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LEFT:
Our Lady as the Queen of Heaven. This window portrays the
first verse of Chapter twelve of the Book of Revelation. St. John
saw a great wonder or sign, in heaven: a woman arrayed with the sun,
and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve
stars. The figure is, of course, the Coronation of Our Lady, shown
here under a canopy of stars within a rayed aureole with the moon as
a footstool supported by seraphim. Censing angels appear beyond the
stars. The heavenly bodies are used here as symbols of the
spiritual powers of the higher world, with which the Church in every
age is endowed. The travail of the woman, in St. John's vision,
represents the age-long suffering of the faithful people of God,
until the Holy Spirit, in fullness of time, brought into being the
Child that was to rule all nations: the seed of the woman that
should bruise the serpents head.
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RIGHT:
Our Lord in Majesty. This window has in mind Chapters four
and five of the Book of Revelation. The first of the seven visions
is introduced
by a picture of heaven. There was a throne and someone sitting on
the throne. All St. John saw was a dazzling brightness like the
flashing colours
of precious stones. The figure is Our Lord, shown within a
plain aureole and seated upon a rainbow. You will notice on
either side, at the top and bottom, the four living creatures,
symbolic representatives of created life, in its strength,
fertility, wisdom and swiftness.
They
are also the symbols of the four Evangelists: the Man of St.
Matthew, who begins his gospel with a long list of names to show
that, as Man, Jesus has descended from David and Abraham. The Lion,
of St. Mark, who begins his gospel with the voice of a lion in the
desert, crying, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord". The Ox
of St. Luke, teaches us of Jesus as Priest, the Ox being offered by
the Jewish priests in sacrifice. The Eagle of St. John, the eagle
soars above the world and points to Jesus as God upon the throne of
Heaven.
The
Sealed Book in the hand of Our Lord is the record of the Divine
Judgement, for God's purpose is complete. No created being can share
the counsels of God.
A
reproduction of Evetts original design for this window may be seen
in St Barnabas' Lady Chapel.
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