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.
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| Working on a window of Our Lady of Mt Carmel |
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| 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.
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| St Charles Borromeo |
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| 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.