Church Windows
The stained glass windows of St. Joseph’s Church are legendary. They are a startling innovation of traditional church stained glass.
Of the ten windows in the nave, only two are easily identifiable as “religious.” The rest are filled with factories, tools, fish, animals, machinery and people in different “walks of life.” They blaze with color as light enters the smooth outer surface of the glass. It is the faceted glass that made this the first church of its kind in Maryland in the 1970s. Completed in 1971, the windows of St. Joseph are the work of then 44-year-old artist Roy A. Calligan.
The parishioners of St. Joseph, as well as visitors, often walk around touching the glass and studying the windows. Each window allows the viewer to find God in their own way, just as every human being has that option in life.
Themes
The windows are divided into two themes ; each theme illustrated on either the north or south side. The theme of the north side of the church is Creation. These windows attempt to indicate how mankind carries out the creative work of God and fulfills the divine command to take dominion over the earth and care for it. The theme of the south windows is Salvation and Service. They attempt to show how mankind helps bring the salvation of God to others and how the people of Christ continue to serve one another in His name.
North Side - Creation
Creation
Craftsman/Professional Window
Heavy Industy
Agriculture
Maritime
South Side - Salvation/Service
Salvation
Ecumenical
Science & Learning
Service
Government
For more information on the artist, creation process and parishioner reactions, click here...
Artist History
Creation Process
Parishioner Reactions
The first 3 panels depict the first day of creation. “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw how good the light was. God then separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’ Thus evening came, and morning followed—the first day.” The hand of God is seen in the center creating light and separating it from the darkness. The boomerang-like symbol to the left of God’s hand represents the dome spoken of in Genesis 1:6-8 on the second day of creation: “Then God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other.’ And so it happened: God made the dome, and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it. God called the dome ‘the sky.’ Evening came, and morning followed—the second day.” The center panels portray the rest of creation where God created the fish in the sea and the birds of the air. The bottom three panels depict Genesis 1:26-31: “God created man in his own image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.” It is Adam & Eve “with the tree of life in the middle of the garden.” This is where St. Joseph Church finds its roots-its faith story-from Genesis-as shown in the Creation Window. “God blessed them, saying: ‘Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth.’ …God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.”
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The Craftsman/Professional Window
The next four windows of the Creation Windows advances the theme of how mankind carries out the creative work of God and fulfills the divine command to take dominion over the earth and care for it. The top four panels contain instruments mankind uses to co-create with God and make this world a better place—a triangle, hammer, wood plane, electric drill & circular saw. The next two panels show us the symbol of the atom and a microscope with test tubes. Just below this is the steel cutting instrument used at Bethlehem Steel in Baltimore (many of St. Joseph parishioners at this time were employed there). The bottom four panels have the draftsman’s tools: T-square & angle. And just below are a pipe and adjustable wrench.
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This window is a kind of rhapsody of the heavy industry in Baltimore where many parishioners were employed. This is the natural next-step from the small tools depicted in the Craftsman/Professional Window preceding it. It is advancing God’s creative work to co-create for the “many” in our world. The top four panels are of the gears and turbines of heavy industry. The next two panels is a portrait of Bethlehem Steel Plant in Baltimore. The next three panels represent the Esso Cracking Plant in Baltimore; again, where many parishioners were employed. The bottom panels show us the Curtis Bay Shipyards.
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What better way to carry on God’s creative work then to make use of the earth itself. The top panel shows us the farmer’s jars and preserves. Just below we find stalks of wheat growing from the earth God created and next to the wheat is a baker using the goodness of the earth to feed God’s people. The rest of the panels to the bottom represent milk trucks, milk containers, cows, orchards and a farmer on his or her tractor.
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The north-side windows end with this window, which is the most photographed and written about window of the ten. It shows us how we make use of the gift of creation we call water. The top three panels depict the white marlin off the coast of Ocean City. It is surrounded with various other big game fish. The next panel shows us the 7-mile lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay. Below is the famous Maryland blue-channel crab, rockfish, and a red steamed crab. The next few panels represent the boats, trucks and trains used to ship the harvest from the waters to many, many people in need. The bottom panel is of an oyster boat in the Chesapeake.
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South Side - Salvation & Service
The five Salvation Windows promote the theme of Salvation & Service. They attempt to show how mankind helps bring the salvation of God to others and how the people of Christ continue to serve one another in His name. A strong figure of Christ dominates this window-the top five panels. The next panel is of the Holy Spirit represented in the form of a dove. Below the dove are the red tongues of fire at Pentecost when the world received the Holy Spirit. The bottom panels depict the Body & Blood of Christ in the forms of bread & wine, a wheat stalk (from which bread comes) and a shell—symbol of baptism.
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As a people who believe in the message of Christ we see the Spirit of God moving in other faiths as well as our Catholic faith. So the artist designed this window to reflect this belief. From the top to the bottom we see a Jewish Rabbi, the eastern rite Buddha, three protestant ministers and a Catholic priest standing in front of the old St. Joseph Church. It was rumored that the priest in this window was the then pastor, Rev. Fr. Raymond Wm. Gribbin, but the artist would never say for sure.
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This window depicts occupations of parishioners that serve God’s people. At the top is the flame of science & learning. Below the flame is a teacher at her desk. Just below is a nurse and research chemist. The next panel is the secretary at her typewriter—with her readjusted skirt down to the knees. The bottom panels show us an easily recognizable symbol of service to one another: a doctor with patient.
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This window is crowned at the top with the arm of Christ with a towel draped over it as depicted in the Gospel of John 13:1-15. This is the Gospel proclaimed at the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper every year. It is the Lord teaching his disciples by word and example about service. “Before the feast of Passover, Jesus realized that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had loved his own in this world, and would show his love for them to the end…and so during the supper, Jesus…rose from the meal and took off his cloak. He picked up a towel…Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel he had around him…After he had washed their feet, he put his cloak back on and reclined at table once more. He said to them: ‘Do you understand what I just did for you? You addressed me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and fittingly enough, for that is what I am. But if I washed your feet—I who am Teacher and Lord—then you must wash each other’s feet. What I just did was to give you an example: as I have done, so you must do.’” Jesus’ example was for all of his followers, then and now—to serve one another as he did. The rest of this window depicts occupations of service: a restaurant cook, a grocery store clerk (self-portrait of the artist with blond hair instead of his raven black), and a babysitter with her charge.
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What more challenging way to serve God’s people than in government. This window represents this form of service. The top is the symbol of our country—the American flag and eagle. Next is the Capital building in Washington D.C. and a policeman beneath a traffic signal. Then we see a state senator in front of the Maryland State House in Annapolis. The bottom panels show us a judge and jury and the firefighter’s symbol.
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Details about the artist - Mr. Calligan
Mr. Calligan was born and raised in St. Joseph Parish. He graduated from the parish school and Towson Catholic High School. After graduation, he went to work in the art glass field with the Baltimore firm of August Miller, at the same time receiving more formal training at the Maryland Institute of Art night school. Later he moved to the Conrad Schmitt Studios, in Milwaukee. During World War II he entered military service. After the war he continued in the art glass field with the Hunt Studios, in Pittsburgh, where he was design director for 12 years. In 1967 he went into business for himself.
Word of the St. Joseph project came easily to Mr. Calligan, since his father and brother still lived in the parish. He let it be known that he was interested. When the time came for consideration of windows, the parish priests solicited presentations from the three firms that had expressed interest. Impressed by the Calligan slide presentation, the priests and architects went to Falls Church, Virginia to see the nearest major example of Mr. Calligan’s work, in the Catholic Church of St. Anthony. One visit was enough to convince them that they had found the artist and the medium they wanted for the windows of St. Joseph’s new Church. Design was left to the artist and to the priests of the parish.
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Window Creation Development
The goal of the parish had already been defined as the effort to work within the Christian inheritance to bring personal fulfillment to every member of the community—past, present and future. The windows would have to be tied into that goal as well as keeping with the stained-glass window tradition of faith-filled instruction for its people of all cultures. and languages. In several sessions with Mr. Calligan the priests brainstormed the possibilities of graphic representation of the goal. They recalled the agricultural beginnings of the parish. They searched out the places of employment of many of the parishioners. They studied the natural setting in which the parish was then located. Mr. Calligan developed sketches. His idea was to relate the sacraments with contemporary representations. The team rejected the proposal. They discussed the ideas again and Mr. Calligan developed another set of sketches. These contained the figure of Christ as a shadowy presence in each of the windows. It just was not right. “The presence of Christ in life is too interior to be graphically represented.” A bold step would have to be taken. Obvious religious representation would have to be eliminated, but the windows would have to allow every viewer to find God, just as every human being has that option in life. After much prayer and discussion the artist understood. He produced small watercolor sketches, which showed not only the subjects in the windows but the progressive development of the spectrum in the five windows on each side. The windows would tell a faith story, as in tradition, but it would tell it in a unique way. The design team approved the idea and had it approved by the Building Committee that consisted of several parishioners. Everyone was excited now.
In the month or two that followed, the team examined each of the full-scale, 5x17 foot cartons as they came from Mr. Calligan’s shop in Berlin, Pennsylvania. The priests and Committee members accepted nearly all of them on first sight. There was one afternoon of debate over the length of a secretary’s skirt in one of the windows. This was the time of mini-skirt fashion in the world and the secretary’s skirt reflected this. It was decided in committee by compromise to add a few inches to her skirt so it would at least reach knee-length (ankle-length was preferred). There was some humor in discovering that a grocery store checkout clerk looked like the artist. The Committee asked the artist in one meeting if this was how he signed his work; he smiled but would never directly answer the question. But the artist had the last laugh. In the finished panel he changed his raven black hair to tousled blond.
The team visited the old grammar school in Berlin, which Mr. Calligan had converted, into his factory. He prided himself on his low overhead, as well as on the fact the he hired local people and trained them for the various tasks in the production process. “These windows are tough,” said Mr. Calligan, as he loaded a longrifle bullet into a .22 caliber rifle. “Watch.” Stepping back about 20 feet from a sample window, he fired. The lead slammed into the window and fell to the floor. The window remained intact. Only a small nick showed where the bullet struck. He was, and still is, a showman as well as a creative technician and artist. He made a simple statement that has proven to be profound: “I believe that the St. Joseph windows will represent a milestone in church art.”
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Parishioners Reactions
The parishioners of St. Joseph first saw the windows November 21, 1971, the first Sunday the newly constructed church was opened for services. It was clear that almost everyone was overpowered by the impact of the new building. It was more, in every way, than they had anticipated, too much to savor in the context of worship. So, at almost any time on a Sunday afternoon for many years thereafter, there were visitors in the building, walking around, touching the glass, studying the windows close up and far away.
On opening day the sermon was an explanation of the windows. An ecumenical service for the community on the evening before Thanksgiving featured a slide presentation and commentary on the windows by the artist with musical accompaniment. In the months ahead, many groups viewed the slides and heard the taped presentation. The reaction was always the same, reflective silence, then spontaneous applause.
A lovely, old country church was built-up --- and has been torn down. Even the hill on which it stood for a hundred years has been leveled to make room for the new church’s parking needs. But a great thing happened. Faceted glass had come to Baltimore. And the people of St. Joseph are particularly happy that, in a time of need, a local son had come home to serve.
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