STAINED GLASS WINDOWS OF PLYMOUTH CHURCH

 By Hannah Morris

Stained glass possesses an aura of mystery and romance. Those in the churches of the Middle ages were very beautiful and very highly regarded and young people were well acquainted with the windows of their cathedrals. A passage in an old catechism in a French diocese asked, "What should one do upon entering a cathedral?" The answer, "Take holy water, adore the Blessed Sacrament, then walk all around the edifice and look at the stained glass." Many of our modem churches which have stained glass windows prepare illustrated brochures to assist parishioners and visitors in understanding the stories and symbols in their windows.

One of the most magnificent cathedrals in Europe is the one in Charters. During the World War the windows were removed for safe keeping and the openings hung with white cloth. A French soldier wrote as follows concerning his impressions of the windowless cathedral. "As I approached on my first visit after the war the cathedral seemed blinded, the eyes covered with white bandages of the hospital. On entering I felt still greater sadness, the holy twilight vibrant with color was gone and in its place a chill white light that robbed the cathedral of its beauty. The very columns were like trees in winter stripped of the life---dead things."

According to modern ideas color has a definite effect upon our moods. One color soothes, another gives steadiness of nerve, while another exhilarates. This may not be exactly true. Only by personal experience does a person know what effect the pure color of a stained glass window has upon him.

The art of making stained glass windows declined in the 17th and 18th centuries, and although a new interest in it stirred in the second half of the 19th century, it was not until the 20th century that there was a true revival. Many American architects and glass men journeyed to Europe to view and study the medieval buildings and windows. When they returned home they had a desire to increase their knowledge of their craft. It is now a serious and learned art; the craftsmen are skilled technicians and designers.

One of the best known American designers of stained glass windows was Louis Comfort Tiffany who was also interested in mosaics, pottery, enamels, tapestries, rugs and jewelry. He maintained, others do also, that the best American colored windows are superior to the best medieval windows. Other writers say that the art of designing and executing stained glass is highly difficult, and has not been duplicated in perfect form since the 12th and 13th centuries.

Today stained glass is used for many purposes other than windows. Skylights, along staircases, facing a mantel, coffee table tops, drink coasters, serving trays, and household wares.

With the use of steel and aluminum frameworks in building entire walls of glass has made possible stained glass best suited to produce a subdued atmosphere In a Catholic Church in San Francisco a window wall is treated in such a way that it is a huge translucent abstraction through which the sun casts a celestial glory of colored lights.  Some of the modem churches have their windows illuminated with lights to give different effects. In looking at windows in the daytime the colors vary somewhat with the time of day and the outside atmospheric conditions.

Nearly all the stained glass windows of the Plymouth Congregational Church were memorial gifts or gifts from other sources. The most notable are the three large stained glass windows of Gothic Style. Each window is made up of 4 panels, each 26 inches wide. Each window is approximately 9 feet wide by 14 feet high. In the center of each window is a picture in the life of Christ, which occupies about two panels of about 4 feet wide and five or more in length. Around each is a 3 3/4 inch wide band of different tints of mauve glass which in a sense serves as a frame for this picture and the surrounding colored glass serves as a setting or background for the picture. In each setting there is a formal arrangement of rose petaled flowers set in light green or light blue or almost white glass. In either side of each large window is a smaller window also of colored glass but without any symbols or pictures. Rose color seems to predominate.

Naturally the window which is seen most is the one behind the choir in the front of the church. It was presented in memory of Mr. Joseph Davies. The title of the picture may well be Come unto Me for Christ is depicted with a banner in one hand and the other hand outstretches. Surrounding his head in the back is a halo. He wears a soft green robe and amid surroundings of blue sky with some clouds above, shades of brown in the rear and green in the front.

In the rear on the northwest is the window in memory of Henry Tregonning.  In this picture, Christ in Gethsemane , The Savior kneels with folded hands resting on a huge bolder, shown in shades of brown. Here a red robe is worn thrown over a light blue surplice or vestment. Again Christ is shown with a halo. The two smaller windows, one on either side, are also memorial windows, one in memory of Laura Gibbon, and the other in memory of Bertyn Marks. 

The rear window on the southwest is in memory of Solomon Richards. It shows Christ as the good Shepherd. In this picture, as in the front windows, He is standing with a halo over his head. Again he wears a light green stole, thrown over his shoulders. In one hand he has a shepherds crook, and with the other he holds in his arm a lamb~ at his side is an adult sheep, evidently the ewe, which is the mother of the lamb. Again there is a blue sky above and around are green hills. In both of these west windows is a suggestion of growing plants.

The Stained glass windows in the Sunday School room----donated mostly by the Sunday School classes------carry out the color and design of the large windows in the sanctuary, but have no pictures.

We haven't been able to find a record of the choosing or ordering of the large windows, but they were placed in position in March 1908, when the building was nearing completion. The building was dedicated June 1908.

 A postscript-"Method used to place them not told”

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