Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, Fort Worth, TX

Architect:
Raymond O’Connor, AIA,, Fort Worth, TX

PRINCE OF PEACE ALTAR TRIPTYCH
1 at 4'-5" w by 7'-8" h
2 at 2'-4" w by 7'-3" h

IMMACULATE HEART CLERESTORY WINDOW
3 at 2'-5" w by 4'-8" h

BROTHER SUN CLERESTORY WINDOW
3 at 2'-5" w by 4'-8" h

ST. FRANCIS NAVE WINDOWS
4 at 2'-10" w by 15'-11" h

The windows contain digitally created artwork printed and laminated between two layers of tempered glass.

The Crown of the Prince of Peace Window symbolically combines Flame, Wind, Wisdom, Light and Resurrection imagery and hovers triumphantly above the Crucifix and Crown of Thorns below. Larger circles within the triptych reiterate a triune God. The mysteries are represented by four groups of five beads (Joyful/green; Sorrowful/red; Glorious/yellow; Luminous/blue). The bright yellow and amber colors found in this highest window represent spiritual enlightenment and the higher plane of the Kingdom of God.

The two Clerestory Windows below and flanking the Altar Triptych contain slightly more saturated color. The Immaculate Heart Window, located left of the Altar, depicts the Holy Mother as the Mystical Rose. Mary’s silhouette and blue robes look out from the central window. Her Immaculate Heart, namesake of this parish, is symbolized by the traditional red rose. A crown of twelve stars form an aura around Mary proclaiming her Queen of Heaven and Earth.

To the Altar’s lower right, St. Francis is commemorated as Brother Sun. In counterpoint to St. Clare/Sister Moon in the far left Nave Window below. St. Francis’s sun rises above fabric-like drapery symbolizing his rejection of material things and vow of poverty made in front of his earthly father and the bishop. This sun echoes bright, ethereal radiance of the Altar Window. The five stigmata of St. Francis’ can be seen as red tears in the diagonal rays that move across the window.

The leftmost Nave Window includes a crescent moon which appears to be illuminated by the bright Altar Window and the Brother Sun Window. Although it is one of the important symbols associated with Mary, the moon in this window also is a literal reference to St. Clare, the Sister Moon of St. Francis’s Canticle.