New 2017 vestments by Slabbinck

Slabbinck recently released their newest line of vestments. The following chasubles are a nice representation of their latest offering:

Slabbinck 5226 Vestment $890.00

Slabbinck 5230 Vestment $450.00

Slabbinck 5141 Vestment $1,000.00

 

Slabbinck 2-5239 vestment $820.00
 

164 Stained Glass Windows (Church of St Paul in Westerville, Ohio)

This article was originally posted by New Liturgical Movement and Gregory DiPippo.  Please visit New Liturgical Movement here. 

We are excited to announce the completion of this 6 year project.  Congratulations to artist Bruce Buchanan for all of your hard work and the descriptions below.  Henninger's owes a special thanks to Helmut Naunheimer and Rev. Charles Klinger of St. Paul the Apostle.  Fr. Charlie and Helmut have been wonderful to work with.  Their vision and dedication made this project possible.

In June 2010, the church of Saint Paul the Apostle in Westerville, Ohio, celebrated the dedication of its new building. About a year earlier, the artists and craftsmen of Cleveland-based Henningers Inc started work on what would eventually be 164 new and refurbished stained glass windows for the new building. Now, years later, the last of these windows are finally being installed, the end of a long and complicated process.

Working on a window of Our Lady of Mt Carmel

The finished product, along with St Sebastian

In 2009, the parish was about to begin construction of a new church, the third building in its history, and the largest Catholic Church in Ohio. As the building project itself was such a large one, there were no immediate plans for stained glass; that would come later, or so it was thought. The Diocese of Cleveland, however, had just undergone a significant downsizing and consolidated many of its parishes, leaving many buildings empty, and a great many stained glass windows in crates. The opportunity to re-use these discarded windows was one which could not be passed up.

Saint Paul purchased stained glass windows, all between 70 to 100 years old, from three separate closed churches. One set had incredibly colorful geometric patterns and dozens of medallions of saints and religious symbols, another group had large narrative scenes of the New and Old Testament, with ornate painted scrollwork borders. The third set had large round windows with scenes from the life of Christ. All of the windows were beautiful in their own way, but markedly different in style; the challenge would be to synthesize the windows into a cohesive overall scheme.

A decorative zig-zag border pattern was pulled from the geometric windows, then copied and used in

every new window in the church. The elaborately painted scrollwork from the narrative windows was duplicated and repeated in nameplates and decorative flourishes throughout the church, while stenciled rosettes were copied and incorporated in newly created windows over the front doors. A new background grid pattern of brown and clear swirled glass would provide a unifying framework for the various scenes and saints and symbols. Every window in the church was designed to fit in the new openings with mixed stylistic elements that could harmoniously sit together.

Given that the windows were so old, they all benefited from being taken apart, cleaned, and rebuilt with new lead, a typical procedure with older, time-worn stained glass panels. Once apart, they could be re-arranged to the new specifications. Some parts, like the geometric knot patterns and the painted scenes were rebuilt exactly as they had been. Other decorative painted pieces were too good not to re-purpose and incorporate wherever possible. New glass borders and backgrounds were cut to frame the painted scenes and medallions.

There were dozens of windows to re-arrange and fit into the new church’s design scheme, but one could hardly expect the found treasures to meet all of the needs of the new church. There were Saints and symbols that would need to be made from scratch to match the old glass. In the end, two dozen new medallions were painted to complete the clerestory, confessionals, and shrines. A series of 40 new standing-figure Saint windows were created to line the ambulatory around the perimeter of the church. Working with the parish and the donors to design the medallions and Saint windows was an incredible learning process, which gave us the opportunity to research lesser known Saints and learn more about the ones we thought we knew.

St Charles Borromeo

Preparatory work for a window of St Damian of Molokai, and the final product.

Perhaps the most satisfying design challenge of the whole project was the 12 foot rose window, with a crucifixion scene surrounded by twelve petals. The image of Christ on the cross with adoring angels was originally a tall thin lancet in three panels. Here, new glass was added to expand the sky and clouds and make a round center for the rose. The twelve petals around it, while mostly new, incorporate old glass and design motifs from all of the churches from which the old stained glass had been purchased. This kaleidoscope of glass is a new creation made from the old, so that the grandest window of this new church pays homage to the old churches that made this project possible.

Over the course of the years, it has been satisfying to see Saint Paul the Apostle Church slowly filled with stained glass. Bit by bit, window by window, patron by patron, the place has been transformed. It will be satisfying to install the last of the remaining windows, but the biggest change came last December when the final windows in the sanctuary itself were installed. The natural light in the church was forever changed. The outside world was obscured, and the sacred space inside felt different, becoming quieter and more serene. Old stained glass windows that had watched over worshipers for 100 years were once again doing their work.

Creativity & Vision Transform Church

Before & After, Nave of Church

In the summer of 2013, Fr. Eric Schild approached Henninger's for ideas to renovate his parish, St. Jerome Church in Walbridge, a Church in the Diocese of Toledo.  The Church building that Fr. Eric arrived to when he was appointed Pastor of St. Jerome's was a converted multi-purpose room with glass-block windows on the cinder block walls and a large heating vent running down the center of the ceiling.  The sanctuary was also too small and not functional for Mass, so Fr. Eric and Henninger's began to collaborate on ideas to give the space more of a "church" feel and improve the aesthetics and functionality of the Church, all while staying within a budget.

Before & After, Sanctuary

So as St. Jerome's began a capital campaign, Henninger's assisted Fr. Eric in utilizing some furniture from closed Churches from Canton to Cleveland to upstate New York in an attempt to re-use liturgical appointments while tying them together into a cogent - and liturgical - plan.

The first aspect of the project that they began to plan for was how to incorporate Stained Glass Windows in the side walls to eliminate the glass-block windows in the Church.  Dealing with limitations set forth by the existing building, Henninger's and Fr. Eric found lancet windows that had been previously housed in Akron that added colors and religious symbols without being too large or ornate.  The windows needed to be re-leaded and Henninger's recommended that the lancet windows be paired together and added to in order to create gothic arches that could adorn the side walls down the nave.  A rendering was created for the congregation and the architect to review and the lancet windows were set aside for St. Jerome's with the idea that the work would be done as further plans were fleshed out and as the capital campaign continued.

As the planning continued, Fr. Eric was able to find an Altar of Repose from a Church that had closed in upstate New York and Henninger's showed him an Ambo that had previously been in a since-closed Church in Lorain, Ohio.  The styles of the two pieces matched very well and the richness of the stained wood of the Ambo was an appealing starting point for the other furniture, even if the Altar of Repose was originally painted an off-white color, which is how it arrived into Henninger's shop.

While continuing to find furniture that would complement these two main pieces (a baptismal font from Youngstown, an Altar of Sacrifice from Canton, among others), Fr. Eric was contacted by a Church in Fostoria, Ohio who told him that they had a set of Stations of the Cross that they were no longer using.  Upon viewing them, Fr. Eric was thrilled as they were the large Stations that he had been looking for to adorn the side walls between the new Stained Glass windows and the colors complemented the colors of the Stained Glass windows that had been picked out.  There was only one problem - there were only 13 Stations.

So Henninger's went to work finding a readily-available Station that could complement the rest of the set and - with a little work - could be modified to match the rest of the set.  A replacement Station was found from a company in Chicago that specializes in fiberglass statues and Henninger's ordered the missing 8th Station.  Upon the arrival of the Station, Henninger's went to work on a plan to modify it to match the rest of the Stations.

With the plans for the renovations being finalized by the Church, the architect, and the contractor, Henninger's began work on modifications to the pieces that had been accumulating for St. Jerome's over the previous two years.  Their first project was on the Stations of the Cross and, most acutely, the modification of the "replacement" Station of the Cross.  After completing the maintenance and repair work on 13 of the 14 Stations, which had been in a Church attic for decades, to get them back to nearly new condition, Henninger's devised a game-plan to fabricate a base for the "replacement" Station that would match the rest of the set.  After the base was created, Henninger's cut the "replacement" Station to replicate the exact size of the rest of the set, then painted the Station as the rest of the set appeared to make the "replacement" Station blend seamlessly in with the rest of the set.

A mold is created to create a new base

The new mold next to an existing Station

A wood top is added to replicate the base's top

Connecting the two components

Painting to match

Side-by-side of "replacement" and existing

While the Stations of the Cross were being completed in the wood-shop and paint room, Henninger's artists went to work on the Stained Glass windows, repairing the old windows, modifying them to the new design, and readying them to transport to the now-being-renovated Church.

Windows being re-built to new size

Windows taken apart

Completed Bottom Panels

Top Arches being completed

Windows completed & ready for transport to St. Jerome Church

Ambo color to match

As the dedication date was set and work continued on-site with contractors, electricians, and plumbers, Henninger's continued to work on the liturgical appointments and furniture.  With most of the furniture chosen and figured into the architectural plans, Henninger's faced the question of how to make all of the furniture match the richness of the wood Ambo, given that some of the pieces (the Altar of Repose, the Altar of Sacrifice, the Side Altars, and two pedestals) were all various shades of white or cream and some were actually made of plaster instead of wood.  So, Henninger's went to work priming and painting all of the furniture so they would match the Ambo.

Base to the Altar of Repose, primed for paint

Woodgrained Base to Altar of Repose

Gold Accents Added to Base

Top of Altar of Repose

Completed Top Portion of Altar of Repose

Woodgrained Sanctuary Furniture

 

Furniture Ready for Delivery

With most of the work completed and with the site readied for the liturgical aspects of the renovation, Henninger's loaded up the trailer to install the Stained Glass windows, the Stations of the Cross, and all of the Sanctuary furniture.

With the installation complete, the Church was readied for the dedication with the Bishop of the Diocese of Toledo, Most Rev. Daniel Thomas.  As parishioners arrived, they could not believe the transformation of their Church, both in the Nave and the Sanctuary.  With hard work, creativity, and resourcefulness, Henninger's and St. Jerome's had transformed the Church from a multi-purpose room with glass-block windows and a small Sanctuary to a space that looked more like a Church with a beautiful and functional Sanctuary.

Fr. Eric Schild speaks at the Dedication Mass

Bishop Daniel Thomas at the Dedication Mass