THE WINDOWS OF
ST. KATHARINE OF SIENA CHURCH
Anyone who visits this church during the day is immediately impressed by its stained glass windows. The floor-to-ceiling windows allow the sun to light up the entire body of the church! But, they are also important teaching instruments, providing us with many scenes from both Sacred Scripture and the life of the Church through the ages. A study of the windows reveals God’s saving work from the moment of creation to the time of final judgment and depicts many saintly men and women who have cooperated with God in bringing his kingdom to its fulfillment. When the church was designed in the early 1960’s, Reverend William J. O’Donnell, the pastor, the associate pastors, Henry D. Dagit, the architect, and Mr. Bolton Morris, the designer and artist, collaborated to produce these beautiful works in stained glass. Not only do the windows assist in providing a devotional atmosphere in which the assembly can worship, but they are also sources of inspiration for prayer and contemplation.
As you enter the main body of the church from the Lancaster Avenue entrance, you see scenes from the Old Testament presented in the windows to your right and scenes from the life of Christ and the Church in the windows to your left. To fully appreciate the continuity of the story that the windows tell, you should start with the first window, located on the right (west) side of the church.
July 2023
First Window: God and Creation
In the first panel, God, represented by the all-seeing eye, contemplates the creation of the world. Wisdom is represented by two female figures, one asleep in the womb of eternity and the other playing before God. This imagery is found [...]
Second Window: From Noah to Moses
The baptismal font, hand and paschal candle in the lower section of the Noah panel recall the first letter of St. Peter where it is written that “this [ark] prefigured baptism, which saves you now” (1 Pet 3:21). The paschal [...]
Third Window: David, Solomon and the Prophets
The story of David begins in the center section of the first panel with Bethlehem, the city of David, which in Hebrew means “house of bread.” Below that, the prophet Samuel anoints David as God’s chosen one. Behind Samuel you [...]
Fourth Window: Transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament
The first panel represents the genealogic tree of Jesus – the Jesse tree. Jesse was the father of King David. As we read in Isaiah 11:1: “a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a [...]
Fifth Window: The Annunciation and Birth of Jesus
In the first panel, the burning bush at the bottom represents God’s presence; a bush that burns but is not consumed (cf. Exodus 3:1ff). The colorful band that emanates from it and swirls through many of the eastern windows represents [...]
Sixth Window: Scenes from Jesus’ Public Life
This window presents important moments in our Lord’s public life. The first panel on the right depicts the scene of his baptism by John the Baptist with the waters of the Jordan River flowing around them. The Holy Spirit in [...]
Seventh Window: Jesus’ Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension
This window presents the Paschal Mystery, central to our Christian faith. The right panel depicts the crucifixion of Jesus with his mother Mary and the disciple John at the foot of the cross. Above Jesus, the initials “INRI” speak of [...]
Eighth Window: Pentecost, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, and the Church
The right panel shows the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove hovering over the apostles hiding behind walls “for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19). They are surrounded by fire. The Acts of the Apostles reports that these [...]
Window of the Second Coming of the Lord
The window above the choir loft is meant to direct the whole assembly toward the Parousia, that is, the second coming of our Lord. The splendid azure color of the window is evocative of the heavens. In the Book of [...]
St. Catherine of Siena Window
The figure of our patron saint, Catherine (1347-1380), dominates this window. She is clothed in the habit of the mantellate, a name given to lay women who were Dominican nuns living in the world but not of it. Unlike most [...]