Rose Window

This church, excluding the 1957 addition at the eastern end of the building, was dedicated on Tuesday, April 19, 1870. At that time the rose window with the four lancet windows beneath was spoken of as the wheel with four larger compartments below.

In the four segments of the wheel, marked on the diagram, are the heads of the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The open Bible and the cross are in the center of the wheel.

The lower part of the window represents scenes in the life of Christ. In compartment one we see CHRIST BLESSING CHILDREN; in the second, THE TRANSFIGURATION; in the third, CHRIST IN THE GARDEN; and the fourth compartment shows the ASCENSION.

It seems somehow most appropriate that THE TRANSFIGURATION window should be the first to be cleaned and strengthened as it represents the supernatural and glorified change in the appearance of Jesus on the mountain. (Matthew 17: l-9)

There has been renewed interest in this beautiful window because of the recently completed work by the artist-craftsman, Mr. Ron Klaren of Chelsea. He has indicted that the third compartment, CHRIST IN THE GARDEN, needs attention next. The segments containing the heads of the four evangelists also need strengthening, but this is expensive work and will necessarily need to be done over a period of years as we can afford it. All the window must be protected by plexiglass, replacing the outside windows.

The J. M. Cook Company of Boston produced and installed this window unit. It was in place on the day the church was dedicated, which makes it nearly 107 years old. Women of the church raised money for the window unit with food sales and other money-making affairs. It originally cost $1200. When we consider that this entire church was erected for only $65,000 it becomes apparent that those women made a generous and very beautiful contribution to our house of worship.

The three windows, two from the rose window and one in the narthex, that Mr. Klaren worked on were valued at $5,000 for insurance coverage while away from the church for repairs. This gives us some idea of the value of the entire rose window today. Mr. David Blow, archivist at the University of Vermont, said that in 1870 most of the stained-glass windows were produced by companies in New York and this is the only one in this area from the J. M. Cook Company of Boston.

Windows of similar quality were in the old Catholic Cathedral which burned several years ago, but those were brought here from France. The stained glass window in St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, which also burned within the past few years, came from several companies