Stained Glass Windows

Our Stained Glass Windows:

The Light of Christ the King

In 2011, Christ the King completed a beautification project which included the installation of stained glass windows along the north and south walls to replace the single-pane, frosted glass windows that had been in place since the church’s original construction in 1961. Many of the newly installed stained glass windows were not actually new, however, but rather brought to Christ the King from another church in Coaldale, Pennsylvania, that had closed down. Sts. Cyril and Methodius Parish in the Diocese of Allentown was established by Slovak immigrants on June 10, 1920, and opened its church for the first time on December 25, 1924. One of the most striking features of the church in Coaldale was its set of jewel-toned stained glass windows, designed and made by the Franz Mayer Company of Munich, Germany. The windows depicted various scenes from the Bible as well as the lives of Mary and the saints. After the church’s closing on July 15, 2008, the windows were put up for sale, and many of them made their way to our church in South Bend.

As part of the installation project, the Coaldale windows were modified to fit the size constraints of the twelve open window spaces inside Christ the King, six each on the south and north sides. The windows nearest our sanctuary feature the Last Supper (south side) and Crucifixion (north side), both taken in whole from Coaldale. The remaining windows are each presented as a three-panel triptych—the center panel features a mystery of the rosary, taken from a Coaldale window, while the two side panels were newly designed and created for Christ the King. The south wall displays the five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary in the center panels, and the north wall displays the five Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary. The left side panel for each triptych displays a versicle taken from the Litany to Christ the King that aligns with the particular mystery next to it. The right side panel displays an image or symbol taken from Scripture or Tradition that in some way highlights a theological dimension of the accompanying mystery.

Pray with Our Stained Glass Windows:

Visio divina is a practice of praying with sacred art that shares roots with lectio divina, a practice of praying with the Word of God. Because art reveals to us an expression of God’s glory—the true, good, and beautiful—we can enter into a space of encounter and actually see the image of Christ himself, an “icon” before us. Pray with each window below with a rosary, with Scripture, or just with your imagination!

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend celebrated a special Mass with our parish family on November 20, 2011, to officially bless the newly installed windows. Not only was this date the liturgical feast of Christ the King, but it also coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the current church building on November 20, 1961. “It is a wonderful demonstration of your faith, your commitment to your parish, and your desire to make this sacred place, dedicated fifty years ago to the glory and honor of Christ the King, an even more beautiful house of God,” Bishop Rhoades said. “We remember in our prayers today all the faith-filled and generous parishioners since this parish’s founding in 1933, seventy-eight years ago. We remember all the priests and sisters who have served here. In a special way, we remember the first pastor of Christ the King Parish, Holy Cross Fr. Clement Funke.” Bishop Rhoades used Fr. Funke’s chalice for the celebration of the Eucharist.

Additional windows from Coaldale can be found in various locations at Christ the King. Most prominently in the church vestibule is a stained glass image of Jesus wearing the crown of thorns and holding a reed in his hands, seated inside the praetorium as he awaits his final journey to Calvary. Above the middle doors of the church is a stained glass image of the host raised above a chalice, reminding us that the Eucharist we celebrate ultimately sends us out into the world to be the presence of Christ. Finally, two decorative windows form a skylight above the organ console in the choir loft. Together with the main windows in the nave of the church, Christ the King’s inherited collection of stained glass serves to evoke and preserve the beauty of our Catholic faith through a lived example of passed-on tradition, enhanced through the richness of sacred Scripture, the intercession of the Blessed Mother, and most importantly the divine mercy of Christ our King. May these windows be a source of prayer and reflection for many future generations of Christ the King parishioners!

The footsteps of those men who called us to walk in their company left deep prints, as of men carrying heavy burdens. But they did not trudge; they strode. For they had the hope.

Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross, 8.122.

Our Stained Glass Windows:

The Light of Christ the King

Pray with Our Stained Glass Windows:

The Joyful Mysteries

The Sanctuary Windows

The Glorious Mysteries

The footsteps of those men who called us to walk in their company left deep prints, as of men carrying heavy burdens. But they did not trudge; they strode. For they had the hope.