St. Mary's Windows
The windows of St. Mary's were dedicated to the glory of God by the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Robert A. K. Runcie, Primate of all England and Metropolitan on August 26, 1990.
The lights of the church and chapel are lit nightly, adding to St. Mary's quiet beauty in winter, and giving it a festive glow in summer. If you would like to tour the church and study the windows, please stop by. We welcome visitors at any time.
History of the windows
Unlike most churches, the original windows at St. Mary's were made of an opaque gold colored glass. The reasons behind this selection of glass are obscure, but two obvious reasons come to mind. First, St. Mary's was originally a summer chapel open only during the course of the season. It may well have been that stained glass windows were considered to be pointless because of the limited usage of the church. Second, the cost of stained glass windows may well have been prohibitive in 1910 when the church was first built. The apparent answer is probably a combination of these two factors. Why spend excessive funds on a building used only three months of the year?
In past years, during Lent, St. Mary's had the "Lenten Question Box" and in place of a weekly homily, members of the parish were asked to submit questions of a general nature which might be of interest to everyone in the congregation. The question was asked, "Why don't we have stained glass windows at St. Mary's?" From the seed of that question sprang the plant of our stained glass windows.
We hope the attached brief outline of our stained glass windows may be of help to both our parishioners and to our visitors to St. Mary's. We remember and thank our donors who have made these windows a reality in our lives and in our worship.
Guide to the windows and their symbolism