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Ames, others decry Basilica window removal

Defend Life Director Jack Ames joined others at a January 13 hearing to protest the proposed removal of the stained glass windows in Baltimore's historic Basilica of the Assumption.

After hearing testimony from over 40 people, the Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation, which must approve exterior changes to historic buildings, approved most aspects of the Archdiocese of Baltimore's $32 million renovation project.

But, impressed by opposition testimony, they postponed a decision on the removal of the basilica's acclaimed stained glass windows.

The Archdiocese wants to replace the nine stained glass windows, installed by Archbishop Michael Curley in the 1940s, with clear glass in keeping with the design of the original building, completed in 1821.

Famed architect Benjamin Latrobe, who also designed the U.S. Capitol, offered Archbishop John Carroll two designs, one Gothic, the other neo-classical.

Reportedly wary of engendering anti-Catholic feelings in a predominantly Protestant country with the Gothic structure, the archbishop chose the neo-classical design, which had clear glass windows.

Speaking in favor of the plain windows, John Waite, the lead architect of the restoration, said that the clear glass symbolizes freedom of worship and creates an unusual and "almost magical" lighting effect.

Ames, speaking in an individual capacity and not as director of Defend Life, told the commission that great buildings are not completed at one single time, but are "works of art in progress" that are modified over the years.

He pointed out that Michelangelo, the architect of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, designed a dome for St. Peter's that was depicted in a model, but it was never actually constructed.

Sixty years after the construction of the basilica, another architect designed an even more beautiful dome, which was actually built.

"Would anyone want to remove the present dome of St. Peter's?" Jack asked rhetorically.

Attorney John Murphy, who has led opposition to the windows' removal, argued that changes in the Baltimore basilica made over the years are an integral part of its history and shouldn't be tampered with.

Murphy, whose father, Frederick Murphy, was lead architect in the 1940s renovation that installed the stained glass, said in a phone interview with Defend Life that the choice of subjects depicted in the stained glass windows "wasn't accidental."

In a period in which segregation still reigned, one of the windows portrayed St. Martin de Porres, who was black.  At the same time he put in that window, the outspoken and often pugnacious Archbishop Curley, who was nicknamed "Iron Mike," integrated the basilica:  "He told the blacks they could sit anywhere they wanted," said Murphy.

Katerina Tekawitha, the Native American saint, and another woman, Mother Elizabeth Seton, who had not yet been canonized, were depicted in other windows.

"I think they were trying to reach out to be inclusive, in a very good way," said Murphy.

Other windows have "very direct religious significance," he said.
Mr. Murphy also deplores many of the interior changes slated in the planned renovation.

"They're taking out everything that wasn't original," he said.  "The beautiful marble altar rail is going to be replaced with a wooden rail."

Also scheduled for removal and replacement are the dark green marble floors, wooden pews and confessionals.