You might notice that the header image is reversed. I visited a church last week with that lovely stained glass over the door in the back. I couldn’t get a picture, or even actually see the image very well from the inside of the church. When I went into the (very tiny) vestibule the light from inside the church was enough to allow me to take that picture. And there’s a surprising reason for all that light.
Saint John the Evangelist church in Frederick, Maryland, is the first parish church built in the United States. When I first read that statement I thought of the cathedral in Baltimore which of course is older, though not by much. The point according to the builders of this church in the 1830’s is that they were the first parish to build a church in the new country.
Stained glass windows were installed. When they needed were no longer able to be repaired they were taken out, some time in the 1970’s. Plain yellow glass was installed … until 2023 when new windows were brought in from St. Mary’s Church in Swoyersville, Pennsylvania, closed in 2012.
The new windows were smaller than the openings in the church, so they were surrounded by frosted glass, which allows light to pour in.
This window, Mary Queen of Heaven, was on one side of the altar. I couldn’t get a straight on photo but the frosted panes show beautifully.
Stained glass can actually make a church seem very dark, but installed this way, you get both glorious color and abundant light.
This window is one of four picturing the evangelists. The eagle is Saint john and the inscription SW JAN strongly suggests that Saint Mary’s was Polish, ‘swiety’ being the word for ‘saint’. Coal mining in Luzerne County, PA, brought Eastern Europeans to that area. The windows were designed by Jacob Renner, who was trained in Munich, a center of beautiful stained glass art.
Pentecost
This window, even beyond the frosted panes surrounding it has a lot of white at the top, letting in extra light.
A detail from the ceiling of the building. The church is called Greek revival — ??
Saint John, changing the poison in a chalice to a serpent, and then drinking the rest of the liquid, unharmed.
I visited this church around 2018(?). I didn’t think it was anything special at the time. Now, it’s a knockout. The windows made a HUGE differences. Friday, I’ll have pictures of the sanctuary, and a mystery statue.
More information on the new windows can be found here. https://catholicreview.org/frederick-parish-marks-260th-anniversary-with-blessing-of-new-windows
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