This new window continues the process of installing permanent stained glass for the Chapel, which was cut short by the financial realities of the Great Depression. The bright, diamond-patterned glass which fills most of the windows in the Chapel is, actually, “temporary” glass. This new stained-glass window marks the first major stained glass window to be installed in the Chapel since the 1940’s.
This window is one of four such windows, which will complete the four windows of the Chancel (the east end of the Chapel). The fifth window in the Chancel, the window over the High Altar from the 1930’s—executed by Earl Edward Sanborn—depicts the theme of the “Te Deum,” the ancient hymn of praise of the Church.
The four windows (two on the north, and two on the south) which flank Sanborn’s “Te Deum” window in the Chancel are designated for the four stanzas of the “Te Deum”—in other words, they continue the theme of praise in the window over the High Altar. The themes of those four windows, based on those stanzas of the “Te Deum” being:
(North-East): “The Glorious Company Of The Apostles, Praise Thee”
(South-East): “The Goodly Fellowship Of The Prophets, Praise Thee”
(North-West): “The Noble Army Of Martyrs, Praise Thee”
(South-West): “The Holy Church Throughout All The World Doth Acknowledge Thee.”
This new window is the south-west window and, appropriately, depicts the theme of “The Holy Church Throughout All The World.”
The overall style of its glass was determined by the architect of the Chapel, Philip Hubert Frohman, at the time of the Chapel’s design and construction. The architect designed different parts of the Chapel in differing periods/styles of Gothic architecture. The Crypt embodies 12th-century Romanesque/Norman architecture; the Nave (where the organ is) and the tower’s lower stages are built in a 13th-century Gothic style; the Choir (where the wooden pews are) is built in a 14th-century Gothic style; and the Chancel of the main Chapel, and the Class of 1963 Chapel of the Perfect Friendship are built in an early 15th-century style.
The architect intended the Chapel’s ultimate stained glass to correspond to its surrounding architectural period. That is why the Rose Window in the nave over the organ by E.E. Sanborn (placed in a 13th-century part of the Chapel) is rendered in a 13th-century style of stained glass—dark and intense glass, rendered in cobalts, rubies, citrines, and emeralds. It also is why the “Te Deum” window over the High Altar, also by E.E. Sanborn, is depicted in an early 15th-century style of English glass (silvers, mulberries, greens, with paler densities of color).
In this window, rendered by Greg Gorman, the design of the window and its coloration evokes late 14th/early 15th-century examples of glass. A hallmark of English glass from the 14th and 15th century, is that it is more luminous, with concentrations of color (or reserves of color) scattered on a silvery ground. Green often also figures in glass of this period. This window (and the other three Chancel windows, and the nine Choir windows) will be rendered in this more luminous style, with reserves of concentrated color scattered on that silvery and luminous ground.
There are a number of direct prototypes for this window, a few of which are listed here. The silvery ground, with its cobalt and ruby “net” of circles and “x” shaped crosses is derived from a window by Charles J. Connick at All Saints Church in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The roundels of saints surrounded by text-bands are derived, in part, from roundels by Henry Wynd Young at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City. The main standing figure of Bishop Barbara Harris is derived from a number of sources—Connick’s work at St. John’s, Beverly Farms, as well as examples at Canterbury Cathedral.
The iconography depicts the Holy Church Throughout All The World. To that end, we wanted figures included who represented that theme, over the broadest possible contexts, including (but not limited to): temporal breadth; geographic breadth; and individual breadth.
The main figure is that of Bishop Barbara Clementine Harris, the first woman to be consecrated a bishop in the world-wide Anglican Communion. She also is an honorary alumna of Trinity College, and that honorary degree is noted in the window itself. Bishop Harris is depicted in the full raiment/vestments of a bishop; in her left hand, she holds a crosier, while in her right hand she holds an open book which displays the words, “I WILL SING TO MY GOD A NEW SONG”—a scriptural phrase she often included in her sermons. Beneath her feet are her personal arms—her heraldry—as Suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts. Her name, and honorary degree, are depicted on the scrolls below her arms. At the very base of the central lancet are the words which set the whole theme of the window: “THE HOLY CHURCH THROUGHOUT ALL THE WORLD DOTH ACKNOWLEDGE THEE.”
The outer two lancets each contain two roundels, with three figures in each roundel. As a collective group of twelve, they represent the twelve months of the Episcopal Church Calendar. Beginning at the upper left, we have:
Roundel 1 (upper left):
JANUARY: Florence Li Tim-Oi (first woman ordained a priest in the worldwide Anglican Communion)
FEBRUARY: Absalom Jones (first Black priest ordained in the Episcopal Church)
MARCH: James T.A. Holly (first Black bishop consecrated in the Episcopal Church)
Roundel 2 (upper right):
APRIL: Damien of Molokai (saint to the lepers of Molokai)
MAY: Monica of Hippo (saint and influential mother of Saint Augustine)
JUNE: Enmegahbowh (first Native American ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church)
Roundel 3 (lower left):
JULY: Macrina the Younger (saint and brilliant sister of two of the Cappadocian Fathers)
AUGUST: Aidan of Lindisfarne (saint, monastic, and missionary to the English)
SEPTEMBER: Hildegard of Bingen (monastic, musician, and mystic)
Roundel 4 (lower right)
OCTOBER: Tabitha of Joppa (saint to the poor and vulnerable)
NOVEMBER: C.S. Lewis (apologist for the Christian Faith)
DECEMBER: Nino of Georgia (Christian witness to the people of Georgia)
In the lower left and lower right of this window are two of the nine projected arms of the nine original dioceses of the Episcopal Church (the ninth, being Connecticut, already rendered in the “Te Deum” window over the High Altar). These two arms are of the Diocese of New Jersey and the Diocese of South Carolina. The other six arms will be incorporated into the remaining three Chancel windows.
As this window was given in the Bicentennial year of the College, there are two blue-and-gold lozenges at the top of each lancet. A golden “T” is surrounded on the left by the numbers, “1823” (the year of the College’s founding), and on the right, a golden “T” surrounded by the year of the Bicentennial (2023).
At the lower left and lower right are the dedication text and the donor text, which are appropriate for such a window.
Atop each of the lancets, Cherubim connect the earthly realms of the lancets with the celestial realm of the upper parts of the window.
In the “head tracery” (the elaborate set of openings at the top) is a field of dazzling stars. The stars depict not only the Heavens, but also are a reference to the text of the famous Anglican hymn for All Saints’ Day, “Who are these like stars appearing, these before God’s throne who stand?” Accordingly, the stars represent all the saints and all the souls who now shine like stars before the Throne of God. Two angelic musicians play their instruments in praise to God in the reserves directly above Bishop Harris (trumpet and lute), while two Cherubim gaze in adoration at the figure of Christ in the “Te Deum” window over the High Altar. In fact, it will be noted that nearly all figures in this window “look left” in adoration toward the figure of Christ in the “Te Deum” window over the High Altar. All figures in the remaining three windows will, likewise, look to the figure of Christ in the “Te Deum” window over the High Altar.
At the very top of this window is the Christic symbol, which corresponds to “The Holy Church Throughout All The World”—the Jerusalem Cross. It is surmounted by a Celestial Crown, and is surrounded by rays of divine light—emblematic of the reign of Christ throughout all the world.
This window is a generous gift from President Joanne Berger-Sweeney and has been dedicated to the Chapel in her family’s name. President Berger-Sweeney knew Bishop Barbara Harris personally, so this acknowledgment in stained glass of one of our College’s most distinguished Honorary Alumnae is doubly meaningful. We are exceedingly grateful to President Berger-Sweeney not only for acknowledging such an important alumna, but also for beginning the process of completing these four Chancel windows (and, next, the nine Choir and three Tower windows). As the “Te Deum” window over the High Altar was given by President Ogilby (whose ashes are interred in the pavement beneath that window), President Berger-Sweeney is in very distinguished Trinity College Presidential company!
