The Commission Process 

“The commissioning of the windows began by meeting with the church building committee. They had the good fortune to bring in liturgical consultants Dr. Marchita B. Mauck and Rev. Don A Neumann. Much was discussed about the effect of Vatican Il and the appropriateness of including art in the liturgy of a catholic worship space. Both Dr. Mauck and Rev. Neumann opened up the conversation with the committee which allowed artists, including myself, Fletcher Cox and Rod Moorhead to have an equal place at the table. Our inspiration came from the compelling story from the life of St. Francis of Assisi. This story became a lens through which all the aesthetic and liturgical ideas were seen and considered and decisions made. Because the stained glass windows in the architects' plan were so large and numerous there were many opportunities to choose from. It all began with the story of the enlightenment of Francis when God commanded him to rebuild my church. The voice of God came from the San Damiano Cross in the little chapel that Francis and his disciples began to restore in the Assisi countryside.” 

Why Glass Matters 

“In 1987 I traveled to Germany as part of my grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission. These funds allowed me to go to see the origins of stained glass in the Gothic cathedrals in Great Britian, Fance and Germany. The Jayson family, owners of S. A. Bendheim Company have been importing glass from Germany for three generations. Robert Jayson was able to get me an introduction to the Lamberts s Glass factory in Valdsassen, Germany. I spent the evening in a charming guest house with a tour the next day at the factory. 

My thought was as a glass artist I needed to know how the beautiful mouth blown glass was made to truly appreciate the nature of this amazing artistic material. The windows for St. Francis are made of mouth blown glass from the Lamberts factory in Germany and imported to the United States by Bendheim. 

When we began the glass selection process, I knew that we were going to need lots of glass. We would need at least 100 sheets of handblown glass each approximately 6 square feet. With ten large windows and three large diameter rose windows I needed to have a color that would appear in all the windows to have them unified. I chose a teal blue opal and a warm grey opal. The blue was the sky, and the warm grey was for the earth. Each of the windows would have some of these glasses in them as I prepared the design renderings. 

After WWII the Germans began to make a glass with a thin flashing of white on one side. The thinnest layer was translucent – opal - and the thick white layer was obscure – opak. The opal and opak glasses controlled the sunlight to help block the full effect of glare. 

For centuries stained glass windows had been painted with a special kiln formed glass paint with intricate border designs and scenes depicting stories from the Bible. This paint layer controlled the glare from natural sunlight through the transparent colored glass. Using mouth blown glass as is, without painting was a modern approach adopted by many in the stained glass field. One such practitioner was Ludwig Schaffrath a designer for many stained glass windows churches needed after many were destroyed during the war. This modern style developed in Germany was a direct influence on my designs for the windows at St. Francis. Ealy on in my career I hac the opportunity to study with Herr Schaffrath in Florida when he came over to teach two sessions in the early 1980’s.” 

Image Invoking Presence

“Large forms would move across the pairs of windows that were in the corners of the building. And the repletion of the blue and warm grey helped to bring a unifying effect to the worship space. 

Four windows were grouped on one wall, and I chose these to depict moments in the life of St. Francis. The first window to be designed was a portrait of St. Francis in ecstasy. So many times, in the story of his conversion and life as a priest his encounters with God had a profound effect on him. I depicted the San Damiano Cross that God spoke to him through and the pivotal moment in the kissing of the leper. 

Another grouping of windows was my interpretation of his famous poem about Father Sun and Brother Moon. Nearest the Crucifix designed and made by Fletcher Cox wood working and Rod Moorhead clay sculpture were two pairs of windows. On the left is the entombment, on the right is the sunrise of the resurrection. Rounding out the themes was a pair of windows for meditation.” 





This narrative was submitted by Andrew Cary Young, designer of the stained glass windows, from Pearl River Glass Studio, Jackson, Mississippi. February 2025.