Transforming Light

Transforming The Stained-Glass Windows of Boston College

l i g ht VIRGINIA CHIEFFO RAGUIN GARY WAYNE GILBERT

Contents the campus architecture: an introduction

JeVery Howe one

A Literature of Stone

1

The Collegiate Gothic Architecture of Boston College the buildings and windows

Virginia Chieffo Raguin two

Labor of Light

7

Stained Glass as an Art Form: A History of Technology and Style three

The Known Universe

14

Earl Edward Sanborn Windows, Bapst and Burns Libraries four

Veneration

19

Alexander Locke Windows, St. Mary’s Chapel five

The Triumph of Good

22

Richard King Windows, Roche Room, Bapst Library six

In Tara’s Court

25

Thomas Murphy Window, Irish Hall, Gasson Hall the photographs

Gary Wayne Gilbert seven

The Stained-Glass Windows of Boston College A Selection

29

baps t li brary

30

burns li brary

92

s t. mary’s chapel

112

gas s on hall

144

acknowledgments

153

selected bibliography

153

illustration credits

154

index

155

Gargan Hall, East Wall ph i l osoph y a l cov e

t h i s page top PHILOSOPHY WINDOW

t h i s page bottom left M E TA P H Y S I C S

Metaphysics is represented by Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), who built his massive exploration of Catholic theology, the Summa Theologiae, on Aristotle’s philosophical precepts.

t h i s page bottom right DUNS SCOTUS

(c. 1266–1308) Scottish philosopher and Scholastic theologian.

opp o s i t e page LOGIC

Aristotle, shown teaching at the Lyceum in Athens, represents logic.

72

73

Ford Tower

j esu i t m issiona r i e s of t h e a m e r ic as

t h i s page top PIERRE-JEAN DE SMET

(1801–1873) A Belgian missionary in the PaciWc Northwest, Father de Smet is shown preaching to the Sioux.

t h i s page bottom left J O S É D E A N C H I E TA

A Portuguese missionary to Brazil, Father Anchieta (1534–1597) was also a poet, dramatist, and scholar. He is celebrated as a founder of the national literature of Brazil.

t h i s page bottom right J ESUIT MISSIO NS IN NE W SPAIN, 1638

Father Castano, baptizing Opata Indians in Mexico.

opp o s i t e page FORD TOWER

North wall

94

95

Thompson Room t h e cl assic s

t h i s page top BEOWULF

In the eighth-century Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf confronts Grendel, the monster that routinely raids the great hall of Heorot.

Beowulf tears oV Grendel’s arm, and Grendel, mortally wounded, returns to his cave in the marshes to die.

t h i s page bottom EPIC POETRY WINDOW

opp o s i t e page T H E D I V I N E C O M E D Y left panel

At the end of his journey through purgatory, Dante sees his inspiration, Beatrice, “her mantle green on hue of living Xame that was her gown” (Purgatorio, Canto 30:32–33).

opp o s i t e page T H E D I V I N E C O M E D Y right panel

Dante then sees St. Bernard, the great Cistercian monk, who asks the Virgin to help Dante see the vision of God: “Virgin Mother, Daughter of your Son / Lowly yet exalted more than any being, / Eternal Wisdom’s purpose, Wxed and won. . . . scatter ever clouding air / from his mortality through your own pleas / so that the supreme joy he yet may bear” (Paradiso, Canto 33:1–4, 31–35).

96

97

Irish Hall

st. pat r ick a n d k i ng l aogh a i r e at ta r a

t h i s page top S T. P A T R I C K A N D K I N G L A O G H A I R E A T TA R A

Detail

t h i s page bottom left S T. P A T R I C K A N D K I N G L A O G H A I R E A T TA R A

Detail

t h i s page bottom right GASSON HALL

Irish Hall/Gasson 100

opp o s i t e page S T. P A T R I C K A N D K I N G L A O G H A I R E A T TA R A

The Catholic missionary bishop, St. Patrick, is shown meeting with the pagan king of Ireland, Laoghaire, at Tara on Easter Sunday 433.

According to legend, the king granted Patrick the right to preach throughout the kingdom, marking the beginning of the Christianization of Ireland. The meticulous execution of the window is apparent in the intricately designed robes worn by the central figures.

146

147

Transforming The Stained-Glass Windows of Boston College

li g ht VIRGINIA CHIEFFO RAGUIN GARY WAYNE GILBERT

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