FEATURE Image: Alice Millar Chapel, 1962, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
Text & Photographs John P. Walsh.
The Purpose of the Alice Millar Chapel
Breaking ground on Easter, April 21, 1962, the Alice Millar Chapel is on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The large chapel structure displaced 5 houses for the site’s four buildings on the school`s Evanston campus. It is intended as a space for prayer and reflection based in individual and communal tranquility, solitude, and celebration. At the chapel’s dedication its donor said, “[It is] a place where the soul may find quiet and repose—may be stimulated—or may just meditate. One’s character and personality cannot be fully developed unless his soul finds a purpose.” The chapel can seat over 700 people on the main floor.1
Northwestern University was founded by Methodists in 1851. At the beginning, there was no specific denominational affiliation that the university had. Alice Millar became a formal congregation in May 1971, identifying as “the church in the chapel.”2
The buildings complex (there are 4 buildings total) was designed by Edward Grey Halstead (1909-1992) who was senior partner in the Chicago architectural firm of Jensen, McClurg & Halstead. Mr. Halstead, who lived in Riverside and Wheaton, Illinois, joined the firm in 1952. The builder was Gerhardt F. Meyne Company in Chicago. Mr. Halstead was a third-generation architect born in Minnesota who studied at the University of Minnesota and University of Michigan. Though Halstead thought of himself as a hospital architect – his design projects include Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, Berwyn Community Hospital, Oak Park Hospital and Edward Hospital in Naperville – his largest project was the Alice Millar Chapel.3
Foster G. McGaw, noted philanthropist and founder of a major medical supply company based in Evanston, established the chapel in honor of his mother. Fair Use.
The contemporary Gothic landmark was built as a gift of Mr. & Mrs. Foster McGaw. Foster G. McGaw (1897–1986) was a noted philanthropist who founded the American Hospital Supply Corporation in Chicago in 1922. In 1985 McGaw’s company was acquired by Baxter Travenol Laboratories for $3.8 billion – about $11 billion in today’s dollars. Based in Evanston, at its peak, AHSC was the largest medical supplier in the world and employed thousands of Evanstonians.4 In 1953 Foster G. McGaw donated to the construction of McGaw Memorial Hall (today’s Welsh-Ryan Arena) in tribute to his father, Francis A. McGaw. At the time of construction, it was one of the largest auditoriums in Chicago. At its opening it was used in August 1954 for the Second Assembly of World Council of Churches founded in 1948 which showcased the convocation address by newly-elected President Dwight D. Eisenhower.5
Foster McGaw’s vision for the chapel was to establish a house of prayer whose space inspired the visitor to pursue a spiritual quest. Music concerts regularly appear on the chapel schedule with the chapel choir performing with in-house and guest musical ensembles and symphony orchestras. There are regular organ concerts on the 5,000-pipe organ. The Choir welcomes members from all different religious backgrounds and Sunday services to which all are welcome are given in a Protestant tradition. More interfaith activities at Millar Chapel include various faith traditions, including Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus, who pray and study at the chapel. Inspired by the interfaith witness of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), there is a candlelight ceremony each year to honor the slain Civil Rights leader.
Who is Alice Millar?
Alice Millar for whom the chapel is named. Public Domain.
The chapel is dedicated to McGaw’s mother, Mrs. Alice Millar McGaw (1859-1910). Millar was born in Alnwick in the north of England. She studied music and notably performed a piano recital for Queen Victoria. She moved to the U.S. with her father, a medical doctor, and met and married Reverend Francis A. McGaw at McCormick Theological Seminary in September 1888. All four of her children were present at the dedication ceremony for the chapel in 1962. Alice Millar had died over 50 years earlier at Augustana Hospital (Swedish Evangelical) in Chicago’s Old Town.6
CHAPEL’S MOST STRIKING FEATURE ARE THE STAINED-GLASS WINDOWS.
The wall-filling windows of abstract and modern design allow light and color to stream into the sanctuary from every side of the chapel building. The modern-designed windows bestow to the chapel a literally awesome ambiance. These magnificent works of art include the east windows that face the sunrise of Lake Michigan (representing healing, law, discovery, literature and the arts) and the west windows that face the sunset of the prairie (representing commerce, space, communication, the State, and the human race). These side windows are in dialogue with the single chancel window with its theological themes.
Across the breezeway and part of the chapel complex is the Jeanne Vail Meditation Chapel. Dedicated in 1963 it is a more traditional English style space built in memory of Mrs. Mary Vail McGaw’s daughter, Jeanne, who died in 1949 at 23 years old. The young woman died from complications of polio after having just given birth to a baby girl. Both the Alice Millar and Jeanne Vail Meditation Chapel are open daily and are very popular for weddings especially for Northwestern University alumni. The Vail Chapel seats 125 people. There is another adjacent building, Parkes Hall, that houses classrooms and the chaplain’s office and completes the complex.
Chancel window and side windows are in conversation with its subjects and themes. 6.78mb 10/2015. The Chancel Window behind the altar is a theological window exploring themes of Creation, Redemption, and Triumph using abstract motifs. The colors of these windows are spectacular and with sunlight penetrating make the space sparkle jewel-like yet airy. 7.71mb 10/2015
EAST SIDE WINDOWS: LAW
LAW: Images of a dove. a sword and scales, human figures refer to law and justice. All the windows while presenting various thematic iconography maintain a similar color scheme throughout. 7.53mb 10/2015
EAST SIDE WINDOWS: HEALING
HEALING: Honoring the physician among recognizable tools of the profession – microscope, test tubes, the caduceus (staff with intertwined serpents), among others as the viewer looks up at the long window. 6.07mb 10/2015
EAST SIDE WINDOWS: DISCOVERY
DISCOVERY: Human discovery of the natural world. A central figure is surrounded by elements of air, earth, fire and water. There is bird, balloon, fish, deep-sea submersible (bathysphere), orbits. Again, the window’s height coupled with its colors and design is impressive. 99% 7.93mb 10/2015
EAST SIDE WINDOWS: LITERATURE
LITERATURE: Dove at the top represents the Holy Spirit who guides the hand of the Bible writer. Recognizable images are a cross; skull; human figures carrying grapes. 6.37mb 10/2015
COMMUNICATIONS: Railroad crossing; filmstrip; the 5 senses; a telephone. THE STATE: Eagle with thunderbolts and olive branch; capitol dome; family; owl; cross, etc. RACES OF HUMANITY: lamb carrying cross; 5 hands; olive branch. 7.78mb 10/2015
WEST SIDE WINDOWS: COMMERCE
COMMERCE: Among abstracted symbols of commerce, wheat stack. 4.13mb 10/2015
WEST SIDE WINDOWS: SPACE
SPACE: Sun at top, planets, stars, constellations, a bull, astronaut. 4.59mb 10/2015
FEATURE image: Exterior of Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church with its gold domes. The tradition-minded parish, founded in early 1970s, serves a busy urban community.
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The huge mosaic over the main entrance memorializes the conversion of the Ukrainians to Christianity in 988 by St. Volodymyr of Kyiv or Vladimir of Kiev (957-1015). The mosaic was executed by Hordynsky, Makarenko, and Baransky. The church is built in the modern Byzantine style.
In addition to the colorful and bright mosaic, the upward angle and its perspective adds to the feeling of entering into a sacred space. Along with the archways and curve of the main golden dome, the eye focuses on the artwork’s bright figures.
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Who are Sts. Volodymyr and Olha?Their little-known story – which is important to the Ukrainian people and pivotal to European history – is told in some detail immediately follows these photographs.
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A beautiful outdoor garden with the residential streets of Ukrainian Village as its background is the setting for the larger-than-life-sized statue of Major Archbishop Josyf Slipyj (1892-1984). He was made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1965 and is a “Confessor of the Faith.” The Founder of the parish, Slipyj blessed the new church building’s cornerstone. Supporting the Ukrainian state and refusing to convert to Russian Orthodoxy, he was continously imprisoned by the Soviet authorities from 1945 to 1963. Through the intervention of St. Pope John XXIII and U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Josyf Slipj was released by Nikita Khrushchev in early 1963 and participated in the Second Vatican Council.Josyf Slipyj died in Rome in 1984 and his cause for canonization as a saint of the Catholic Church has been introduced at the Vatican.
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Parishioners praying and going to Communion at Sunday Mass.
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With the artists’ skills, the bright colors and evocative forms of the artwork surround churchgoers as they move toward the altar at Communion during the Divine Liturgy.
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The colorful and vibrant decorations that include paintings, carvings, vestments, books, stained glass, and more, are integral to the parish’s liturgy and life.
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Two women sit before icons of Sts. Volodymyr and Olha and the Blessed Virgin.
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Every nook and cranny of the church is decorated with colorful images from religious and Catholic Ukrainian history. The natural light streaking down from the main dome’s windows adds a heavenly glow.
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Two female haloed saints in a modern art style are marked by their unique attire as one holds an unfurled scroll with words in Ukrainian. Christianity arrived into Ukraine by way of the Greco-Byzantine world over 1000 years ago.
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A painting of the dormition of Mary is emphasized by, above, an icon of Mary and the child Jesus. Colors, forms, and subject matter are very high quality and soft and peaceful making them pleasant to look at and pray with.
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The wood carvings and full-length portrait icons are gorgeous. The fresh flower arrangements further brighten the scene.
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Visitors are joined by worshippers lighting candles and praying before a large icon of Mary and the child Jesus.
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The main altar gate of carved wood with icons and gold curtain. The Last Supper in center above.
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Residents and (below) a residence’s porch flower garden in Ukrainian Village near Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church in Chicago.
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Stained glass, paintings, banners, and chandelier blend together and provide a more complete picture of people and episodes of the faith. North wall and ceiling.
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High above the sanctuary is a magnificent view of the main dome painted in bright colors with the figure of Christ Pantocrator. Christ gives his blessing as he holds an open book with the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha and omega. It signifies one of Christ as the Son of God’s titles in the New Testament: “I am the beginning and the end” (Revelation, 21:6, 22:13).
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South Wall.
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Ukrainian Village is a neighborhood first settled by Ukrainian immigrants in the 1890’s. It is about 4 miles to the northwest from downtown Chicago.
Who are Sts. Volodymyr and Olha?
ST. VOLODYMYR
St. Volodymyr is the apostle to proto-Russian and Russian Christianity. He was the great prince of Ukraine in Kiev. It was ruled by the Varangians, a barbarous Viking tribe from Scandinavia – and Volodymyr (or Vladimir) of Kiev was as barbarous as any of them.
In 988, when Volodymyr was about 31 years old, he was converted to Christianity. The missionaries came from the Byzantine world at Constantinople. The results were immediate: Ukraine was now in close contact with the Byzantine world to the south and its Christian church under the pope.
Volodymyr married the daughter of the Byzantine emperor, Basil II (957-1025). But it was Volodymyr’s personal embrace of the Christian faith that infused the Ukrainian people with their deep and abiding faith. Having received baptism, he set out to be a Christian and not corrupted by money and power that proved a serious temptation for many church and state leaders in the Dark Ages.
Volodymyr used his temporal powers to evangelize the people – his personal example his greatest asset to its success. Though he encouraged various activities and programs in the lives of the people – including the multi-faceted work of Greek missionaries – it was his sincere, transparent, and fundamental reform of his own life that by far had the greatest impact on the Ukrainian people. More than one thousand years after his rule, Volodymyr is still recalled as a generous, humble and devout soul.
As a Christian ruler Volodymyr had doubts about inflicting the death penalty. Though assured by his Byzantine church counselors that his Catholic faith allowed him to follow the law which allowed for it, Volodymyr corrected them and said that that sort of reasoning was not satisfactory to his faith.
Volodymyr, the great prince of Kiev, died a poor man – not only various from his origin but, again, that of many of the ecclesiastics now in the realm. Before his death, Volodymyr dispersed all his money and personal belongings to the poor and to his family and friends. St. Volodymyr’s feast day is July 15. He is patron of Ukrainian and Russian Catholics.
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ST OLHA
Saint Olha was the wife of the Kyivan Great Prince Igor. Igor signed a peace treaty with the Greeks in 944. The treaty of 944 was drawn up at Constantinople and allowed for Christianity in Ukraine. This toleration already indicates some sympathy for Christianity among the powerful in Kiev. Igor himself, however, in his official position did not embrace Christianity nor officially allow the presence of a structure of Church hierarchy. The treaty was drawn up to quietly allow co-existence of Christians in a pagan Viking culture.
Yet when the Byzantine emissaries arrived in Kyiv, pagan opposition had emerged from the Varangians. The Christians were thrown into abeyance and Igor was murdered in 945. Into this volatile situation the burden of government fell upon Igor’s widow — the Kyiv Great-Princess Olha, and her three-year-old son Svyatoslav (945-972). Her first act was to avenge Igor’s murder.
Olha belonged to one of the obscure ancient-Rus’ princely dynasties, whose Slavic line had intermarried with assimilating Varangian newcomers. Olha’s Varangian names includes Helga and Olga.
Though still a pagan, Olha’s revenge on the Varangians on behalf of her late husband was a victory for the realm’s Christians. Further, having weakened the influence of petty local princes in Rus’, Olha centralized the whole of state rule. She became a great builder of the civil life and culture of Kyivan Rus. Her centralization became an important network of the ethnic and cultural unification of the nation which, when Olha became a Christian, aided in the building of a network of churches. Her essential activities proved key in developing what is the modern Ukrainian national identity. At the same time, important trade with Poles, Swedes, Germans, and so forth, led to significantly expanding foreign connections. One noteworthy development was that wooden buildings were replaced with stone edifices.
Rus’ had become a great power. Only two European realms could compare with it in the tenth century – the Byzantine empire in the east, and the kingdom of Saxony in the west. Both these empires were Christianized and pointed the way to future greatness for Rus’. In 954 Great-princess Olha sailed to Constantinople. Though a display of Rus’ military might on the Black Sea, it was a spiritual mission. Olha’s might and the Byzantines’ wealth and beauty were mutually impressive.
Constantinople was the city of the Mother of God as dedicated by Constantine the Great in 330. Olha made the decision to become a Christian. She was baptized by Patriarch Theophylactus (917-956) with her godfather being the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitos (905-959). She took the Christian name Helen for Constantine’s mother. Following the rite, the Patriarch said: “Blessed are you among the women of Rus’, for you have forsaken the darkness and have loved the Light. The Rus’ people shall bless you in all the future generations, from your grandson and great-grandson to your furthermost descendants.” Olha replied: “By your prayers, O Master, let me be preserved from the wiles of enemies”. It is precisely in this way, with a slightly bowed head, that Saint Olha is often depicted in religious artwork. During her state visit, and following her baptism, Great princess Olha of Rus’ was fêted throughout Constantinople
Saint Olha devoted herself to efforts of Christian evangelization among the pagans, and also church construction, including Saint Sophia Cathedral. Yet, many despised her new found Christianity and paganism became emboldened. They looked to the reign of Svyatoslav who angrily spurned his mother’s Christianity. Meanwhile Byzantine church and state leaders were not eager to promote Christianity in Rus’. In Olha’s lifetime, Kyiv favored paganism and had second thoughts about even accepting Christianity. By order of Svyatoslav, churches were destroyed and Christians murdered. Byzantine political interests found the church and state looking to undermine Olha’s influence and favored the Rus’ pagans.
Olha attempted to help Svyatoslav during a period of wartime, though Kyiv was a backwater to his imperial interests for the next 18 years. In the spring of 969 the Pechenegs besieged Kyiv and Olha headed the defense of the capital. Svyatoslav rode quickly to Kyiv, and routed the nomads. But the warrior prince wished to rule elsewhere than Kiev. Svyatoslav dreamed of uniting all Rus’, Bulgaria, Serbia, the near Black Sea region and Priazovia (Azov region), and extend his borders to Constantinople. Olha warned her son that his plans were bound to fail as the Byzantine Empire was united and strong.
On July 11, 969 Saint Olha died. In her final years, with the triumph of paganism, she had to secretly practice her faith. Before her death, she forbade the pagan celebration of the dead at her burial and was openly buried in accord with Orthodox ritual. A priest who accompanied her to Constantinople in 957 fulfilled her request.
Considered by Ukrainians the holy equal of Great Prince Volodymyr, St. Olha was invoked by St. Volodymyr on the day the people of Rus’ were baptized. Before his countrymen, St. Volodymr said of St. Olha: “The sons of Rus’ bless you, and also the generations of your descendants.”
SOURCES:
Houses of Worship: An Identification Guide to the History and Styles of American Religious Architecture, Jeffrey Howe, Thunder Bay Press, San Diego, California, 2003.
AIA Guide to Chicago, 2nd Edition, Alice Sinkevitch, Harcourt, Inc., Orlando, 2004, p. 260.
The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary, edited by John Coulson, Guild Press, New York, 1957, pp. 577; 760-761.
Chicago: City of Neighborhoods, Dominic A. Pacyga and Ellen Skerrett, Loyola University Press, Chicago, 1986, p. 193.
FEATURE image: Chicago. St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral.
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At the western main entrance are the stars and stripes of the U.S. flag and the blue and yellow Ukraine flag. An avenue of trees lines the south side of the cathedral building. With its huge size and detailed architecture, St. Nicholas stands prominently on its 20 city lots. Worthmann & Steinbach was a Chicago-based architectural firm active in the first three decades of the 20th century. It was a partnership of German-born Henry W. Worthmann (1857-1946) and John G. Steinbach. The firm, with offices in Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois, designed many of the great Polish cathedrals in Chicago and for Eastern Catholic and Lutheran clients. Clement L. Pointek collaborated with Worthmann & Steinbach until he formed his own architectural firm with principal Joseph A. Slupkowski (1884-1951). The church interior was renovated in the wake of Vatican II liturgical reforms in the mid 1970s by Ukrainian-American architect Zenon Mazurkevich (1939-2018).
The huge yellow brick church building in Chicago’s tree-lined Ukrainian Village neighborhood is 155 feet long and 85 feet wide. Among its details, the building is renowned for its frescos and mosaics. St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral’s impressive design and footprint on the skyline of one of Chicago’s neighborhoods was built as a worthy emulation of the 11th century (former) St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine. The church on Chicago’s near West side was built by the firm of Worthmann and Steinbach which built many churches in Chicago in the 1910’s and 1920’s. In the mid1970s the church interior was completely renovated and restored by a Ukrainian artist. Ukrainian Catholics follow the Byzantine-Slavonic Eastern Rite and acknowledge the pope in Rome as their spiritual leader.
History of the Cathedral parish
St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic parish was founded in 1905 by a group of 51 Ukrainian working immigrants. These Ukrainians arrived on Chicago’s northside in the late 1890’s from western and Carpathian Ukraine. Irish, Germans and Poles were already well established in Chicago by this time and built churches. The Ukrainians not only arrived later, but also were committed to their eastern-rite, Greek Catholic origins. They actively looked to fend off incorporation into the Latin rite under a mostly Irish Catholic hierarchy in the Chicago diocese. To this effect, the parish board adopted a resolution stating: “[T]hat all property of said church which may hereafter be acquired be held in the name of its incorporated name but under no conditions shall said church or its priests or pastors be ever under the jurisdiction of bishop or bishops except those of the same faith and rite.”
By 1911 it became clear that a new, larger church was needed for the growing Ukrainian community. Twenty lots were purchased on Rice Street between Oakley and Leavitt for $12,000 and building began. In 1913, Bishop Soter Ortynsky blessed the cornerstone of the new church. This Ukrainian Catholic church parish community relocated out of its original site and ventured about one mile directly west to build their new church under Fr. Nicholas Strutynsky. Fr. Nicholas had recently arrived from Ukraine and remained at St. Nicholas parish until 1921.
In 1941, St. Nicholas parish was host to the Eucharistic Congress for Eastern Rites. Twenty years later, in 1961, St. Nicholas Parish became St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral when it became the seat of the Eparchy for much of the United States. Msgr. Jaroslaw Gabro, a native son of the parish, became the first bishop of the newly created Ukrainian Catholic eparchy.
Completed in 1915, the magnificent, Byzantine-Slavonic structure with thirteen onion domes representing Christ and His 12 apostles was erected. The first liturgy was celebrated on Christmas Day, January 7, 1915 (Julian calendar). A Ukrainian heritage school (Ridna Shkola) was also founded. By the early 1960s the school had over 1000 students. In 2022, St. Nicholas Elementary School has about 150 students.
When Bishop Gabro announced that churches in the eparchy would need to follow the Gregorian religious calendar that is used in the Latin west, some parishioners left St. Nicholas. In 1974 these parishioners, adhering to the ancient Julian religious calendar. erected Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church three minutes away on foot across Chicago Avenue.
In 1980 Bishop Gabro who passed away was succeeded by Bishop Innocent Lotocky and a healing began between the estranged Ukrainian churches that continues today. In 1988, an ecumenical commemoration of the millennium of Christianity in Ukraine brought together Ukrainian churches in Chicagoland. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, a new wave of immigrants from Ukraine began arriving in Chicago and joined St. Nicholas Cathedral. In 1993 Bishop Innocent Lotocky retired and was succeeded by Bishop Michael Wiwchar. In 2003 Bishop Michael Wiwchar was succeeded by Bishop Richard Stephen Seminack.
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The height of the cathedral building is appreciated looking up from its north side near its main entrance. Metal onion domes turned green by a century of oxidization cap the building’s 16 towers.
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The architecture, supported by columns, is curvaceous and spectacularly colorful.
The gold and blue fresco above the altar includes a pair of depictions of the former 11th century St. Sofia Cathedral in Kyiv on whose design and appearance St. Nicholas Ukrainian Cathedral is inspired. Kyiv is the capital city of the Ukraine and its cathedral is one of the finest examples of East Russo-Byzantine architecture. Kyiv/Kiev, Ukraine became the first capital of proto-Russia in the mid9th century as Slavic lands were organized by Norsemen who, simultaneously, as the fierce Vikings were plundering through much of Europe as they transported their culture.
Before the 9th century was over, the first Christian missionaries had arrived from Constantinople to the south into Russia and Ukraine and many Slavs became Christian. From the 10th to 13th centuries Kyiv, like Moscow to its north centuries later, became the intellectual and religious center of the country, where there were established innumerable monasteries, churches, and convents.
The entirety of murals and ornamentation are permanently affixed on interior surfaces by being painted directly on them. The only icon that was not renovated at this time was the one at the rear of the sanctuary depicting Christ with his apostles and Mother Mary. It was kept from 1928.
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Hanging from the center highest dome of the church is a 9-tiered golden chandelier with 480 brilliant lights. The chandelier was made in Greece and is one the largest such chandeliers in North America. The ceiling is in gold leaf and wall decorations depict Christ and the Virgin with Old and New Testament figures such as saints, prophets, and patriarchs, all in bright colors.
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A propensity of brown and gold in a color scheme that works. The formidable dome is an integral aspect of the interior decoration.
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Hanging from the highest dome, a stunning chandelier of 9 tiers and 480 lights crafted in Greece sets aglow the church interior. The artwork depicts the Pentecost (Acts 2: 1-13). The 12 apostles with Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, are seated in bright primary colors as they are gathered together to receive the Holy Spirit symbolized by a dove from Heaven. This event immediately followed the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus into Heaven.
The subject matter and detailed application of artwork in St. Nicholas Ukrainian Cathedral is derived from the mosaics in the 11th century former Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kyiv, Ukraine. Renovated between 1974 and 1977, the Interior of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral was led by Boris Makarenko (1925-2008), a specialist of Ukrainian Byzantine artwork.
Boris Makarenko was born in the Poltava region of Ukraine between Karkiv and Kyiv. With the outbreak of World War II, Ukraine was thrown into turmoil and Boris was drafted into the Soviet Army. He deserted with a group of friends and joined the Ukrainian Resistance. Boris fought his way across Europe and was eventually recruited into the British Army. Unable to return to his homeland, Boris immigrated in 1950 to the United States. He worked under the famed Ukrainian sculptor Mykola Mukhyn and eventually in a German-based firm where he learned and mastered the techniques of interior ecclesiastical art, restoration, and design. By the late 1950s, Makarenko founded his own studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Using classical methods, mosaics are created by utilizing pieces of smalti and gold whether the mosaics are on the exterior and or in the interior of the church building.
Typically, Italian smalti is poured thicker and cut into thinner pieces. Since they are cut from the inside of exposed molten glass they are more vibrant, consistent and reflective in colors. Italian smalti can provide a coarse or smooth surface depending on how they are laid into a working surface. To begin to understand the complexity and richness of the frescos and mosaic interior of St. Nicholas, the general rule is for each square foot of mosaic surface, about 600 pieces side to side are required. The amount of pieces for the cathedral are into the many tens of thousands.
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The altar was built to face ad orientem, properly, “to the east.” This was the tradition and practice of the Catholic Church for nearly 2,000 years. The gold and decorations are outstanding.
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Icons are visual symbols of eternal truth in the Christian Faith: the designs are based on archetypal images preserved and regenerated from the very beginnings of Christianity. Iconographers write icons in traditional media using egg yolk tempera and oil-based pigments. The predominance of the gold color that marks these interior paintings and decorations is gold leaf. Called “gilding,” the use of gold leaf pertains to iconography. plaster carvings, wood carvings, and metal.
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Stained Glass by Munich Studio of Chicago
The colorful stained-glass is original to the 1915 church. They depict saints of the Catholic Church and were created by the Munich Studio of Chicago. The walls include tall, faceted windows displaying a hybrid of traditional and dalle-de-verre type glass techniques. Akin to mosaic, the latter stained-glass technique lends itself to abstract and highly stylized designs. The Munich Studio of Chicago was a major stained-glass studio in Chicago composed of skilled craftsmen and artists. In addition to the hagiography the windows depict, they also represent the artistic investment of the founding parishioners of St. Nicholas. While the term stained glass covers “colored, enameled, or painted glass”, Chicago’s pioneer “glass stainers” were primarily glass painters who used dark brown vitreous oxide and silver stain to paint designs on pieces of colored and/or opaque white glass. After the kiln firing the pieces were assembled like fragments of a puzzle and connected to each other with strips of malleable lead – called cames – which were fitted and soldered around each piece to create the full window.
The founder of The Munich Studio, Max Guler, was of middle-European extraction, as were the congregations of many of the churches who commissioned his firm for their windows. Guler came to Chicago about 1896 from the city of Munich, Germany where he had studied China painting. In 1898 his name appears in the Chicago city directory as an artist. Four years later the firm of Guler, Kugel and Holzchuh, presumably a small glass shop, is listed; and in 1903 the Chicago city directory first lists The Munich Studio, stained glass, 222 W. Madison, 5th f1r., with Guler as president. Catalog listings from 1910 to 1925 note thirty-two major church installations in Chicago and scores more elsewhere.
In 1913 the company moved from Madison Street to larger quarters at 300 West South Water Street (now Wacker Drive), and in 1923 to 111 West Austin Street (now Hubbard Street), at that time employing over 30 craftsmen, seven doing only glass painting. The Munich Studio imported most of its glass from France and Germany with domestically-made glass from firms in Indiana and West Virginia. As with European stained glass, they were painted with iron oxide and yellow stain and fired in ovens. The Munich Studio continued to prosper until 1930 when the Great Depression brought all building to a near standstill. Since it depended primarily upon the construction of new churches for its business, the economic downturn caused the company’s closing in 1932.
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Mosaics of the Stations of the Cross were created by Boris Makarenko.
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St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral’s regal appearance and design is inspired by the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kyiv. This includes its 13 domes, symbolic of Christ and his 12 apostles. The Chicago cathedral is also similar to the Kyiv model in that it has 5 major domes.
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Above these main entrance steps, the façade of the cathedral displays a treasured mosaic depicting “Our Lady of Pochaev.” Above that image is the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonder (or Miracle) Worker, the cathedral’s namesake.
Story of “Our Lady of Pochaev”
Ukraine had been Christianized for about 200 years when, in 1198, when St. Francis of Assisi was about 17 years old, a monk climbed Pochaiv mountain in western Ukraine in order to pray. A pillar of fire appeared to the monk and some nearby shepherds. When the flames subsided, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared. The apparition left her footprint out of which a spring of water flowed. This supernatural event led to many others so that the region became dedicated to Mary.
In 1559, Metropolitan Neophit sent to Anna Hoyska an icon of our Lady of Pochaev. The icon shows our Lady wearing a crown and holding the infant Jesus. She holds the end of her veil in the other hand. It is an icon where the cheek of the baby Jesus touches Mary’s face as the infant gives a blessing with his hand. At approximately 11×9 inches in size, the original icon is small. Made from red-pitched cypress, the artist and circumstances of its creation are unknown.
The icon immediately worked a miracle as Anna Hoyska’s blind brother regained his sight. Following her death, the icon was donated to a Basilian Monastery and eventually placed in the Church of the Dormition of the Blessed Mother. Monastery chronicles record numerous miracles during the icon’s stay at their Church.
In 1773, the icon was crowned by Pope Clement XIV. In 1831 Russian Czar Nicholas I expelled the Basilians and gave the monastery to Orthodox monks. In 2001, the icon was moved from Pochaev to The Cathedra of the Trinity of The Danilov Monastery in Moscow.
Chicago. St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral. 10/2016 3.96 mb
Who is St. Nicholas the Wonder Worker?
St. Nicholas, Demre, Turkey.
St. Nicholas of Myra (270-340) is one of the church’s most popular and revered saints. He was the bishop of the ancient Lycian town of Myra in the eastern Mediterranean which is today’s Demre in Turkey. St. Nicholas Church that exists today in Demre (Myra) was built around 520 A.D. It was built over the older church where St. Nicholas was bishop and which became the saint’s burial place. St. Nicholas’s corpse remained incorrupt and exuded a fragrant odor of myrrh. For centuries St. Nicholas’s relics were in the cathedral in Myra. In 1087 his relics were moved from Myra to Bari, Italy, where they are today. The sweet myrrh smell that exudes from the saint’s body is said to still take place in 2022. St. Nicholas is an important religious figure for Latin and Eastern Rite Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians. St. Nicholas, who is the historical inspiration for Santa Claus, is the patron saint of children and those in dire need. He is also patron saint of prisoners, the falsely accused and convicted, and travelers. Nicholas is patron saint of Greece, Apulia in Italy, Sicily, and the Lorraine in France. Many miracles have been attributed to St. Nicholas during his lifetime and after his death which caused him to be called “the Miracle or Wonder Worker” of Myra.
Heavenly City: The Architectural Tradition of Catholic Chicago, Denis Robert McNamara, James Morris, Liturgy Training Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 2005, pp. 114-115
Chicago Churches and Synagogues: An Architectural Pilgrimage, George Lane, S.J., and Algimantas Kezys, Loyola University Press, Chicago, 1981, p. 136-137.
Houses of Worship: An Identification Guide to the History and Styles of American Religious Architecture, Jeffrey Howe, Thunder Bay Press, San Diego, California, 2003.
AIA Guide to Chicago, 2nd Edition, Alice Sinkevitch, Harcourt, Inc., Orlando, 2004, p. 260.
Discovering Stained Glass in Detroit, Nola Huse Tutage with Lucy Hamilton, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1987.
The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary, edited by John Coulson, Guild Press, New York, 1957, pp. 565-567.
FEATURE image: St. Francis Xavier Church was erected in 1939 in an established well-maintained residential neighborhood in Wilmette, Illinois, just blocks inland from Lake Michigan. The attempt was made by the area’s Roman Catholics to fit in unobtrusively and harmonize with its neighbors on Chicago’s Northshore. 6/2014 3.56mb
The English Gothic-style church is usually associated with establishment mainline Protestants. The church is built to be sophisticated and simple. 12/2018 11.6mb
Built by the firm of McCarthy, Smith & Eppig, St. Francis Xavier Church is built in the style of a sturdy country church. It is characterized by low walls, massive external buttresses, and a sloped, elongated roof. 6/2014 4.64mb
Interior of St. Francis Xavier Church from the altar looking towards the main entrance. McCarthy, Smith & Eppig was a design firm that worked in the 1930’s extensively with Chicago Cardinal George Mundelein (1872-1939). Architect Joseph W. McCarthy (1884-1965), had been a young architect under Daniel Burnham (1846-1912), a major design force in Chicago. McCarthy built, under his own name and with various firms, churches and other church-related structures in the Chicago area from the 1910s to 1930s. In 1939, for instance, McCarthy built St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church and the more grandiose St. Joseph Catholic Church, both in Wilmette, about one mile apart. The design of St. Francis Xavier Church was handled by the firm’s younger partners, David Smith and Arthur Eppig (1909-1982). The church building’s simple architecture with its fine details cost $200,000 to construct in the waning years of the Great Depression – about $4 million in 2022 (see- https://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/). While the majority of McCarthy’s church buildings were built in the Chicago area, some of his important church projects included the cathedral church in Springfield, Illinois, (1928) and the parish church (1918) of what became the diocese of Joliet, Illinois. 7/2014 5.85 mb
St. Francis Xavier. 6/2014 4.05 mb
Depicted in marble at the entrance to the sanctuary in Wilmette, Illinois, is St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552), the parish church’s patron and namesake. His feast day is December 3 and marks the day of his death at 46 years old on an island off mainland China.
With St. Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897), St. Francis Xavier to whom the Little Flower had a devotion, was named co-patron of all foreign missions in 1927 by Pope Pius XI.(see – https://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius11/P11APOST.htm).
Holding a crucifix, the Basque Jesuit priest is dressed in a black cassock draped by an alb and stole. St. Francis Xavier, a naturally magnanimous personality in life, became the first Roman Catholic missionary to the Far East, though the Jesuit order was only in the first decade of its official existence.
Through sheer audacity, St. Francis Xavier established the template of the Jesuit missionary and evangelizer: prayerful, prepared to go where the need is greatest, friendly, sincere, personally austere, hard-working, and joyful in the adventure of doing God’s will.
Leaving by ship from Lisbon, Portugal, St. Francis Xavier became the first Jesuit missionary to India in 1545 and Japan in 1549. For the next 100 years the Jesuits were the only Roman Catholic missionaries in Asia. The physical distances St. Francis Xavier traveled in the 1540s are remarkable. On his return trip to India from Japan – almost 6000 km by air – St. Francis Xavier’s ship was thrown off course in a seastorm where it stopped at an island near Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Back in India, St. Francis Xavier looked to return to China. After some delays, he reached Shangchuan Island a couple of miles from the mainland. On December 3, 1552, as the 46-year-old Francis waited for transport to mainland China, he died of fever.Francis was buried on Shangchuan in quicklime, a chemical compound used to speedily consume flesh and leave just the bones for easy transport.In February 1553, two months later when the saint’s remains were exhumed, his body had not rotted. Francis’s body was taken to Portuguese Malacca and, a year after his death in December 1553, it was taken to Goa in India which had been the saint’s headquarters. In Goa, Francis received a hero’s welcome.
In 2022 St. Francis Xavier is still buried in Goa’s basilica. Reports of miracles were made in India, Japan and beyond following his death. In 1619 St. Francis Xavier was beatified by Pope Paul V and canonized on March 12, 1622 by Pope Gregory XV.
Nave looking to main altar. There are no columns to obstruct the view to the marble altar with a crucifix above. With Vatican II reforms, the tabernacle was set in a niche to the right. Originally the tabernacle was on the main altar below the crucifix. An extra-wide altar rail with cross legs whose form served as “being at table with Christ” for the communicant was also removed. Though St. Francis Xavier Church is traditional in its architecture, its design elements are modern, chic, and streamlined, which makes the sanctuary flexible and adaptable to change.The ceiling is constructed like an upside barque. This evokes the missionary journeys of St. Francis Xavier, by sea to and in the Far East. 6/2014 5.99 mb
There are 8 major stained-glass windows in St. Francis Xavier Church: four in the west wall and four in the east wall.
Smaller stained-glass oculi and panels are scattered throughout the interior. These stained-glass windows were designed by Henry Schmidt, a parishioner. They are quite beautiful, scintillating in their pseudo-English Tudor style, illumined in usually soft eastern and tree-obscured western exposures, although their subject matter is somewhat chaotic and a hodge-podge 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.
ST. PETER WINDOW.
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: Assumption of Mary into Heaven is not in the New Testament though biblical texts point to the doctrine of Mary as Theotokos (Mother of God), taken (“assumed”) body and soul into heaven at death. Going “up” to heaven is imagery used to express the spiritual and related to Jesus’ Ascension (Acts 1:6-17 and Luke 24:50-53). The assumption phenomenon occurred in the Old Testament with Moses and Elijah who were also present at Christ’s Transfiguration (Matt 17:1-9; Mk 9:2-10: Lk 9:28-36; and 2 Peter 1:16-21). Below the panels are identical angel figures. 6/2014 4.98 mb
ST. BONIFACE WINDOW.
CENTER PANEL: St. Boniface (675-754) is the St. Patrick of Germany. He was a bishop who lived during Europe’s Dark Ages. Boniface was responsible for organizing the church in western Germany and established the bishoprics of Cologne and Mainz. On direction by 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 coronation became the model for future royal coronations and the beginning 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 and an important marker of the suffering of Jesus. 6/2014 3.93 mb
ST. PATRICK WINDOW.
CENTER PANEL: St. Patrick (418-493) is one of the patron saints of Ireland (St. Brigid (c. 451–525) and St. Columba (540-615) are the others). In Wilmette, IL, St. Joseph Church was established in 1847 for German immigrants and St. Francis Xavier Church for Irish. The depiction of Patrick as the archetypal Irish bearded bishop — dressed in green with miter and staff – emerged in late 1700’s. St. Patrick’s symbology includes a book, refering to the Holy Scriptures and his own writings: the Confessio and Epistola to Coroticus, both in Latin. Patrick holds the legendary 3-leafed clover which he used to teach the Irish about the Holy Trinity. Below is the harp which is Ireland’s national emblem and one of the world’s oldest musical instruments.
LEFT PANEL: Jesus Christ’s Resurrection from the dead is the cornerstone of the Christian faith (1 Corinthians 15:17). His empty tomb is proof of Christ’s deity (John 5:26; Romans 1:4). By rising from the dead, Jesus Christ saved us from our sins (Romans 4:24–25; Hebrews 7:25), gave hope for our future resurrection (John 14:19; 1 Corinthians 15:20–23), and provides believers with spiritual power (Romans 6:3–4; Ephesians 1:19–21). The window depicts the resurrected Jesus holding the banner of victory over death as a Roman guard cowers in the dazzling light of a Risen Christ with an angel in attendance. Christ’s cruciform halo (elaborated in three parts) usually contains three Greek letters that in translation spell out “I Am Who Am,” again, a reference to Christ’s Divinity. All four gospels contain passages pertaining to the resurrection, but none of them describe the moment or essence of resurrection itself.
RIGHT PANEL: Crucifixion of Jesus with his mother Mary and John the Apostle at the foot of the cross. Above Christ’s head are the letters INRI, an acronym for Jesus Nazarenus, rex Judæorum. This was the charge against jesus written in Latin by Pontius Pilate who condemned him to death. It translates as “Jesus Nazarene, King of the Jews.” The title appears in the Passion narrative of John’s Gospel (19:19). Below each side panel are identical angel figures. 7/2014 7.58 mb
The altar design includes tall candlesticks and compact, detailed baldacchino. 6/2014 4.61 mb
A depiction of the crucifixion in basswood stands atop a rood beam at the ceiling line above the main altar. The scene includes the figure of a crucified Jesus, half-naked, wearing a crown of thorns, and the INRI inscription overhead. Three figures at the foot of the cross are (at left) his mother Mary and (at right) John, the Apostle. The bowed middle figure could represent the other named and unnamed women present at the crucifixion (John 19:25; Luke 23:27 and 49). The artwork is by Fritz Mullhauser. 12/2018 8.47 mb
MARY QUEEN OF HEAVEN WITH INFANT JESUS WINDOW.
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 above what may be a heart-shaped letter “M” for Mary’s first initial and/or her sacred heart.
LEFT PANEL: Presentation of Jesus by Mary and Joseph in the Temple and meeting with Simeon, the “just and devout” man of Jerusalem (Luke 2:25–35). The Presentation is the Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. In Luke, 40 days after Jesus’s birth, Mary and Joseph took the baby to the Temple in Jerusalem to complete Mary’s ritual purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn, as prescribed by Mosaic Law (Leviticus 12 and 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. 12/2018 12.5 mb
ST. ANNE AND THE CHILD VIRGIN MARY WINDOW.
CENTER PANEL: Child Mary with Saint Anne, her mother. Nothing is known about Mary’s mother though early apocryphal writings provide information for stories about Mary’s lineage and early life that have resulted in a legendary tradition.
LEFT PANEL: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1: 39-45). After the Annunciation, Mary set out into the hill country to stay in the house of Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah for three months. Both women were miraculously pregnant at the time–-Mary with Jesus by virgin birth and Elizabeth with John the Baptist in her old age. Depicted is the moment when John the Baptist leapt with joy in Elizabeth’s womb at hearing Mary’s voice (Luke 1:41). The Visitation is the Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. Below is an ark (or tabernacle). Luke structured his narrative passages of the Visitation on stories in 2 Samuel and 1 Kings about the ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament. The Catechism of the Catholic Church identifies Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant (2276): “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: Annunciation to Mary by the angel Gabriel aanouncing that she would bear the Son of God, Jesus Christ. “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” It is by Mary’s joyful acceptance of God’s 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. The Annunciation is the First Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. Below, the two angel figures are distinct. 12/2018 16.24 mb
ST. JOSEPH WINDOW.
CENTER PANEL: St. Joseph was the foster father of Jesus and served as Jesus’ guardian protector. Jospeh’s symbology includes his holding a carpenter’s square (Mt 13:55) and holds a white lily to symbolize his faithfulness and chastity to Mary (MT 1: 25) as well as his holiness and obedience to God (Mt 1:24; Mt 2:14, 21, 22). An angel figure Is below St. Joseph.
LEFT PANEL: Holy Family in Nazareth. Jesus was obedient to Mary and Joseph and “progressed steadily in wisdom, age and grace before God and men” (Lk 2:52). Jesus was instructed by St. Joseph in the carpenter trade and holds a wooden cross on his knees. Flowering grass below is decorative and could indicate the flowering staff of St. Joseph which symbolized that he was specially chosen by God to be Mary’s husband. That imagery was drawn from the Old Testament when Aaron’s staff, placed before the Ten Commandments, sprouted with almond blossoms as a sign that he was chosen by God (Num 17:22-23).
RIGHT PANEL: Mary and St. Joseph find Jesus at 12 years old in the Temple with the doctors of the Law (Luke 2:41-52). It is the Fifth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. The event is the only time in the New Testament where Jesus makes a public appearance before His baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist and the start of his public ministry at 30 years old (Matthew 3:3-17, Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-23; John 1:29-33). Below the scene are the tablets of the Ten Commandments with a symbol of the Trinity, including the sacred eye, hovering above. 12/2018 12.34 mb
ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE WINDOW.
CENTER PANEL: St. Paul is depicted holding a sword, a symbol for this Apostle to the Gentiles. Describing spiritual warfare in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes, “Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). In symbology of martyrs, they are traditionally depicted with the instrument of their death. Paul is a known martyr (c. 64-68 CE), though its details are not. Early Christian writers said St. Paul was beheaded using a sword.
LEFT PANEL: The Pentecost (Acts 2: 1-13) followed the Ascension, It is where the 12 Apostles with Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ, gathered together to receive the Holy Spirit symbolized by a dove from Heaven.
RIGHT PANEL: Ascension of Jesus into Heaven is mentioned many times in the New Testament and primarily in Luke and Acts (Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1: 6-12, 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). The Ascension is where the Resurrected Christ physically departed from Earth by rising into Heaven which was witnessed by eleven of his apostles (Judas betrayed Jesus). Heaven incorporates the resurrected fleshly body of Christ as the divine humanity of Christ enters into the intimacy of the Father and becomes the perfect God-Man. 6/2014 4.28 mb
ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE WINDOW in situ on the east wall. 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.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD WINDOW.
CENTER PANEL: Jesus called himself “the good shepherd” (John 10). In the Old Testament there is a prophecy about shepherds who are overseers for the sheep who are the people of God. Ezekiel prophesies of a shepherd to come who is the Messiah of Israel. Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah that the scriptures foretold. Christ’s cruciform halo (in three parts) contains three Greek letters that spell out “ I Am Who Am,” a reference to Christ’s Divinity. Jesus holds the shepherd’s staff and has a lamb slung over his shoulders referring to the people of God he cares for. A lamb in a bramble below refers to Jesus as “the lamb of God,” a title found in John’s Gospel (John 1:29; 1:36). It also alludes to the Old Testament when God sent a ram caught in a bramble to change places with Isaac who God called to be sacrificed as a burnt offering (Genesis 22:13). This Old Testament story foretold the sacrifice of the Son of God at Calvary.
LEFT PANEL: Scourging of Christ is the 4th Station of the Cross (John 19:1-3). It is part of the brutalities that Jesus endured in his Passion. Jesus was slapped, beaten, punctured by thorns, and whipped with a reed stick. Two of these torture instruments are depicted below the pillar. An angel figure is below that.
RIGHT PANEL: Jesus is depicted in the garden of Gethsemane following the Last Supper where, knowing of Judas’s betrayal, Jesus prayed: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me. Yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). With his prayer, “an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him” (Luke 22:43). At the foot of the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem all four Gospels relate that Jesus underwent an agony in the garden of Gethsemane where he was betrayed and arrested the night before his crucifixion. Below is an angel figure. 12/2018 12.6 mb
Organ loft. St. Francis Xavier Church, Wilmette, IL. 12/2018 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.
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. Photograph by author. 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.
BETWEEN 1870 AND 1930, ART GLASS OF GERMANY AND AUSTRIA COMES TO AMERICA, PARTICULARLY TO CHICAGO’S CHURCHES
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.
c. 1874, looking west, the corner of Ellsworth Street and Benton Avenue. the complex of buildings of Saints Peter and Paul parish, Naperville, Illinois.
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.8c. 1904, view of Sts. Peter and Paul stone church building from the belfry of the College’s Main Building.
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.
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 important difference in the accounts is that in Acts Luke mentions the appearance of Jesus for 40 days after the Resurrection until His Ascension. While it sets a time limit on Jesus’s appearances, it presents His sustained manifold appearances after the Resurrection to the apostles. It also situates the apostles and Christian community into salvation history’s imagery of Israel’s covenant.12Luke’s tradition likely would not have separated the Resurrection and Ascension events in time except for the clarity of 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)
As Jesus rose from the dead it is clear to the disciples that he is the Messiah so their question as to when he will restore political self-rule to Israel is not illogical although Jesus was never a political leader in his historical ministry. Luke is writing his Gospel and Acts as a faith document for future Christians, so that Jesus‘s reply to their question about the kingdom of God’s ultimate temporal nature is indeterminate. In the next verses (7 and 8) Jesus tells them that the Second Coming (“Parousia”) is not a question for them to be asking God. Rather, it is important for them to bear witness to Him by ways of the power of the Holy Spirit for whom they should wait. Finally, as Jerusalem was the place of Jesus’s Passion, Death and Resurrection, the Holy City is where the Christians 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. St. Luke’s cloud imagery was used later in writings and reflections by the Christian mystics (i.e., The Cloud of Unknowing). Further, the Ascension takes place on Mount Olivet, which had eschatological or end times allusions. After Jesus is lifted up two figures appear in dazzling garments signaling the angelic presence as appeared at the Resurrection (Luke 24:4-7). The cloud image Luke uses is also linked to end times (Luke 21:27) or parousia – in that Jesus taken up in the Ascension “will come (again) in the same way that you saw him going.” (Acts1:11).
detail, Christ, Ascension window, Sts. Peter and Paul, Naperville, IL
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. detail, angel, Ascension window, Sts. Peter and Paul, Naperville, IL.
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 feet, Ascension window, Sts. Peter and Paul, Naperville, IL.
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. detail, apostles, Ascension window, Sts. Peter and Paul, Naperville, IL.
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.”
detail, rondelle, Christ the King, Ascension window, Sts. Peter and Paul, Naperville, IL.
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.
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 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.
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.
detail. Mary, Assumption window, Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Naperville, Illinois.
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. detail. angels, Assumption window, Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Naperville, Illinois.
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.
detail. rondelle, The Trinity, Assumption window, Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Naperville, Illinois.
God the Father wears a triangular halo as He blesses the scene. The Holy Spirit in the symbol of the dove emanates.18
ASSUMPTION WINDOW (central panel/detail), 1902, St. Michael Church, Chicago. Franz Mayer & Company, Munich, Germany.
INTRODUCTION:
St. Michael Church in Old Town on Chicago’s north side is one of the oldest parishes and church buildings in the city. Founded as a parish in 1852, the church building’s brick walls from 1869 withstood the flames of the Great Chicago Fire in 1871.
Yet those flames left it a charred, empty shell. Hot flames fed on clapboard wooden houses that surrounded the historically-German parish. The bell tower collapsed in the fire’s intense heat. The Great Fire had started about three miles to the south on De Koven Street at the site of Mrs. O’Leary’s barn and her cow and where today stands the Chicago Fire Academy. From the devastation at St. Michael in Old Town, the fire continued its northward march from downtown until it petered out completely about one mile away at Fullerton Avenue.
In 1869 the St. Michael Church building cost over $130,000 to build—approximately $2.25 million in today’s dollars. After the fire, in 1872, its repairs cost $40,000 which amounts to about $700,000 today, although this amount does not include any unknown insurance pay outs. Reconstruction in 1872 did not include the stained glass windows included in this post that were photographed in 2015. Gloriously cleaned and preserved in the sanctuary today, they were created and installed in the early 20th century.
In 1902, in preparation for St. Michael’s Golden Jubilee, the tall, thin stained glass windows that were made in Bavaria, Germany, were installed. The colorful windows marked the fourth set to be installed into the church’s original design by architect August Walbaum. Those first three sets of glass in the same windows dating from 1866, 1873, and 1878 were frosted or tinted.
The Golden Jubilee windows in 1902 drew on centuries of craft and technique in stained glass-making. The Franz Mayer & Company of Munich produced some of the finest stained glass in the world. For St. Michael’s east and west walls they created colorful glass depicting familiar New Testament scenes.
For the Golden Jubilee St. Michael Church also had hand-crafted and installed five new altars by Hackner & Sons of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. The realism and expressiveness of the Franz Mayer & Company windows –in 2013 these windows underwent a complete professional cleaning– offered to the prospering Chicago parish an added sense of wonder and joy in their sacramental worship that can still be experienced and seen today in its intact form.
Mayer’s WEST windows depict events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary: the (non-biblical) Presentation of Mary and (biblical) Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Epiphany, and Assumption.
The EAST windows depict events in the life of Jesus: Finding Jesus in the Temple, Jesus Blesses the Children, Jesus’s feet washed by Mary Magdalene, the Ascension and the (non-biblical) Sacred Heart.
The windows’ rich color tones are rendered by using precious metals — gold dust for red; cobalt for blue; uranium for green.
The story scenes are given a Renaissance Europe setting.
All of these faith events are accompanied by Mayer’s fine depictions of the heavenly host of angels.
Franz Mayer & Company, founded in 1847 as “The Institute for Christian Art,” established a stained glass department in 1860. In 1882 it was awarded the designation as a Royal Bavarian Establishment for Ecclesiastical Art by “mad” King Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845-1886) . The Pope later pronounced the foundry a Pontifical Institute of Christian Art. Instead of thinking of St. Michael Church commissioning a venerable Old European arts company to create their stained glass as would be Franz Mayer & Company’s status today, in 1902 Franz Mayer was a new German arts company whose religious artwork would mirror the sensibilities of a new parish on the north side of the new city of Chicago.
The founder’s son, Franz Borgias Mayer (1848-1926), continued to grow the royal manufacturing company for Christian Art. Ten years after St. Michael’s stained glass windows were installed, Saint Pope Pius X (1835-1914) commissioned the same German company to make stained glass for St. Peter’s Basilica as well as windows in important chapels throughout Vatican City.
In the United States, Mayer’s client base and prestige grew in its service of an increasingly prosperous and broad-based Catholic immigrant community. Their ecclesiastical work can be found in Chicago, New York, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Washington and California. As of 2016 Franz Mayer & Company continues as a family-owned and operated business (see http://www.mayer-of-munich.com/werkstaette/).
stained glass department in 1860- Franz Mayer of Munich, edited by Gabriel Mayer, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Pope Pius X commission – Nola Huse Tutag with Lucy Hamilton, Discovering Stained Glass in Detroit, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1987. p. 152.
ASCENSION WINDOW (side panel/detail), 1902, St. Michael Church, Chicago. Franz Mayer & Company, Munich, Germany.
ASSUMPTION WINDOW (central panel/detail), 1902, St. Michael Church, Chicago. Franz Mayer & Company, Munich, Germany.
ASSUMPTION WINDOW (central panel/detail), 1902, St. Michael Church, Chicago. Franz Mayer & Company, Munich, Germany- Oct 30, 2015.
SACRED HEART WINDOW (detail), 1902, St. Michael Church, Chicago. Mayer & Company, Munich, Germany.
ANNUNCIATION WINDOW (detail), 1902, St. Michael Church, Chicago. Franz Mayer & Company, Munich, Germany.
PARABLE WINDOW (detail), 1902, St. Michael Church, Chicago. Mayer & Company, Munich, Germany.
VISITATION WINDOW (detail), 1902, St. Michael Church, Chicago. Franz Mayer & Company, Munich, Germany.
CHRISTMAS WINDOW (detail), 1902, St. Michael Church, Chicago. Franz Mayer & Company, Munich, Germany.
ASCENSION WINDOW (side panel/detail), 1902, St. Michael Church, Chicago. Franz Mayer & Company, Munich, Germany.
ASSUMPTION WINDOW (central panel/detail), 1902, St. Michael Church, Chicago. Franz Mayer & Company, Munich, Germany.
Photographs and text:
More of St. Michael Church in Old Town, Chicago? Please see:
FEATURE image: At the top of the high altar’s retable in St. Michael Church in Chicago’s Old Town is the figure of St. Michael the Archangel, the parish church’s patron. St. Michael is mentioned in several places in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. The near northside Chicago parish has been administered by the Redemptorist Order since 1860.
The great tower of St. Michael Church on the Near North Side of Chicago identifies the Old Town Triangle historic district. St. Michael Old Town Chicago 6/2022 8.03mb
The bell tower of St. Michael Church in Chicago’s Old Town at 1633 N. Cleveland Avenue. From 1869 to 1885, this church tower was the tallest building in Chicago. It was surpassed by the old Board of Trade Building.
In 1876, five years after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 that ravaged the city, the rebuilt St. Michael Church raised five new bells into the tower. They were cast by McShane Company. The tower’s four-sided clock was installed in 1888. Atop the steeple, the twenty-four-foot tall cross weighs over a ton.
By John P. Walsh
The story is told that if you can hear the five 2-to-6-ton bells peel from the 290-feet-tall tower of St. Michael Church you live in Chicago’s Old Town. Yet it depends on which way the wind is blowing.
St. Michael Church is one of Chicago’s oldest parishes and church buildings. It was founded by German Catholics in 1852. From their arrival in the 1830s and 1840s until World War I, German immigrants of all faiths made up Chicago’s most numerous nationality.
German immigrants soon migrated out of downtown Chicago and about two miles north to North Avenue. The east-west thoroughfare became known as “German Broadway.”
This European immigrant community expanded to eventually settle a four-mile square area that was called “North Town.” St. Michael Church was situated in the virtual center of North Town on land donated by successful German-born Chicago businessman and brewer Michael Diversey (1810-1869). Diversey had immigrated to the United States in the 1830s from Saarland in western Germany.
St. Michael Church stands on land donated expressly for the purpose of building it by successful German-American brewer Michael Diversey (1810-1869). Diversey emigrated from Germany in 1830, and by 1844 he was a Chicago alderman. The church is named after the wealthy beer maker’s patron saint, St Michael the Archangel, whose limestone figure stands in the high niche on the façade (see photograph below). Diversey’s so-called Chicago Brewery, first established in Chicago in 1839, grew to become one of the most extensive establishments of its kind in the West.
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The church building is built of red brick with limestone trim in the Romanesque style. Construction started in 1866 and was finished three years later. In 1871 the new building was virtually destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire along with its North Town neighborhood. Only the church’s exterior walls remained. Using these existing walls, the fire-gutted St. Michael Church was rebuilt and rededicated in 1873. Ashes from that infamous conflagration can still be seen in the church’s basement.
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Gabled three-portal main entrance was added to the façade in 1913 by a Chicago architect. The architectural design harkens back to the cathedrals of Europe.
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Main altar at one end of a 190-foot central nave.
St. Michael Church, Chicago, 2013.
Dating from 1902, the Main Altar of the Angels is a cacophony of German-style wood carving, 2013.
In 1851 when St Michael was founded, Chicago’s total population was around 30,000 making it the twenty-fourth largest city in the United States.
Ten years later, in 1860, right before the outbreak of the American Civil War, Chicago’s population had nearly quadrupled and ranked in the nation’s top ten largest cities.
Chicago’s Catholic Church hierarchy in the middle of the nineteenth century was mostly Irish. These English-speaking bishops relied on religious orders to handle a tidal wave of non-English-speaking immigrants to Chicago, including the Germans.
In 1860, the St. Michael Church parish was entrusted to the Redemptorists, a religious order founded in 1748 in Italy. The Redemptorists with their German congregation built the St. Michael Church in Old Town that stands today. Over 170 years later, the Redemptorist order continues to shepherd the parish.
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A mosaic of Saint Michael the Archangel in the floor at the entrance of the church. “Archangel” is a title that signifies he is the leader of all God’s angels.
The mosaic of the patron angel in the floor starts the church’s 190-foot-long nave. It is one of the many religious images—others in stone, wood and paint—that constitutes the interior and exterior decoration of St. Michael Church.
St. Michael the Archangel is mentioned four times in the Bible: twice in the Book of Daniel and in the Epistle of Jude and the Book of Revelation. In the Book of Daniel, St. Michael the archangel helps the prophet Daniel and is linked to the “end times” of the world. In the Epistle of Jude, St. Michael the archangel guards the tombs of Eve and Moses and combats Satan to protect these holy sites.
In the Book of Revelation St. Michael and his angels do battle with the “dragon.” In addition to being charged with expelling Satan from Heaven (as depicted in the retable), St. Michael is charged with the care of all departed souls to introduce them to the holy light. St. Michael the Archangel is the patron saint of soldiers, police, and doctors.
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Detail of the Main Altar retable depicts St. Michael the archangel in the traditional iconography of armor with sword and shield casting Satan out of Heaven by God’s command. St. Michael the Archangel is the patron saint of soldiers, police, and doctors.
The spacious, airy, and dramatic church sanctuary today looks basically as it did by 1902. The motivation for the church’s extensive redecoration in 1902 was its Golden Jubilee as well as one expression of the parishioners’ decided prosperity by the later 1890s.
Some Stained Glass
Created and installed by Mayer & Company of Munich for St. Michael Church’s Golden Jubilee in 1902, the tall and thin stained glass windows —the fourth set of windows to be installed into architect August Walbaum’s original design— depicted Biblical and other scenes. The window’s artistic technique drew upon centuries of European craft and design – and were recently cleaned in 2012.
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Annunciation of Jesus to Mary Window (Luke 1: 26-38). Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus is stated explicitly in verses 34-35. In Hebrew her name, Miryām, means “exalted one.”
In that Jubilee year, the stained glass was installed along with the 56-foot-high carved wood retable of the High (or main) Altar of the Angels. Though there are five altars in St. Michael Church, the main altar is the most spectacular, drawing the eye forward and upward from practically anywhere in the church. Crowning this painted construct—which is so heavy that it required a new local foundation to be dug for it—is the figure of St. Michael the Archangel described in the Book of Revelation. The angel is garbed in his panzer (“armor”) running rebellious angels out of heaven. St. Michael is flanked by the archangels Gabriel and Raphael. Nine choirs of angels and the saints Peter and Paul are also depicted in wood. Smaller human figures depict the four evangelists identified by their Christian symbols—specifically, the Winged Man (Matthew), Winged Lion (Mark), Winged Ox (Luke) and Eagle (John). All five altars were made by E. Hackner Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin, an early twentieth century designer, manufacturer and importer of artistic ecclesiastic furnishings.
Annunciation window (detail), 1902, Franz Mayer & Co. of Munich. St. Michael Church, Chicago, 2013.
Annunciation Window (Detail). The angel Gabriel’s greeting, “Hail, full of grace,” is a greeting that is full of peace, joy and wisdom. Mary is the object of God’s grace and favor and is shown to be chosen for a long time past. The depiction of lilies, whether in the angel’s hand or arranged into a bouquet by Mary’s side, is traditional imagery for purity.
In 1869 the St. Michael Church building cost over $130,000 to build which is approximately $2.65 million today. After the fire the repairs in 1872 cost an additional $40,000 plus unknown amounts of insurance money–or upwards of $700,000 today. Reconstruction did not include the stained glass windows which were installed in 1902. For a history of the stained glass in St. Michael church go to: https://johnpwalshblog.com/2016/05/10/angels-in-stained-glass-1902-complete-st-michael-church-in-old-town-chicago/.
Anointing of Jesus by Mary Magdalene (detail), 1902, Franz Mayer & Co. of Munich. St. Michael Church, Chicago, 2016.
Anointing of Jesus by Mary Magdalene at Bethany Window. The anointing of Jesus in Bethany by the sinful woman, traditionally the Magdalene. Though the story varies in certain details, all four gospels relate the anointing set in a house for a meal and a woman who pours expensive ointment on Jesus to which someone objects. In regard to the ointment, Mark’s account (14:3) records that it is the purest of spikenard which was very expensive costing over a year’s wages (Mark 14:5). Luke’s gospel speaks of Jesus’ feet being anointed by a woman who had been sinful all her life and who was crying (7:38). As her tears fall on the feet of Jesus, she kissed and wiped his feet with her hair. The iconography of the woman’s actions in the Gospels has traditionally been associated with Mary Magdalene though none of the biblical texts specify her as the story’s subject.
In 2020, the spikenard plant is part of Pope Francis’s coat of arms. He uses the image of the plant as does the Latin American church, as a symbol for St. Joseph.
Spikenard was grown in India, China, and Nepal and known in ancient Rome where it was used as a cooking agent. By the time of Jesus, in the early Roman Empire, spikenard was used primarily in perfume.
Coat of Arms of Pope Francis (2013-). According to the Vatican, the image of the plant to the right of the star on the blue background is spikenard and represents St. Joseph.
Let the Little Children Come to Me Window. In Jesus’s public ministry, crowds often followed and pressed in upon him and his disciples. Jesus’s famous words, “Let the little children come to me,” are cited in all three synoptic gospels: Matthew 19:14, Mark 10:14 and Luke 18:16. When the people’s children were brought to the miracle worker and teacher -even their infants- they wanted him to lay his hands on them and bless them. The disciples rebuked them and Jesus became “indiginant” as he said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”
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Sacred Heart Window. The first of four great visions in which Jesus Christ revealed his Sacred Heart to French nun St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) took place on December 27, 1673 in her Visitation convent in Paray-le-Monial in Burgundy France. In each of these visions Christ revealed messages that the young saint was to communicate. The greatest of all the visions took place in 1676. Before the Tabernacle on the altar that exposed the Eucharist, Jesus said: “Behold this Heart which has so loved mankind, that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself in order to demonstrate and prove its love for them.” St. Margaret Mary was ordered by her confessor, St. Claude de la Colombière, a Jesuit priest, to write down all her visions. Afterwards, the saint suffered great persecutions from the Church and others for these visions until she fell ill and died in 1690 at 43 years old. She was beatified in 1864 and canonized in 1920.
As with other American church building adaptations of earlier European architectural styles, the use of Romanesque rounded arches and corbels accentuated the use of Gothic-style glass in Chicago’s Old Town Roman Catholic church.
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Original Pulpit.
Ceiling mural. St. Michael Church, Chicago, 2013.
Central nave ceiling mural includes symbolic depictions of the four evangelists: Winged Man (Matthew); Winged Lion (Mark); Winged Ox (Luke); Eagle (John).
Its filigree evokes medieval illuminated manuscripts and perhaps is inspired by a scene painted in the 15th century in the dome of The Basilica of St Mark in Venice.
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Pietà, copy of a 16th-century Swabian-style artwork made around 1913.
Pieta. St. Michael Church, Chicago, 2013. Sacred Heart altar, 2013.
The Sacred Heart side altar (east nave). In addition to the central statue of Christ are those depicting Redemptorist Order founder, St. Alphonsus Liguori (Italian, 1696-1787) and Discalced Carmelite Order founder, St. Teresa of Avila (Spanish, 1515-1582).
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St. Joseph altar (west nave) with a mural of Redemptorists before Christ’s Heavenly throne. At right in the foreground, a wood confessional box. The founder of the Redemptorists, Italian-born St. Alphonsus Liguori, was highly educated and spent much of his life in the confessional as a home missionary to his city of Naples, Italy, among the ordinary people.
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Side altar honors Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help whose image was important to Saint Alphonsus, founder of the Redemptorists who were the religious order pastors of St. Michael Church from 1860. Pope Pius IX (1792 – 1878) gave this specific icon to the Chicago Redemptorists in 1865. After the Great Fire, it was picked out of the charred embers. Having survived intact in the rubble, it was taken as a sign to rebuild the church building and later set the icon into this German Baroque-style retable.
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Two of the 14 traditional Stations of the Cross. The traditional Stations of the Cross that are in Church-wide use were composed by St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) in 1761. St. Alphonsus was made a bishop in 1762, Doctor of the Church in 1871, and founded the Redemptorists in 1732. His stations are taken from the Gospels where the footsteps of Christ’s passion are chronicled and were venerated by the first Christians. St. Alphonsus Liguori’s stations are classic for their ability to stir the heart towards prayer, humility, and repentance. St. Alphonsus was born in 1696 in Naples, Italy and lived to be 90 years old. After an early career in law, St. Alphonsus heard the voice of Jesus calling him and became a priest in 1726. His parents were devout Catholics but not pleased by their lawyer son’s decision mainly because the clergy at the time was notoriously corrupt. In 1748 he published Moral Theology that received papal approbation and became an immediate success though it reflected some of the pastoral laxity of the Church in the 18th century which has remained controversial.
The history of St. Michael Church is a study in the rise of the German population to a dominant position in a new American city that was itself rising as the City of the Century. Chicago in less than 50 years developed out of an onion swamp into the second most populated city in the United States.
Between 1874 and following World War I, Chicago’s rapid emergence on the world stage was accompanied by Deutschtum (or “Germanness”) in its culture.
While Deutschtum appeared to be invincible, the Kaiser’s defeat in 1918 in the European war signaled the beginning of the end for German cultural dominance in Chicago. Their cultural hegemony in Chicago was virtually completely dismantled by the start of World War II.
Sources: G. Lane and A. Kezys, Chicago Churches and Synogogues. P. d’A Jones and M.G. Holli, Ethnic Chicago. D.A. Pacyga and E. Skerrett, Chicago, City of Neighborhoods. D. McNamara, Heavenly City. 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. The Jerome Biblical Commentary, edited by Raymond E. Brown, S.S., Joseph a Fitzmyer, S.J., and Roland E. Murphy, O. Carm., 1982. St. Michael Church website. https://iamjesus.net/traditional-stations-of-the-cross/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/136851/st-michael-church-chicago-il-usa
Photographs taken by author February 2013; May 2016; and June 2022.
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