his foundational New Testament epistles. The figure is framed by vertical typography in clean capital letters reading “SAINT” on the left and “PAUL” on the right. While Christian iconography and the traditional symbology of martyrs frequently depict Paul holding a sword—both as the historical instrument of his execution by beheading (c. 64–68 CE) and as a metaphor for the ‘sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God’ (Ephesians 6:17)—this specific window replaces that martial emblem with the written word, highlighting his role as the preeminent teacher, theologian, and writer of the early Church. An angel figure is positioned directly below St. Paul.
LEFT PANEL: The left panel portrays Pentecost (Acts 2:1–13), which immediately followed the timeline of the Ascension. The scene depicts the Apostles gathered in prayer alongside Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as they receive the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The divine presence is symbolized by a radiant dove descending from Heaven, casting tongues of fire upon the faithful below. Affixed to the bottom register of this panel is a prominent inscription block that reads: “TEACH YE ALL NATIONS – MATTHEW 28.”
RIGHT PANEL: The right panel illustrates the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven, an event heavily witnessed and detailed throughout the New Testament (Luke 24:50–53; Acts 1:6–12; John 3:13; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:19–20). The composition captures the exact moment the Resurrected Christ physically departed from Earth, rising into the heavens before the gaze of His Eleven remaining apostles (Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus and tragically hung himself). Visually reinforcing this mystery, a cloud of glory reaches down from the upper tracery to receive Christ as His divine humanity enters into the eternal intimacy of the Father, sealing His identity as the perfect God-Man. Symmetrically anchoring the overall window design, a stylized descending dove—the symbol of the Holy Spirit—rests within the lower register directly below this scene.
St. Paul Window: Ascension. October 2015. Author’s photograph DSC_0505 (1).
Thematic and Compositional Harmony
The window’s design displays a brilliant theological and visual unity across its panels. Liturgically and historically, the inscription at the bottom left—“Teach ye all nations” (Matthew 28:19)—functions as the structural catalyst for the entire visual program. The Pentecost panel directly above it provides the Apostles with the supernatural grace and tongues of fire required to execute this Great Commission, while the central panel of St. Paul showcases the ultimate historical fulfillment of that missionary command to the wider world.
Artistically, this narrative is bound together by the striking use of deep cobalt blue glass backgrounds behind all three central figure groupings. This deliberate choice creates a dense, uniform baseline that forces the fiery reds and golden ambers of Christ’s robes and the descending Holy Spirit to pop with staggering visual contrast when sunlight hits the glass.
ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE WINDOW in situ on the east wall. June 2014. Author’s photograh
THE GOOD SHEPHERD WINDOW.
The Good Shepherd Window. December 2018. 12.6mb
CENTER PANEL: This panel features Jesus Christ declaring Himself the ‘Good Shepherd’ (John 10). This title fulfills the Old Testament prophecies of Ezekiel, who foretold a singular Messiah-Shepherd sent to oversee the people of God (Ezek. 34:23–24; 37:24–25). Christ is depicted holding a pastoral staff with a lamb slung securely over His shoulders, symbolizing His protective care for the faithful. This messianic claim is rendered instantly legible by the stark vertical English typography stitched directly into the blue background glass, reading “I AM THE” on the left and “GOOD SHEPHERD” on the right. Positioned within the lower register directly below His feet is a triumphant Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) panel, portraying a haloed lamb holding the banner of victory over death. This iconography honors John the Baptist’s proclamation (John 1:29) and functions as an Old Testament typological echo of the ram provided by God to replace Isaac on Mount Moriah (Gen. 22:13), foretelling the ultimate sacrifice of the Son of God at Calvary.
LEFT PANEL: The left panel portrays the Scourging at the Pillar, which constitutes the Second Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary and part of the severe bodily brutalities Jesus endured during His Passion (John 19:1–3). Bound to a marble column, Christ is flanked by two Roman torturers. Resting directly beneath His feet are the instruments of His flagellation: the leather-thonged whip (flagrum) and crossed wooden rods. Symmetrically anchoring the base of this narrative register, a standing angel figure rests directly below.
RIGHT PANEL: The right panel depicts Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane during His Agony, positioned at the foot of the Mount of Olives the night before His Crucifixion (Luke 22:39–46). Knowing the immediacy of Judas’s impending betrayal, Jesus kneels in intense prayer, pleading: ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me. Yet not my will, but yours be done’ (Luke 22:42). The window captures the exact fulfillment of the subsequent verse, where a ministering angel descends from heaven to strengthen Him (Luke 22:43). This angel holds out a golden Eucharistic chalice directly toward Christ’s face, visually transforming the abstract concept of the spiritual ‘cup of suffering’ into a tangible, liturgical reality. Mirroring the layout of the left side, an identical standing angel figure occupies the register directly below.
Compositional and Structural Balance
Architecturally, the entire triptych is bound together by identical, pointed trefoil-lobed arch borders (or ogival mandorlas) rendered in deep cobalt blue glass. This recurring geometric framing establishes a strict visual symmetry across the three windows, naturally drawing the viewer’s eye away from the chaotic flanking scenes of the Passion and focusing it onto the serene, central icon of the Good Shepherd.
This formal balance extends to the lower register of the window. The identical, standing angel figures flanking the base on the left and right face inward toward the central register. This deliberate layout creates a sacred, heavenly court at eye level, physically framing and guarding the triumphant Agnus Dei panel at the center of the visual program.
Organ loft. St. Francis Xavier Church, Wilmette, IL. December 2018. Author’s photograph. 446 kb 25%
SOURCES:
Heavenly City: The Architectural Tradition of Catholic Chicago, Denis Robert McNamara, James Morris, Liturgy Training Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 2005, pp. 138-140 Chicago Churches and Synagogues: An Architectural Pilgrimage, George Lane, S.J., and Algimantas Kezys, Loyola University Press, Chicago, 1981. Saint Ignatius and His First Companions, Chas. Constantine Pise, P.J. Kenedy & Sons, New York, 1892, pp.105-151. The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary, edited by John Coulson, Guild Press, New York, 1957. The New American Bible, Catholic Book Publishing Corp, New York, 1993. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition, Doubleday, New York, 1997.
WINDOW DETAIL An angel figure graces one of the stained-glass windows in St. Francis Xavier Church. There are several different angel figures throughout the church’s stained glass panels.
Feature Image: Detail, Ascension of Christ window, Sts. Peter and Paul, Naperville, IL. Author’s photograph
Thee 1927 Tyrol Art Glass Company windows at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Naperville, Illinois, are not simply decorative religious artworks but important examples of European ecclesiastical craftsmanship that combine theology, biblical storytelling, symbolism, local Catholic history, and immigrant heritage. Through the major Ascension of Christ and Assumption of Mary windows, the stained glass served as a visual catechism and artistic legacy in this and other American Catholic churches during the great era of German and Austrian church art.
Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, in July 2021. Looking to the northeast from Central Park, the church building seats 1000 people and was dedicated in September 1927. In 2021 the parish marked its 175th anniversary. Founded in 1846, the parish is the oldest continuously operating Catholic parish in DuPage County. Down the decades its pastors (Frs. Rainaldi, Zuker, Wenker, Stenger, Lennon, Milota, and others) led Saints Peter and Paul adjacent to Naperville’s Historic District to where the parish with its school today serves 4,000 families. Author’s photograph.
Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Naperville was dedicated in 1927 and contains significant stained-glass windows produced by the Tyrol Art Glass Company of Innsbruck, Austria.
A magnificent church building sits on Ellsworth Street in Naperville, Illinois, close by the Historic District. With an orientation out of the darkness of the west into the light of the east, Saints Peter and Paul greets worshippers with two soaring steeples. The neo-Gothic red brick and limestone structure was commissioned in 1922 by the parish’s 350 families and dedicated five years later. Today the parish in Chicago’s western suburb serves 4.000 families and contains historically significant bright colored traditional European painted stained-glass windows from Innsbruck, Austria. In this archival photograph, the view of the church building from around the time of its dedication is looking towards the southeast. Public Domain.
The windows were created during the peak period (1870-1930) when German and Austrian stained-glass studios supplied churches throughout Chicago and the Midwest.
The colorful stained-glass windows in Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, were ordered, produced, and installed towards the end of a 60-year-long run for the predominance of German and Austrian-made stained glass found in heritage Chicagoland churches today.
With only a couple of exceptions, the stained glass in Naperville’s historically pioneer and, later, German Catholic parish church was created in the mid1920s in Innsbruck, Austria. Innsbruck at the time was one of the European centers of stained-glass making. It is about 100 miles south of Munich, Germany, the home base of two other popular and well-regarded stained-glass studios – that of Franz Mayer & Company and F.X Zettler Company. These art glass manufacturers notably filled many Chicagoland Catholic churches starting in the 1870s. After the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, a building and population boom commenced in the city and its surrounding communities that went on for over a century unabated. In addition, from the 1870s to the 1920s, Chicago became the most influential center of Catholic culture in the United States.1
It was a unique period of history for Catholic churches in America whose state-of-the-art church design usually included brightly colored art (stained) glass windows. These windows often displayed action-packed scenes from the Bible, including episodes from the life of Christ, His Blessed Mother, or a patron saint.
This continuous appeal over multiple generations for the purchases of vast orders of Munich and Austrian style glass in U.S. Catholic churches declined greatly starting in the 1930’s with the onset of the Great Depression. The European traditional glass market did not recover its former popularity making its stained-glass windows from 1870 to 1930 in Chicagoland churches – including Saints Peter and Paul Church in Naperville – increasingly rare and valuable to preserve and appreciate.
Stained glass made by Tyrol Art Glass Company of Innsbruck, Austria, and Franz Mayer and F.X. Zettler of Munich, Germany, was characterized by its traditional painted stained glass. This style fit into the traditional-style church architecture that Catholic parishes, such as Saints Peter and Paul in Naperville, and many others, built between 1870 and 1930. By the mid20th century these European traditional glass makers faced competition from the rise of American glass manufacturers such as Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) which extended to quality, price, and style. Tiffany stained glass which frequently incorporated natural scenery elements, contained intricately cut opaque and opalescent glass, overlaid with wide varieties in thickness. This product became better fitted into modern worship spaces which were often smaller. Such modern art and architectural trends worked to displace traditional glass made in Europe used for grandiose classically styled houses of worship that were from an earlier historical period.
In the late 19th century, Tyrol Art Glass Company of Innsbruck, Austria, with the Munich studios of Franz Mayer and F.X. Zettler, began to send representatives to sell their new patterns for churches in Chicago and around the United States. These three studios often worked together and their style is basically interchangeable. In Saints Peter and Paul Church – as well as many other churches with classically-styled architecture – traditional painted stained glass was the stand-out choice, It is usually very colorful whose iconography often depicts highly recognizable religious, often biblical, scenes and religious symbolism. This is definitely the situation with the beautiful stained-glass windows of Saints Peter and Paul in Naperville, including the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven and the Assumption of Mary into Heaven windows.
HOW SAINTS PETER AND PAUL CATHOLIC CHURCH GOT STARTED AND GREW IN NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS
Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, was founded in 1831 – the oldest town in DuPage County.2With its origins as a mixed settlement of Easterners and Hoosiers, Naperville’s strong religious character was established starting in the 1830s.3 Today it boasts a population of around 150,000 and is one of Illinois’s largest cities. The downtown area is bustling with shops and motor vehicle and foot traffic, yet Naperville’s 19th century origins can still be found in and around the DuPage River with its River Walk and its Historic District that maintain much of the suburb’s original charm and historic significance.
Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Naperville was founded in 1846 and is the oldest continuously operating Catholic parish in DuPage County. The county was established in 1839 with Naperville originally as the county seat. This changed in 1867 when, by county referendum, Wheaton became the county seat which it remains today. Naperville’s first religious institutions were the East Branch Settlement, Congregationalist, Evangelical, and Baptist churches. These churches were all established in Naperville between 1833 and 1843.4
The Catholic parish was originally founded as a mission of the Joliet Catholic Church – Joliet, Illinois, about 20 miles to the south of Naperville is its Diocese headquarters today. In the 1840s, when Illinois was the edge of the frontier, a priest traveled the rigorous 20-mile journey – Naperville did not get a railroad for another 30 years (1864) – once a month to say mass in pioneers’ homes. The first church, named St. Raphael’s for Fr. Raphael Rainaldi, the first pastor, was a small frame structure with a lean-to across the street from today’s church building. In the 1840s the church served about 25 families – 175 years later it serves 4,000 families.5
The first official act at Saints Peter and Paul Church was a festive event – the wedding of Mr. Robert Le Beau to Miss Emily Beaubien, recorded on Tuesday, September 8, 1846. The parish also purchased an acre of land for a cemetery.
In 1852 the church was enlarged by a frame addition and Fr. Charles Zuker established a parish school in the lean-to with a lay headmaster. In 1855 the first school building was built. By 1864 the first frame church building was used for school purposes as the cornerstone was laid for a new stone church on the site of the present church building. By this time the parish was renamed to Saints Peter & Paul by Fr. Peter Fisher and the parish had grown to about 250 families. The stone had been obtained locally from the parish’s own quarry along the DuPage River. The new stone church building was dedicated in 1866 and the school now served around 100 students.6
Continual improvements were made to the parish church and grounds in the 1870s and 1880s so that by the start of the 1890s, following Naperville’s incorporation as a city, the parish launched significant building projects. In 1892, a year where it rained almost all that spring, a new brick school building for the parish’s 200 students was built that cost $30,000. Saints Peter and Paul also built a new rectory in anticipation of the new century.
The history of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish is traced from its 1846 frontier origins to its emergence as one of DuPage County’s most important Catholic parishes.
c. 1874, looking west, the corner of Ellsworth Street and Benton Avenue. the complex of buildings of Saints Peter and Paul parish, Naperville, Illinois. Public Domain.
In the 1880’s Naperville, illinois, like much of the rest of the country, expanded its industrial base, grew its city services, such as the fire department and city hall, and established new utilities including the first public telephone service.
With its new wealth generated by industry, Naperville built some of its first impressive homes. Shops and stores were established to service them. While agrarian in flavor, by the end of the 1880’s and into the early 1890s Naperville was already a bustling, modern, forward-thinking city. In 1893 Naperville hosted its first “Bicycle Parade” – a big public affair whose purpose was to “show our citizens the increased interest lately in this comparatively new mode of locomotion.”
In the 1890s the area that included Saints Peter and Paul Church, other denominational churches, and Northwestern College (renamed North Central College in 1926) affiliated with the United Methodist Church, came to be known around town as “Piety Corners.”
With the appearance of the first cars in the 1900s, Naperville was well on its way to an era of accelerated expansion and growth that continues in the 21st century.7
Saints Peter and Paul’s old stone church is to the far right. In the background left is the belfry of the Main Building at North Western College built in 1870. North Western College was founded in 1861 as Plainfield College in Plainfield, Illinois. It was renamed to North Western College in 1864 and, with the enticement of 8 acres of donated land and $25,000 from Naperville, relocated to Naperville in 1870. In 1926 it was again renamed to today’s North Central College. For over 140 years the college has had a great deal of influence on the educational and cultural life of Naperville. In 2021, with an enrollment of 3,000 students and 700 employees, North Central College is one of Naperville’s top ten employers.8 Public Domain.
c. 1904, view of Sts. Peter and Paul stone church building from the belfry of the College’s Main Building. Public Domain.
In 1911 the school was badly damaged by fire. When a new school opened the next year, 250 students were enrolled.9
In the 1920’s Naperville boasted around 5,000 residents. In June 1922 (sources vary whether it was on June 4 or June 8) the old stone church quarried from the parish’s own quarry and dedicated in 1866 was destroyed by an arsonist’s fire. By this time, the parish’s 350 Naperville families were from mostly German-speaking countries in Europe. Naperville’s quarries had brought waves of German immigrants to the city since the 1850’s since they knew how to mine and cut stone. After the devastating 1922 fire, the parish chose to rebuild their church in a magnificent red brick traditional cruciform-shape. It was dedicated on Sunday, September 25, 1927. The half German, half Irish Cardinal-Archbishop of Chicago, George Mundelein (1872-1939), participated in the dedication ceremony. This remains the church building that exists today and which contains its lovely and historically significant stained glass from Innsbruck, Austria. In 1927 the cost of the church building was $407,785 – or about $6.5 million today.10
WHO WERE SAINTS PETER AND PAUL?
El Greco (1541-1641), Saint Peter in Tears, 1587-1596, oil on canvas, 109 cm (42.9 in) x 88 cm (34.6 in), Toledo, Spain.
St. Peter is the Rock, or “Cephas,” of Jesus Christ’s church. In Matthew 16 Jesus tells Simon, son of John, brother to Andrew the apostle and a married fisherman by trade: “I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt 16: 18-19). Peter denied Christ three times before the crucifixion that is described in all four New Testament Gospels.
After Jesus Christ’s Resurrection (Mark 16, Matthew 28, Luke 24, Acts 1, John 20 and 1 Corinthians 15) and Ascension into Heaven (Luke 24:50. Acts 1, John 3:13, John 6:62, John 20:17, Romans 8:34, Ephesians 1:19-20, Colossians 3:1, Philippians 2:9-11, 1 Timothy 3:16, and 1 Peter 3:21-22) and following the events of Pentecost (Acts 2), Peter led an important life as a Christian evangelist and Church leader.
Though St. Paul’s pastoral heritage in his 13 letters were highly influential for the early church where he writes on church structure, the theology of the Body of Christ, and the nature of the Holy Spirit, St. Peter also has an epistemological heritage which explores the People of God.11These best-known apostles also both died in the 60s. For the rest of that critical first century of Christianity – until when John’s Gospel was written in the 90s – the churches had to go without two of its greatest authoritative figures who had seen the risen Jesus.
St. Peter was martyred by crucifixion in 64 A.D. in Rome. He requested he be crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross, as witness to the apostle’s prolonged sorrow over his denial of Christ. On the church calendar, St. Peter’s feasts are June 29 and February 22.
Rembrandt, The Apostle Paul, oil on canvas, 1633.
St. Paul is one of Church history’s most significant figures. As Saul of Tarsus, the scholar, rabbi, and Roman citizen, zealously persecuted the first Christians and was personally present at the stoning of the first Christian martyr, Stephen (Acts 7: 54-60). On the road to Damascus making “murderous threats” towards Christians (Acts 9:1), Paul encounters the risen Jesus. The passage reads: “Suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:4-6).
The jolting event changed Paul’s life and outlook. More than anyone else in the Church’s first years, Paul realized Christianity’s universal message. Paul’s letters to various Christian communities in Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome, show him to be a solicitous and sometimes stern and exhorting pastor who had a deeply personal spiritual experience of the Lord. About half of the books of the New Testament are Paul’s writings that express his profound openness to humanity and its cultures which made him “Apostle of the Gentiles” and “Teacher of the Nations.”
Paul was martyred somewhere between 64 and 68 A. D. The circumstances of his death are not entirely known, although early Christian writers related that Paul was beheaded. St. Paul shares a feast with St. Peter on June 29.
THE WINDOWS: The Ascension of Jesus into Heaven.
North Transept, Ascension of Christ into Heaven, 1927, Tyrol Art Glass Company, Innsbruck, Austria. Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Naperville, Illinois. Author’s photograph.
The Ascension of Jesus is recounted twice in the New Testament – and both times by Luke the Evangelist. One account is in his Gospel (Luke 24:50-53) and a second is in his Book of Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1: 6-12).
One significant difference in Acts is that Luke sets a time frame of 40 days (1;3) for Jesus’s sustained manifold appearances to the apostles after the Resurrection until His Ascension. The account in Acts also situates the apostles and Christian community into salvation history’s imagery of Israel’s covenant.12Luke’s tradition would likely not have separated the Resurrection and Ascension events in time except that it was used to give clarity to a narrative purpose.13
The account of the Ascension in Acts 1:6-12 reads:
6 ”When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He answered them: “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
10 While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”j
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. (New American Bible)
When Jesus rose from the dead it became clear to the disciples that he is the Messiah so it was not illogical that they would ask him in Acts when he will restore political self-rule to Israel. Since Luke was writing with future Christians in mind, Jesus‘s reply is indeterminate. Jesus tells them (Acts: 7-8) that the Second Coming (“parousia”) is not a question for them to be asking of God. Rather, it is important for them to bear witness to Him by ways of the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus will send to them and for whom they should wait. Lastly, as Jerusalem is the Holy City and the place of Jesus’s Paschal Mystery this is the place where the Christian church will start their mission that will reach to the ends of the earth.14
Another important detail Luke includes in Acts is that when Jesus is lifted up into heaven a cloud has intervened to take him from the apostles’ sight. Further, the Ascension takes place on Mount Olivet, which had eschatological (“end times”) meaning. After Jesus is lifted up two figures appear in dazzling garments signaling angels who also appeared at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:9) and at the Resurrection (Luke 24:4-7). The cloud image Luke uses is also linked to end times (Luke 21:27) or parousia so that Jesus who is bodily taken up to heaven in the Ascension “will come (again) in the same way that you saw him going” (Acts1:11).
The Ascension window presents Christ rising into heaven surrounded by angels, apostles, and elaborate theological symbolism drawn from Scripture and Christian tradition.
Detail, Christ, Ascension window, Sts. Peter and Paul, Naperville, IL. Author’s photograph.
In the Ascension of Christ into Heaven window, Christ is surrounded by a band of clouds and yet remains in a golden area representing the fiery light of God. Christ wears a multi-colored robe – red representing his death by crucifixion; purple representing his Divinity; and white representing martyrdom emblazoned with four-lobed crosses representing the four Gospels or the four corners of the earth.
Christ’s halo is elaborated in three parts. There are usually three Greek letters found in Christ’s cruciform halo that in translation spell out “He Who is” or “ I Am Who Am.” These are absent, however, in this stained-glass window’s cruciform halo.
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Hierarchy of angels
There are eight angels in the window representing the hierarchy of angels. The baby heads of the cherubim – the lowest tier of angels – are accompanied by seraphim, the highest order of angels. Their name “archangel” literally means “chief angel.” Traditionally these highest order of angels are warlike in appearance and bear a sword, This is especially the case with the iconography of St. Michael the Archangel who leads God’s angels in battle to cast Satan and his angels out of heaven as told in the New Testament Book of Revelation.
The seraphim in this stained-glass depiction, however, carry palm branches in place of swords. In the years following World War I when this stained glass was made, the Austrian art glass manufacturer may have sought to symbolize angelic power by ways of symbols of peace. The fact that the range of angels from lowest to highest is present in the window appears to signal the presence of the whole choir of angels present at the Ascension of Jesus into heaven.15
Detail, angel, Ascension window, Sts. Peter and Paul, Naperville, IL. Author’s photograph.
Iconographic details such as halos, angels, clouds, stars, crowns, colors, and symbols that enrich the theological meaning of the windows.
Detail, angel, Ascension window, Sts. Peter and Paul, Naperville, IL. Author’s photograph.
Depicted at the bottom of the window is Mary and the 12 apostles. This was not precisely accurate to the New Testament for at the Ascension there were only 11 apostles. However, the replacement of Judas by Matthias took place almost immediately following the Ascension narrative (Acts of the Apostles 1:21–26).
In the center of the window at the bottom between Mary and a kneeling apostle with his right arm stretched out is an interesting detail. It is the outline of Christ’s feet showing where his resurrected body stood and was lifted directly from earth into heaven. This is significant beyond a souvenir of Jesus’s earthly memory, in that Mount Olivet from which the resurrected Jesus was lifted into heaven is exact the place to which “the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:27) will return at the end of the world. In that way, the window is a depiction of the Ascension and one that points to the Second Coming of Christ.
Detail, outline of Jesus’s pierced feet, Ascension window, Sts. Peter and Paul, Naperville, IL. Author’s photograph.
Each of the apostle’s halos are unique. Mary’s halo has 12 stars as she is often pictured with a circle of stars. The Zodiac is an ancient circle of stars where some are symbolically combined into 12-star signs or constellations.
Detail, apostles, Ascension window, Sts. Peter and Paul, Naperville, IL. Author’s photograph.
Detail, apostles, Ascension window, Sts. Peter and Paul, Naperville, IL. Author’s photograph.
Jesus’ Ascension – his going “up” to heaven – is the same imagery used for the Assumption of Mary. It is figurative to express the spiritual. The biblical heaven is mysterious. It is the intimate reserve of God and as God is pure spirit (John 4:24), the question arises, how does Heaven incorporate the resurrected fleshly body of Christ at His Ascension?
It is explained starting with the Incarnation at the Annunciation to Mary (Luke 1:26-38) where the divine humanity of Jesus, the Word who was “with God, and…was God (John 1:1) begins. In the Ascension, the Person of Christ is fulfilled where the “new, saved man” enters heaven into the intimacy of the Father, and becomes the perfect God-Man. As “God is love” (I John 4:16), the manner of being of the body in Christ in heaven, the perfect God-man, is love.16
The Ascension is followed by Pentecost when the Apostles receive the Holy Spirit from Heaven and will speak thereafter of “Christ (in Heaven) in us.”
The window’s imagery emphasizes Christ’s divinity, resurrection, kingship, and future return.
Detail, rondelle, Christ the King, Ascension window, Sts. Peter and Paul, Naperville, IL. Author’s photograph.
The upper rondelle represents Christ the King. Christ’s crown obscures his elaborate three-part halo. The Greek letters on either side represent the “alpha” (“the beginning”) and the “omega” (“the ending”) which indicates Christ’s Godhead. Christ the King holds in his hands the symbols of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist in the consecration of the Mass. in his right hand is the species of bread and wine that become the Body and Blood of Christ and in his left hand is the wood beam of the cross whose sacrifice on Calvary the Eucharist memorializes. Christ the King also reveals his Sacred Heart – a popular Catholic devotion- inside his chest. His heart is depicted as aflame encircled by a crown of thorns signifying his agape (or sacrificial) love. The entire Ascension window was the gift of Mr. and Mrs. William David Callender, parish members in the mid1920s.
Detail, halo of stars, Ascension window, Sts. Peter and Paul, Naperville, IL. Author’s photograph.
In the New Testament, the Woman of the Apocalypse and the battle of St. Michael the Archangel against the Dragon are bound together in the same dramatic narrative in the Book of Revelation (Rev.12:1-9). The Woman with a crown of 12 stars who is against the Dragon in the Book of Revelation has been identified with Mary, particularly as the Immaculate Conception. This is how Mary is depicted in the Ascension of Christ into Heaven window at Sts. Peter and Paul.
The New Testament passage setting out these images is in Revelation 12:1-9:
1 A great sign appeared in the sky, a womanclothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
2 She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
3 Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems.
4 Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth.
5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
6 The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God, that there she might be taken care of for twelve hundred and sixty days.
7 Then war broke out in heaven; Michaeland his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back,
8 but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
9 The huge dragon, the ancient serpent,who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it.
EXPLANATION OF IMAGERY IN THE NARRATIVE OF REVELATION 12-14
About the middle of the Book of Revelation (Chapters 12-14), the author portrays the power of evil as represented by the figure of the Dragon who is opposed to God and his people. This Dragon pursues the woman about to give birth to devour the child but the child is born. Then St. Michael and his angels expel the Dragon and the Dragon’s angels out of heaven (Rev. 12:5-9). Adorned with the Old Testament images of sun, moon, and stars (Genesis 37:9-10), the woman symbolizes God’s people. As Israel gave birth to the Messiah (Rev.12:5) and the church suffers persecution by the Dragon (Rev 12: 6, 13-17), the Woman corresponds to an archetype of a pregnant goddess bearing a savior who is pursued by a monster looking to destroy the offspring. But her offspring, a son, in his turn, destroys the monster.
The huge red Dragon is a symbol of the forces of evil – the Devil or Satan (Rev. 12:9, 20:2), or the mythical Leviathan (Ps, 74:13-14) or Rahab (Job 26:12-13; Ps 89:11). It is also the ancient serpent who seduced Eve, the mother of the whole world (Gen 3:1-6).17
THE WINDOWS: The Assumption of Mary into Heaven.
South Transept, Assumption of Mary into Heaven, 1927, Tyrol Art Glass Company, Innsbruck, Austria. Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Naperville, Illinois. Author’s photograph.
There is no mention of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven in the New Testament. There are biblical texts used frequently to point to the doctrine whose imagery is related to the Ascension of Christ into Heaven.
The Assumption of Mary intheology is the doctrine that Mary as Theotokos, or Mother of God, was taken (“Assumed”) into heaven, body and soul, at the moment, or what would be the moment, of her death. This phenomenon is not unprecedented in the Bible. It occurred in the Old Testament to Moses and Elijah who were pivotally important as Old Testament figures and who were present at Christ’s Transfiguration in the New Testament (Matt 17:1-9; Mk 9:2-10: Lk 9:28-36; and 2 Peter 1:16-21).
There has been debate whether Mary was assumed into heaven at death or after death – that is, whether Mary, the Mother of the Savior, experienced death at all. It is a debate not resolved even with the doctrine of the Mary’s Assumption into Heaven declared a dogma of the faith by Pope Pius XII (1876-1958) on November 1, 1950 in the apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus.
What is depicted in the window is biblical in the sense that it is the dogmatic theology deduced from it. The Assumption as a theme in Christian art originated in western Europe during the late Middle Ages—starting in the 12th and 13th centuries – a period when devotion to the Virgin Mary was growing in importance. It would be renewed vigorously again in the 16th century during the Protestant Reformation. Before this Renaissance and Reformation period, Mary is represented surrounded by a mandorla, or almond-shaped aureole. But starting in the 16th century the mandorla was replaced by a cluster of clouds as depicted in the window.
•The Assumption window depicts Mary assumed body and soul into heaven and draws upon biblical imagery, Catholic doctrine, and centuries of Marian devotion in Christian art.
Detail. Mary, Assumption window, Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Naperville, Illinois. Author’s photograph.
The window depicts Mary standing upon a brightly-lit crescent moon reflected in imagery from Revelation 12.
Mary wears a blue cloak with a red shirt underneath as seen in the stained glass window by her right arm’s sleeve. The blue of her cloak is interpreted to represent the Virgin’s purity, symbolize the cosmos, and identify Mary as a Queen as blue was associated with royalty.
The red garment color signifies traits connected with motherhood as well as Mary’s presence on Calvary at her son’s crucifixion, particularly her traits of love and devotion.
These symbolic colors Mary wears expresses a universal definition of motherhood for her.
The Virgin Mary is mother to Jesus which expands to the whole of humanity. On Calvary, standing by the cross of Jesus were three Marys – Mary, his mother, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. From the cross, Jesus said in John 19:
26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. (New American Bible)
Mary wears a white robe representing her purity. Her halo has seven eight-pointed stars. In numerology the number 7 represents “perfection” and the number 8 represents “regeneration or rebirth.”
Detail. angels, Assumption window, Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Naperville, Illinois. Author’s photograph
Detail. angels, Assumption window, Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Naperville, Illinois. Author’s photograph.
There are 12 angels, some carrying palms representing peace and victory, others carry lilies representing Mary’s virginity. Angels wear laurels of hyacinths (prudence, peace, and desire for heaven) and of roses (heavenly joy). Another angel holds out a bouquet of thornless roses signifying purity and the triumph of love. Mary will be crowned Queen of Heaven and the angels hold her crown.
God the Father wears a triangular halo as He blesses the scene. The Holy Spirit in the symbol of the dove emanates.18
Detail. rondelle, The Trinity, Assumption window, Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Naperville, Illinois. Author’s photograph.
FEATURE image: At the National Shrine of St. Peregrine at Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica on Chicago’s west side is a painting attributed to the late 17th century painter, Gregorio Lazzarini (1665-1740) entitled Jesus the Healer; St. Peregrine, OSM the Helper. December 2013. Author’s photograph. 3.89mb DSC_0218 (1).
St. Peregrine Laziosi’s enduring significance lies in his transformation from a hot-headed opponent of the Church into a holy servant whose own miraculous healing from a cancerous tumor made him a lasting symbol of hope, healing, and intercession for those facing cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. His medieval life story is connected to the continuing ministry of his shrine in Chicago.
Peregrine Laziosi grew up in Forli near Ravenna in Italy. Peregrine came from a very wealthy family who lived in the town in which half the population was for being part of the Papal States and half were against. Peregrine’s family, and thus Peregrine as a young man, was against the pope’s political rule.
Pope Alexander IV (1254-1261), pope at the time of the birth of Saint Peregrine, is depicted in a fresco in San Marco in Milan, Italy. On September 26, 1255, Alexander IV had canonized Saint Clare of Assisi, founder of the second order of Franciscans, known as the Poor Clares. The following month, on October 29, 1255, Alexander IV, in his bull Benigna Operatio, declared that the stigmata of Saint Francis of Assisi (who was canonized in 1228) was a fact of the pope’s “own knowledge.” Public domain.
Guelphs and Ghibellines.
14th century Illumination on parchment of Pope Martin IV, c. 1335. From the manuscript Vie et miracles de saint Louis. Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Born Simon de Brion (c. 1210 –1285), Martin IV was the last French pope to stay in Rome before the papacy moved to Avignon. He ruled the Papal States from 1281 to 1285. Public Domain.
Filippo Benizzi (1233-1285), fifth general superior of the Servants of Mary (Servite Order), was assigned by Pope Martin IV to go to Forli to try to bring together the two sides. The Servites were a mendicant order that embraced poverty and devoted to preaching and encouraging devotion to the Virgin Mary. General Superior Benizzi was the Order’s chief propagator and organizer. In Forli, the pro-pope group was called Guelphs and pro-Holy Roman Emperor group was called Ghibellines. A political meeting was called where Fr. Benizzi would meet the two sides. Benizzi is also reputed to have healed a leper when in the town by giving him his tunic to wear. The Guelphs represented the interests of wealthy merchants, bankers, and urban elites who viewed the Empire as a threat to their free trade and dominance. This group later split into Black (radical) Guelphs and White (moderate) Guelphs. The Ghibellines represented the landed aristocracy who favored traditional hierarchical structures and sought imperial protection against the expanding papal states that fostered smaller, autonomous communes and free trade practices representing the “new money” merchant class.
Saint Filippo Benizzi, Girolamo Romanino (c,1484-c.1560), c.1524, High Altarpiece, S. Alessandro, Brescia. oil on wood, 74.2 × 64.9 cm, The National Gallery London. Benizzi wears the black scapular, tunic and cowl of his Order. Saint Filippo Benizzi’s body is in the church of the Servants of Mary in Todi, Umbria. He was beatified by Pope Leo X in 1516 and made a saint by Pope Clement X in 1671. see – Girolamo Romanino | Saint Filippo Benizzi | NG297.5 | National Gallery, London – retrieved Jan. 27, 2026.
St. Peregrine born in Forlì, Italy, came from a wealthy family aligned against papal political authority during the bitter Guelph-Ghibelline conflicts. As an 18-year-old, he joined a hostile crowd confronting St. Filippo Benizzi, the Servite leader and papal representative, and even struck him physically. Peregrine repented and moved by Benizzi’s forgiveness and charity, joined the Servite Order, and eventually became a priest.
At the meeting, the crowds that gathered spewed insults at the friar and 18-year-old Peregrine, son of a Ghibelline leader, was among them. They chased the Servite General out of Forli with insults and violence and Peregrine physically struck him. Soon after, Peregrine regretted his violent actions and sought out his victim to apologize. Filippo Benizzi greeted Peregrine with charity which made a lasting impression on the young man. A few years later, Peregrine Laziosi joined the Servites in Siena and became a priest.
Peregrine was sent back to Forli, founded a new Servite house, and became popular for his preaching and well known for charitable work.
Returning to Forlì, Peregrine founded a Servite house and became known for a lifetime of preaching and charitable works.
Miraculous cure.
Saints are often famous for their miracle-working powers. In the case of St Peregrine, he is known for being the recipient of a miracle. At 60 years old, Peregrine found he had a cancerous tumor on his right leg. The doctors had given up hope of a cure and decided to amputate the leg. The night before the operation St. Peregrine had a vision. It is the one depicted in the shrine’s painting: St. Peregrine seeing Jesus descend from the cross to touch and heal his leg.
The artwork depicts the healing miracle of his tumorous leg experienced by St. Peregrine Laziosi.
Detail of painting depicting St. Peregrine’s tumorous leg that was miraculously cured by Jesus Christ in a vision in 1320. Author’s photograph. 5.09mb DSC_0246 (1)
When the doctors arrived the next day to perform the operation, they found that Peregrine had been completely cured, an event unexplained by medical science. The news spread like wildfire through the town. St. Peregrine died of fever 25 years later on May 1, 1345, in his mid 80’s. After his death people who were sick and cured attributed it to St. Peregrine’s miraculous intercession, particularly when it was a life-threatening disease. His saintly cult grew – Peregrine is patron saint of cancer and other life-threatening maladies – and his image often shows him exposing his own tumorous leg that was miraculously cured by Christ.
Around age sixty, Peregrine developed a cancerous tumor in his leg, and doctors planned an amputation. On the eve of the operation, he experienced a vision of Christ descending from the Cross and healing him. The next day, the tumor had disappeared, a cure described as unexplained by medical science.
The shrine through prayer, blessing, pilgrimage, reconciliation and evangelization, accompanies those persons who live with serious illness, traditionally cancer, and their caregivers, as they seek to find healing, support, peace and God in their daily lives. There is also a relic of St. Peregrine Laziosi at the shrine. Author’s photograph. 2.74mbDSC_0260 (1)
After his death in 1345, devotion to St. Peregrine grew as many attributed healings to his intercession were made. He became the patron saint of cancer patients and those suffering from other grave illnesses, often depicted exposing his miraculously healed leg.
Statue of St. Peregrine Laziosi in an outdoor garden near to the Shrine of Christ’s Passion, St. John, Indiana. June 2018. Author’s photograph. 89% 7.93mb DSC_9062
