Window 24: The Light.
Window 24: The Light
The twenty-fourth and final window in the Creation and the New Creation series of windows at the church of Saints Leonard and Fergus, Dundee.
The series of twenty-four windows in this church begins with Window 1: The Void to the left of the main door of the church as you enter. They progress clockwise around the church – the Winter windows (1-7) in the North wall, the Spring windows (8-14) in the East wall, the Summer windows (15-19) in the South
wall and the Autumn windows (20-24) in the West wall. Finally, we arrive back at the main door with the last in the series, Window 24: The Light.
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This window is the fourth parable window, so belongs to the theme of Jesus’s Ministry running through the windows. It refers to the parable of The Light (or Lamp), found in Matthew 5.14-16, Mark 4.21-23 and Luke 8.16-18. In both Mark and Luke, the parable comes directly after the parable of The Sower, which features in Window 20: The Sower. Window 20 is the first of the Autumn series so these two stories bookend this final series of windows.
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The parable teaches that followers should not hide their faith, but should let it shine for others to see, just as a lamp is placed on a lampstand to illuminate a room rather
An explosion of light with yellow candle flames representing the prayerful offerings of the parishioners.
The earthly colours of the four seasons have gradually transitioned from the cool greys and blues of Winter, through the bright, fresh greens of Spring, the warm golden yellows of Summer and the rich reds and ochres of Autumn and given way, in this window, to an explosion of light. The light is portrayed throughout the main window by yellow candle flames of light set in a background of sparkling seedy white glass. Each candle flame represents a prayerful offering of a person shining their light in their community and beyond. When the sun shines through this window, the light dances and sparkles so beautifully that one day, when Fr McInally was saying
than being hidden ‘under the bushel basket, or under the bed’. This is where the familiar idiom, ‘don’t hide your light under a bushel’ comes from. Matthew precedes his telling of the parable with, ‘You are the light of the world’ (Mt 5.14).
The rich reds of Autumn transitioning to the cool greys and blues of Winter as the cycle repeats.
Sunday Mass, he invited all the parishioners to come up to the altar to see it from where he was standing because he loved the effect so much.
This light is replaced at the bottom of the window by pinks and mauves, marking a transition between the richness of the Autumnal reds preceding it and the cool greys and blues that feature in Window 1: The Void, thus connecting these windows across the main doorway of the church as the cycle repeats.
There is only a little detail in the main window. Towards the top left of the main window is the last honeybee of the windows, this one is wearing a space helmet as she heads off into the transom, which features the Milky Way, discussed more fully shortly. Close by and on the right, is a little symbol of a nail and a halo, a kind of signature – the nail representing Dad who has the surname Naylor, and the halo
The Milky Way in the transom.
representing the person with whom he collaborated, Clive Sinclair, with Sinclair meaning Saint Clair.
As we have seen, the theme of this entire series of windows is ‘Creation and the New Creation’ with themes of the created world overlapping with stories from the life of Jesus and the holy sacraments of the church. This window represents the hopeful joy for the culmination of the New Creation in which all people will be caught up in eternal life in a new heaven and a new earth. It reflects some words that come almost at the end of the last book of the New Testament that speak about this New Creation, ‘the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light’ (Rev 21.23). In this regard, the candle flames in this window connect to the golden candle flame of the Paschal candle and Jesus’s own resurrection in Window 2: The Resurrection, across the doorway.
While in the New Creation there will be no need of a sun for light, we still inhabit the earth and can take great joy in doing so. Our joy in our earthly home is represented in the transom, which is an image of the Milky Way, our own galaxy, one of billions in an unfathomable universe and the fourth space reference in the windows (the other three are in Window 11: The Sun and the Planets, Window 20: The Sower and Window 23: The Prodigal Son). The Milky Way window was designed by me – Dad’s eldest daughter, Rachel – inspired by a mosaic art project I had been working on as homework for my A’ level art, shortly beforehand. It is a rather sobering thought, but at some point, the Milky Way will die and lose its structure, which takes us full circle to Window 1: The Void before creation.
