Recently, my sister gave me a lovely book entitled The Lives of the Saints, by Rev. Hugo Hoever, offering an entry for each day of the year. September 21st is the day for St. Matthew, and the book shows a painting of an angel looking over the shoulder of Matthew as he writes his Gospel. Maybe that is the significance of the apparent angel depicted in the stained-glass window.
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Here's one paragraph about Matthew, from the saints book:
"His apostolic activity was at first restricted to the communities of Palestine. Nothing definite is known about his later life. There is a tradition that points to Ethiopia as his field of labor; other traditions make mention of Parthia and Persia. It is uncertain whether he died a natural death or received the crown of martyrdom."
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Wait until you see how Mark, Luke, and John are portrayed in the stained-glass!! Stay tuned.
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Have a happy 5th Sunday after Pentecost........and Father's Day!! My youngest child was born on Father's Day, 1992!
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Hold everything for this update: Go to this website to read an article from a 1913 Catholic encyclopedia. If nothing else, read the last sentence!
Apparently, the window depicts a "winged man" which is the traditional symbol for St. Matthew. So, it is not an angel.
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8 comments:
Enjoyed the picture of stained glass! You do a nice job of catching the light and making the colored glass show up - that is not an easy thing to do!!
I really liked your last post about picking up Izzy! I drove by those wind turbines just yesterday. Did you meet your daughter at the Boondocks or Trumps near Williamburg or Blairburg?? (Those of you not from Iowa, well, the Boondocks is a well known truck stop and restaurant along I-35 north of Ames and south of Mason City!)
I really liked your post about the hay field, too. I have lived in Iowa my entire life and never knew much of what you said about alfafa!! Interesting!
Take care and have fun this week with Izzy!
Hi, Russell!
We met at the truckstop which is on the west side of I-35, about a mile north of the junction with U.S. 20. This shows how unobservant I am......I don't even know the name of the truckstop, and I've met my daughter there numerous times!
Hey......you say you drove by the wind turbines.....Izzy and I were on the gravel road which runs east and west along the north side of Blairsburg, and drove a couple miles west on it to see the turbines better. I met a silver SVU a couple times on the road.....another sightseer, I think.....maybe it was you!! Lots of water standing in the fields, and over some roads in that area.
It's a pretty window, even if it is ambiguous. I've always thought we should accept a wider spectrum of what constitutes masculine behavior and appearance. Too many men are given a hard time just because they don't fit the stereotype. But I've gotten WAY off topic. I hope your hubby has a happy Father's Day.
Hi, Ruth!
You're right about that......I shouldn't even have mentioned that the figure in the Matthew window doesn't look especially masculine to me......but, I've stared at it over the years and wondered about it. Now, as I compare it with the Mark, Luke, and John windows which will be in subsequent blogposts, I do think the figure is not Matthew, but an angel, in following with an ancient tradition that Matthew was inspired by an angel to write what we know as the book of Matthew. Apparently, there's old paintings depicting Matthew writing in a book as an angel looks over his shoulder.
Hope you're having a pleasant Sunday!
what a pretty window! You did a great job capturing the light!
Hi, Kacey!
Thanks for swinging by and commenting!
Can't wait to see the Mark, Luke, and John windows! Maybe I will blog about "The Four Evangelists" (but maybe not)....
All your stained glass windows photos are quite good, I think.
Hi, rhymeswithplague,
The ancient symbolic depictions of the four Gospel writers in these stained-glass designs stem from one verse in the Old Testament. I'll bet you can figure it out. I certainly didn't know about any of this before I started blogging about the windows, but I learned quickly after a bit of googling.
The depictions of Mark, Luke and John surprised the heck out of me.
Thanks for stopping by!
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