HPUC

Architecture & Stained Glass Windows

The South Windows

Worship and Service

Stepping into the south vestibule, we see a Connick window which was given to the church in 1959 in memory of Ira Maurice Price and his wife Elizabeth M. Price. Following her husband's death in 1939, Mrs. Price began to set aside money for this window. Mr. Price was a professor of Semitic Languages and Literature at the University of Chicago; he and his wife were active members of the church from 1906 until their deaths in 1939 and 1962, respectively.

Two allegorical figures are shown in the left and right panels of the window: Worship, holding the cross and bearing the text, "Let us worship and bow down" (Psalm 95); and Service, holding a pitcher of fresh water and bearing the text, "By love, serve one another," (Galatians 5:13). At the feet of both figures are patterns of vines and flowers suggesting the tree of life, while architectural forms above the heads of each suggest the promise of mansions in heaven. In the ocular above is the crown which represents the eternal reward of earthly devotion and service.

David and Jonathan
Moving around the sanctuary to the south wall, we find a window depicting the friendship of David and Jonathan. This window was given to the church in 1954 by Mrs. Olive Gallagher in memory of her son Donald James Gallagher who died in 1927 at the age of 19 as result of an accident. The story of the close friendship of David and Jonathan is especially appropriate for this memorial since Mrs. Gallagher continued to gather Donald's friends, many from this church, on an annual basis and contributed greatly to the higher education of several. The scroll surmounts the heads of

the two figures says, "Because he loved him…For he loved him as his own soul" (1 Samuel 20:17).

David, on the left-hand side, is depicted playing the harp, not as a shepherd or warrior, though the giant Goliath gazes up at him from his left foot and the spear with which Saul menaced him in his madness is depicted to his right. Jonathan is a more conventionally princely figure, wearing a helmet and holding the bow that allowed him to send David out of danger. He is flanked by a crown at his right and, in the upper left quadrant of the window, a shield that depicts a wolf, the emblem of the tribe of Benjamin. Kneeling near Jonathan's feet is a small figure of himself in his war helmet, with his sword on the ground before him, tasting wild honey in ignorance of his father Saul's vow that none of the Israelite soldiers should eat before sunset. The medallion in the ocular window depicts David and Jonathan's friendship. This window, also a product of Connick and Associates, shows the influence of the pre-Raphaelite movement. Its central figures, elongated and idealized, face outward.

The World War II Window: The Angels Raphael and Uriel
The next window to the west was installed in 1951 in memory of members of the church who served in World War II. The inscription below the window says that it is given "In grateful recognition of all who served our country in World War II," and the legend adds, "They might not reach the fulfillment of their hopes except with us." On the south wall of the column opposite the window is a bronze plaque listing the names of nine church members who lost their lives in that war: Irving Changstrom, Hale Dickson, Robert B. Hillman, Charles M. Holman, Robert Kraybill, Kenneth L. Miller, Donald Richardson, Joseph H. Stephan Jr., and Jon Clarence Walters. The winged figures are Raphael and Uriel, two of the four major archangels. The medallion in the ocular window represents a pelican with its young, a traditional symbol of self-sacrifice (and hence of Christ), since pelicans were thought to pierce their own bosoms to feed their young with their blood.

The figure of Raphael, the guardian angel, in the left-hand panel is surrounded with attributes appropriate to him. Raphael's name means "the Medicine of God," and the caduceus in the lower left-hand corner is the traditional emblem of physicians. Raphael is often represented, as the protector of Tobias on his journey to Gabael in Media, represented by the boy holding the fish. From this story, Raphael is seen as the protector of pilgrims and of the young and innocent. In this depiction, the wallet and scallop shell are also emblematic of pilgrimage. The central figure in this window holds a bottle of water, as befits a pilgrim, and a shepherd's crook, reflecting the tradition that Raphael was the archangel who appeared to the shepherds on Christmas night with the message, "Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people " (Luke 2:10).

The right-hand panel depicts the archangel Uriel, who, though less frequently depicted in religious art, also has a traditional set of symbols represented in this window. The name Uriel means "the Light of God," and in John Milton's Paradise Lost Uriel is the regent of the sun, and here he carries the sun. This association with divine light is also conveyed in the inscription, "The light is still shining in the darkness for the darkness has never been put out." The bishop's chair at the left, according to Rolland Schloerb's earlier commentary, also suggests Milton's Uriel, who dwelled "in sight of God's high throne, gloriously bright." The anchor and rope at the right are traditionally associated with the steadfastness of faith.

The Great War Memorial Window: The Angels Michael and Gabriel
Moving on toward the west, we come to the Great War Memorial Window, which completes the representation of the four archangels. The window, installed in 1921, remembers five church members who died in the first world war: Harrison Foster, Laurens Shull, Rowland McLaughlin, Augustus Bell, and Roy Pace. The medallion in the ocular window depicts the lamb of God, haloed and sceptered, traditionally a symbol of innocent sacrifice. The left-hand panel depicts the winged figure of Michael, with the motto, "They loved not their lives even unto death." The right-hand panel's winged figure represents Gabriel, and its legend expresses hope for the future, "On earth peace good will toward men" (Luke 2:14).

The depiction of Michael, the guardian angel of the Hebrew nation, later adopted as the symbol of the Church militant, is surrounded by emblems. He is attended by traditional, six-winged seraphim, as befits the commander of the heavenly host. The scales of justice, also frequently represented with Michael, remind us that his task at the last judgment was to weigh the souls of the dead and identify those who were just. The red cross on his shield became the symbol of the militant crusaders. His figure shows a strong influence of the British painter Edward Burne-Jones and the pre-Raphaelites in its elongated lines and classically chiseled face. His sword blade is aflame.

The right-hand panel depicts the archangel Gabriel, whose name means "God is my strength." Gabriel is the angel of redemption and the chief messenger of God, often represented, as here, holding a lily as a reminder that he was the angel of the Annunciation. He is richly robed, with large and many-colored wings. (George Ferguson notes in Signs and Symbols in Christian Art that earlier depictions of the Annunciation usually showed Gabriel as a majestic figure with multicolored wings. Annunciation scenes in which the Virgin is the central figure, with a white-robed angel often kneeling before her, only came about with the rise of Mariology in the fourteenth century and later.) At Gabriel's feet are a flock of doves, also traditional messengers of God, from Noah to Mary, and symbols of purity and peace.

Jesus Welcomes the Children
Moving on to the west, we come to a window that renders Jesus welcoming the children (Matthew 19:13-15). This 1918 window, dedicated to the memory of Alma C. Parker, was given by her husband, Illinois State Senator Francis Warner Parker, after her death in 1912. This window comes out of a tradition of German glass—the Nazarene style that began in the early 1800s when a group of artists moved to Rome to escape Napoleon. They founded a quasimonastic order devoted to art, and revived the making of stained glass, among other crafts. The Nazarenes also inspired the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in England, whose influence in turn is seen in the Connick windows to the left.

This window from F. X. Zettler Studios of Munich shows many characteristics that are strikingly different from those of the Connick and Tiffany studios. It contains individual people rather than idealized types, for example. Their attitudes and postures suggest movement, and for the most part they are grouped naturally, unlike the static, symbolic groupings in Connick's windows. The window also has elements that are openly art historical—that is, it does not just refer to the iconography of Christian art, but it openly quotes from specific works of art.

The woman depicted in profile in the front left-hand side of the window is a likeness of Mrs. Parker, probably taken from a photograph. Her features are more individual than those of the other adults, and she wears earrings. The other woman, holding a baby and facing us, is Raphael's famous Dresden Madonna. Zettler incorporated this image into all his windows of Jesus with children. In the background is a medieval building with the figures of some men walking through a gate – an image also borrowed from an actual Renaissance painting. The fruit and foliage represent real plants, not just undifferentiated foliage (as in the Tiffany windows) or symbolic, stylized plants (as in the Connick windows).

The Good Shepherd
Moving west once again, we come to the Tiffany Studios window depicting Jesus as the Good Shepherd, given in 1906 in memory of John Mason Jackson, son of John B. Jackson (see Paul on Mars Hill). John Mason Jackson was an active member of the church who died suddenly at the age of 39.

The foliage in the tree is beautifully and elaborately done, a fine example of a difficult and expensive process known as "confetti glass." In this technique, chips of colored glass are embedded in a larger sheet of glass to achieve shaded and variegated color. In contrast, not only the hands and face of the shepherd but all the detail in the sheep was painted onto the glass, probably as a cost-saving measure. Painted portions of this window have noticeably deteriorated due to water damage.