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Basilica's stained glass windows a historical treasure

By John C. Murphy

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is about to commence a $32 million reconstruction of the Baltimore Basilica.  The Archdiocese maintains that the period of significance for the Basilica ends in 1866, the date of the Second Plenary Council (a gathering of all the nation's Catholic bishops, which took place at the Basilica), and it proposes to reconstruct the Basilica to its physical appearance in 1866.

On the exterior this work includes the removal of the roof structure over the nave and its replacement with a roof replicating the original configuration; removal of the existing copper covering of the dome and replacement with cedar shingles; construction of a parapet wall between the two towers on the west façade; removal of the two matching doors on the west façade; removal of the 9x30 window on the west façade; and opening of the skylights in the dome.

On the interior the work includes removal of the existing marble floor and its replacement with a marble floor of a lighter color; removal of the 1906 marble altar rail and replacement with a rail constructed of pine; removal of wall moldings; and removal of the existing pews, confessionals, pulpit, tester over the main altar, and other features, and replacement with replicas.

The work includes removal of nine stained glass windows and their replacement with new frames and clear glass.  Because the windows are an exterior feature, the proposal to remove them and re-install them in a new church to be constructed in Howard County came before the Baltimore City Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) on January 13.

At that time, CHAP refused to approve the removal of the windows and asked that the matter be studied further.

Up until this time, no one has generally understood the significance of the windows.  The Archdiocese has acknowledged the quality of the windows and their beauty but has insisted on their removal on architectural grounds--they depart from the original plans which called for clear windows, and they darken the church.

Although the Archdiocese commissioned a massive historic structures report from John G. Waite Associates, architects, the Waite report does not describe the contents of the windows.  Therefore, it does not appear that the governmental organizations and institutions which have thus far lent their support to the project were aware of the historical significance of the windows.

The historical significance lies in the fact that they describe the main events of American Catholicism, from the landing of Columbus to the adoption of the Baltimore Catechism in the 1880s, to the recognition of African Americans, American women and Native Americans in the 1940s, when the windows were installed.

Most stained glass windows, then and now, featured biblical figures and European saints.  For most of its history, the Basilica functioned as the Cathedral for the Archdiocese of Baltimore and it served, moreover, as the meeting place for all the American bishops when they met in plenary sessions in the 19th Century.

The windows portray persons or events which are part of the history of the Archdiocese and the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.

Each window contains depictions from three themes:  the life of Christ in the center; Old Testament figures above; and historical figures below.

The historical depictions in each window are:

1. "The Landing of Columbus that opened a new world to the message of salvation announced by the angels in Bethlehem."  Flanking figures:  Archbishops Carroll and Neale, the first two archbishops of Baltimore.
2. "Father (Archbishop) Carroll's Mission to Canada, with Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase and Charles Carroll of Carrollton, as a colonial delegation to secure Canadian help and neutrality in the war for American Independence (1776)."  The flanking figures are the third and fourth Archbishops of Baltimore, Merechal and Whitfield.
3. "First Mass in Maryland, offered by Fr. Andrew White, S.J., on St. Clement's (now Blackistone) Island, March 25, 1634."  Flanking figures are fifth and sixth Archbishops of Baltimore, Samuel Eccleston and Francis P. Kenrick.
4. "Maryland Jesuit Fathers White and Fisher, sent to England in chains for their Faith during Ingle's Rebellion of 1645-1646."  Flanking are Archbishops Martin John Spalding and James Roosevelt Bayley, seventh and eighth Archbishops.
5. "Consecration of Carroll, first bishop (later Archbishop) of Baltimore, Lulworth Castle, England, August 15, 1790."  Flanking are James Cardinal Gibbons and Michael J. Curley, ninth and tenth Archbishops of Baltimore.

With the flanking figures of Gibbons and Curley we enter the era beyond the historical significance of 1866.Gibbons was a true national figure, the leader of the American Catholic Church.  His most lasting legacy was his defense of the American principle of the separation of church and state.

Curley was a different figure entirely.  The Premier See describes him as one of the two main personalities in the history of the Baltimore Archdiocese:  "[T]he immigrant tradition, one that would develop . . . in response to the coming of millions of poor Catholics from different nations . . . would find its fullest expression in the episcopacy of Archbishop Michael J. Curley. . ."

It was Curley who installed the stained glass windows in the 1940s.

6. "Bishop Carroll blessing the cathedral cornerstone, 1806.  Beside, St. Suplice, in tribute to the priests of that Society, and Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton."

St. Sulpice was a 7th Century saint for whom a prominent eno-classical church in Paris was named.  An order of priests founded in Paris to educate priests took their name from the church where they were founded, St. Sulpice.

In Baltimore the Sulpicians played a significan role as principal advisors to the early church leaders.  They founded a secular college, St. Mary's, no longer in existence, and two seminaries, St. Charles, a minor seminary no longer in existence, and St. Mary's Seminary, now on Roland Avenue at Northern Parkway.

Elsewhere, the Sulpicians operated seminaries for the New York Archdiocese, Dunwoodie in New York, and for the Boston Archdiocese, St. John's in Boston. 

The window expresses the fact that the Sulpicians made an immense contribution to the Baltimore and the American Catholic Church from the beginnings up through the 1940s.

For Americans, Elizabeth Seton is far and away the most important figure depicted in the Basilica.

She began in Baltimore at the invitation of Archbishop Carroll, and then moved to Emmitsburg, where she founded the Sisters of Charity in the United States and the nation's first Catholic elementary school.

From these beginnings of Mother Seton a vast program of education and charitable works led and run by the Sisters of Charity came into being which very much continues today.

Mother Seton was declared a saint in 1975.  The creation of a window honoring Mother Seton in the 1940s followed closely on the formal commencement of canonization proceedings in 1940.

Preliminary research indicates that the Basilica's Seton window may be the first window devoted to her in a church in America.

7. "Cardinal Gibbons receives from Pope Leo XIII the red hat of a prince of the church."  Flanking figures are Blessed Martin de Porres and Pope Pius XII, who visited the Basilica in 1936.

Receiving the red hat refers to Gibbons being made a Cardinal in 1886.  He was the first Baltimore Cardinal, a fact alone which should negate the idea that the significance of the Basilica ended in 1866.

Martin de Porres, the first African American saint, was a member of the Dominican order in Peru.

Because he was African American, Martin de Porres has always had a special significance for African American Catholics.

At about the same time that Archbishop Curley directed that the window for Martin de Porres be installed in the Basilica, he integrated the Basilica and all the other churches in the Archdiocese, telling African Americans assembled at the Basilica that they had the right to sit anywhere they wanted in any church in the Archdiocese.

8. "The Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, 1884."  The flanking figures are Kateri Tekawitha, the Venerable "Lily of the Mohawks," and St. Rose of Lima, Dominican Patroness of America, the first canonized American.

At the Third Plenary Council, which took place in the Basilica, the assembled American bishops adopted a catechism, which became known as the Baltimore Catechism and was studied by Catholic children throughout the United States; ordered that every parish establish and maintain a Catholic school, leading to the establishment of what continues today as the second largest system of education in the United States, after public education; and ordered the establishment of the Catholic University of America, an institution which flourishes today.

Any one of these three events would be significant; taken together, they are of momentous importance.

While Mother Seton was the first saint from North America, St. Rose of Lima was the first American saint, from South America.

9. West front window:  a 9'x30'stained glass window, the contents unknown.
   In 1955 the Archdiocese published a brochure on the Basilica which described the recently installed windows in great detail, and concluded:

"This is the Cathedral of Baltimore, venerable in its antiguity and beloved both for its beauty and for the story it tells.  It is new, perhaps, in comparison with European cathedrals.  Yet it is the oldest in the United States and the silent historian of almost 150 years of progress."  (Emphasis added.)

At the CHAP hearing the Basilica architect, John G. Waite, propounded the theory that Latrobe intended the clear windows to serve as a transparent symbol of freedom of religion.

This suggestion seems preposterous on its face, and Waite offered no evidence in support.

In contrast, the windows use their vivid images to portray the splendid personages and events in the history of the Catholic Church in Maryland and throughout the United States.

The International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites, called the Venice Charter, sets forth the standard which is universally followed for buildings of international significance:

"Article 11.  The valid contributions of all periods to the building of a monument must be respected, since unity of style is not the aim of a restoration.  When a building includes the superimposed work of different periods, the revealing of the underlying state can only be justified in exceptional circumstances and when what is removed is of little interest and the material which is brought to light is of great historical, archeological or aesthetic value, and its state of preservation is good enough to justify the action."

One cannot examine the Basilica windows, reflect on their significance, and conclude they are of "little interest."

Mr. Murphy encourages those who agree that the Basilica's stained glass windows should not be removed to express their opnions in letters to The Sun:  letters@baltsun.com (include full name and day and evening phone numbers) and William Cardinal Keeler:  320 Cathedral St., Baltimore, MD 21201.