The Mothers of Salem Window

Six windows in Metropolitan feature Jesus and children and three of them are the magnificent lights filling the west gallery wall. For the purposes of this archive, we will title this window The Mothers of Salem.

The installation date of this window is unknown. The Hobbs Manufacturing Company installed all seven windows of the west gallery wall before 1940. The Mothers of Salem is dedicated to the “loving memory of Thomas and Clara Mara and family”.

Jesus is the focal point of the centre light, holding an infant. He is robed in regal red and is presented with a halo.

The colour red unifies this work. A mother in the left light is in red. Jesus is in red in the centre, as is a mother at His feet. The right shows a hint of red on a man whose appearance suggests discipleship. He stares from the edge of the crowd. The inscription spans all three lights, “Suffer little children to come unto me; forbid them not”.

Hobbs’ work presents adults standing. The background is a lush, walled garden and a grand manor. Several colours catch our eye: blue, the colour of Advent; green, for the “ordinary” time after epiphany; purple, representing Lent.

Three smaller lights of parables are beneath the triad. The left is of the Prodigal son. The centre, the rich man and the beggar. The right, the pharisee and the sinner.

Again, colour unifies these three lights. The son’s father is robed in red. The rich man is robed in purple, suggesting he look inward. The pharisee is in red to depict power, but, at the edge of the light, just beyond the columns, we see a red robe. Who might that be, watching the Temple encounter unfold to teach its lesson?

-RW