Altar windows

The altar windows were the first completed in large part for reasons of comfort. Because the altar faces east and because services are most often in the morning, the blinding sun was a bit uncomfortable for everyone save the priest, who stood in silhouette before his squinting congregation.

Also, artist in residence and sculptor, Norbert Ohnmacht had already completed the life-size corpus, so the windows on either side of this needed images to complement the hanging sculpture. Symbolically, the East represents Calvary so each window was designed to support the centerpiece, the bronze crucifix. The installation was completed in time for Easter services that year. It is not uncommon to plan completion and installation of stained glass to coincide with the holy day represented in the image. Some, though not all, stained glass studios do this.