St. Bridget Catholic Church, Seattle WA

Architect for Renovation:
Don Brubeck, Bassetti Architects, Seattle, WA

ENTRY AREA WINDOWS

St. Bridget's Cross and the Holy Spirit
at Reconciliation Chapel: 25'-3" w by 15' h

St. Bridget at Narthex: 52" w by 54" h

St Bridget's Cloak
between Narthex and Nave (Baptistry):
4 doors @ 24" w by 6'-6" h
1 sidelight @ 16" w by 6'-6" h

The Story of St. Bridget and the Jeweled Sword
at Eucharistic Chapel: 12'-4" w by 7'-9" h

SANCTUARY WINDOWS

Creation
Clerestory Window above Altar: 31'-7" w by 10'-5" h

God's Gifts
Nave (Choir) Window right of Altar: 21'-1"w by 14'-10"h
Nave Window left of Altar: 21'-1"w by 14'-10"h

God the Father
Clerestory Window above right Nave: 31'-8" w by 9'-4" h

God the Son
Clerestory Window above left Nave: 31'-7" w by 9'-5" h

God the Holy Spirit
Clerestory Window above back Nave: 31'-7" w by 5'-10" h

German, French and Domestic Mouthblown Glass; Domestic Machine- and Hand-rolled Glass; Dichroic Glass; Austrian Lead-Crystal Beveled Prisms; Lead; Solder.

Photos marked with * by Chris Eden/Eden Arts, Seattle

Entry Area

Nave Interior *

The St. Bridget Windows

As part of the first major renovation of St. Bridget Church since its completion in 1971, stained glass has at last been created for her windows. The new stained glass can best be understood if thought of as two parts. The Entry Area Windows allow allow St. Bridget to welcome worshipers to her church and to tell some of the stories about her life. The Sanctuary Windows enframe the Altar and the celebration of Mass while serving as reminders of God and God’s Gifts. Together the St. Bridget Windows are experienced as a sequence beginning with St. Bridget’s personal welcome, followed by a transition from the travails of the physical world into a spiritual world of worship, and, finally, coming full circle with St. Bridget’s embrace and benediction upon departure.

St. Bridget Window at Narthex

Night Exterior *

Entry Area

St. Bridget's Welcome:
The Entry Area Windows

The Entry Area Windows establish the church’s identity as “St. Bridget’s” and are the first windows to be seen upon arrival. These windows are found in the Reconciliation Chapel, the Narthex and the Main Entry Doors into the Nave. In both form and location the Reconciliation Chapel Window, St. Bridget’s Cross and the Holy Spirit, has the appearance of a beacon and lantern. This window is the first to greet worshipers, welcoming them with the woven straw St. Bridget Cross and the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire, both indelible aspects of stories of the life of St. Bridget. A subtle palette of white glasses and dichroic glass insure these windows remain animate inside or out, day or night in all lighting conditions. The white glass represents the presence of God and resonates with the Sanctuary Windows’ nearly achromatic palette. Denser whites in the lower areas insure privacy and visual separation within the Reconciliation Chapel. Three large tongues of flame stream down and across into the Narthex’s St. Bridget Window guiding worshipers toward the main entrance. Within these flames the green glass is the first hint of St. Bridget’s Cloak.

The St. Bridget Window embodies her personal welcome at a more intimate scale and reinforces a sense of identity for the church. Metaphorically wafting across the doors and sidelight that separate the Narthex from the Nave, St. Bridget’s Cloak echoes the story of the cloak’s restorative, healing power, while symbolically caressing worshipers as they enter and again when they leave. A richly textured palette of transparent colors and gauzy opals impart the illusion of separation while allowing the safe passage of worshipers in both directions. The cloak imagery not only provides a strong sense of entry into the Nave, but its connotations of Holy Spirit allow it to serve as a rich, intimate backdrop for the newly relocated Baptistry and Baptismal Pool immediately beyond. St. Bridget’s Cloak reappears in the lower Sanctuary Windows and Eucharistic Chapel Window as a unifying thread within the stained glass experience.

St. Bridget window and Cloak doors

St. Bridget's Cross detail,
Reconciliation Chapel

Holy Spirit detail, Reconciliation Chapel

God's Gifts:
The Sanctuary Windows

The transition from the open public spaces of the Main Entrance and Narthex into the Sanctuary is accompanied by a shift in thematic emphasis within the stained glass from St. Bridget and welcome to God and worship. Leaving the relatively compressed Narthex, one enters the expansive worship space of the Sanctuary. Here the interplay of sunlight within the Nave and glimpses out to tree canopies and sky transforms the Sanctuary Windows into a three dimensional celebration of light symbolizing God’s presence and enlightenment. With their more immediate and less narrative imagery, these windows serve as radiant backdrops for worship.

First seen are the three God's Gifts Windows enframing the Altar. The flow of line and shape from the Creation Clerestory down into the two windows below overcomes the wide separation unifying them into a sparkling halo around the Altar. What began as an abstract representation of the Christ’s Ascension in the Creation Clerestory evolved to encompass the everpresent God's Gifts. Circular “ripples” radiate down from the Altar Window into the Nave Windows much as God’s enlightenment flows into our lives. God’s grace, blessings and gifts are represented by the same glass prisms used in the Reservation Chapel Window. Floating on rays of white, these prisms stream down into the Nave Windows below. The white glass recalls God’s power to illuminate darkness (gray glass) as well as his omnipresence among us on Earth. In direct sun myriad spectra glow throughout the Sanctuary as reminders of the often unexpected appearance God’s gifts in our lives. Even on cloudy days the prisms add an uplifting sparkle to the worship space.

The Creation Clerestory also reminds us of or personal relationship with God. When approaching the Altar, the heavy beam that usually obstructs the lower part of the clerestory window gradually reveals a cleansing spiritual “freshet” pouring down to us from directly above the Altar Table.

Creation, Altar Clerestory, exterior*

Creation, Altar Clerestory

Creation detail, Altar Clerestory

play of light on sanctuary walls

In the two Nave Windows subtle raised and outstretched hands can be discerned. They are not simply reminders of God’s bounty but also of our obligation to help the less fortunate. The reappearance of St. Bridget’s Cloak in the Nave Windows reiterates her charity and healing. Her cloak is etched with Isaiah 58: 7&10: Share your bread with the hungry, and shelter the homeless poor. Clothe the person you see to be naked. Then your light will shine like the dawn and your wound be quickly healed. Give your bread to the hungry, and relief to the oppressed. Then your light will rise in the darkness.

In addition, the design for the Sanctuary Windows strikes a balance between making the most of diffuse light on overcast days with preventing direct sun from interfering with worship on sunny days. (Yes, the sun does sometimes shine in Seattle!) This practical necessity was achieved by utilizing the achromatic palette of whites and custom-made transparent grays to mitigate unwanted brightness on sunny days through diffusion and shading.

Nave Window, left of Altar *

Nave (Choir) Window, right of Altar

High above the Nave, the remaining three clerestory windows watch over worship without undue distraction from the Altar. Using a glass palette similar to that of the Altar Clerestory, “beams” of white stream downwards leading the eye back toward the Altar.

The God the Father Clerestory draws from a medieval symbol for the Father aspect of Trinity as an outstretched hand, and from the rainbow, God’s own symbol of his covenant with humanity after the flood. The hand serves to remind that, although we must take the initiative to seek him out, our Father’s helping hand is always there waiting. The clear textured “rainbow” reminds us of the power of God to guide us through life’s “storms”.

Using Christ’s own metaphor, I am the Light of the World, as inspiration, the God the Son Clerestory contains both allusions to sunlight breaking through the clouds and the appearance of a cross limned with both colorful and golden dichroic glass.

The smallest clerestory window is the last of the stained glass windows at St. Bridget to be experienced. Its design echoes the flame of the Holy Spirit first encountered in the Reconciliation Chapel Window. Dichroic “tongues” from above appear to stream down into the newly relocated Baptistry, Pool and Doors into the Narthex which are below to the right. When viewed from outside, these flames connect and resonate with similar imagery in the Reconciliation Chapel.

St. Bridget's Cloak

The cycle of St. Bridget Windows is completed as worshipers once again symbolically and physically pass through the St. Bridget’s Cloak doors into the Narthex and the St. Bridget Window. Here St. Bridget embraces them in benediction, as they return to their earthly reality, hopefully revitalized and refreshed.

click images for a larger version.

God the Father Clerestory *

God the Father Clerestory, detail

God the Son Clerestory *

God the Son Clerestory, detail

God the Spirir Clerestory *