Tuesday, December 21, 2010

2010 Stained Glass of Matt Talbot






















 



This stained glass surrounding one exit at The Shrine of the Penitent, St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Kentwood, Michigan, represents Venerable Matt Talbot, as a drunkard (on the left) and after conversion and recovery (on the right). The overall architectural design of the Shrine and church focuses on a place where sinners and penitents, might find refuge, comfort, and forgiveness. 

(Besides the Matt Talbot stained glass, each of the additional eight exits surrounded by stained glass, not reproduced here, represent a saint or other whose actions before total conversion to God reinforce the belief in penitence: St. Mary Magdalen, a woman possessed by seven demons; St. Augustine of Hippo, a hedonist; King David, adulterer and murderer; St. Dismas, a condemned thief; St. Peter, who denied the Lord; St. Paul, a zealot and persecutor of the early church; The Prodigal Son, the selfish squanderer; and All Souls, in need of God's mercy.)

This slightly reorganized information above is from the "The windows of St. Mary Magdalen" brochure
which can be downloaded at http://stmmagdalen.org/wp-content/uploads/SMM-window-booklet-4-2012.pdf

A newspaper article about the artist and some photographs can be found at http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/04/church_member_designs_new_stai.html


(The image of Matt Talbot praying appears in the December 22, 2010 post at http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-stained-glass-image-of-matt-talbot.html)



UPDATE:  On July 1, 2012, a destructive fire destroyed most of St. Magdalene Catholic Church in Kentwood, Michigan, which housed “The Shine of the Penitent.”
Of the nine stained glass exit images created by Maria Orr (http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/04/church_member_designs_new_stai.html), five were totally destroyed while four survived with repairable smoke damage, including that of Venerable Matt Talbot.
While the church will be rebuilt, the status of the stained glass images is uncertain at this time. The pastor’s column can be found at http://stmmagdalen.org/wp-content/uploads/0708045.pdf and contributions may be made at http://stmmagdalen.org/resurrection-fund/