While the art and craft of stained glass windows reached its height in the era of the great Gothic cathedrals, glass windows began in Rome and Byzantium, where bits of mosaic-like colored-glass were used in windows. To create colored glass, metal oxide powders were added to the melted glass, their atoms bonding into the silicon/oxygen glass lattices. It was soon found that lead -- soft and malleable -- was the ideal framework to hold glass pieces together. By the 6th century wealthy churches had colored glass windows, and by the late 10th century, German artisans had learned how to paint designs on the glass with an iron/glass powder paint. The painted glass was baked, bonding the paint to its surface.

Medieval northern France saw the culmination of the art. The 12th century pioneer of Gothic architecture, the Abbot Suger, saw the mystic quality of stained glass light as a metaphor for divine light illuminating the church. Drawing on the description in the Book of Revelation, the church came to represent the New Jerusalem, and the windows were the bejewelled walls of the heavenly city. Soon the walls of Europe's new Gothic cathedrals were aglow with colored light. Typically, a window would show a large figure of a saint in heavenly glory, with scenes (medallions) from his or her life or legend arranged below like beads on a rosary. The larger rose windows had more complex themes, with prophets, apostles, saints and angels arranged in dazzling symphonies of light. Stained glass freed the Bible from its pages, allowing its stories to become visual tapestries, comprehensible to illiterate and scholar alike. Colors themselves took on symbolic meanings, and donors -- from kings to butchers -- vied to give the finest window. Despite centuries of war and pillage, surviving windows still awe the viewer, notably the extraordinary ensemble at Chartres Cathedral, France.

Charles Connick's heritage lives on in thousands of American churches and at the Charles Connick Foundation. To visit their informative site, go to cjconnick.org

Largely ignored until the 19th century, medieval-style glass was revived in England and made its way to America. Its first great American champion was Charles Connick of Boston (1875-1945) whose profound understanding of the complex relationship of light, color, design, and location of a window have never been surpassed. Grace Cathedral has 32 Connick windows or window groups, dating from 1930 to a 1966 window by Connick Studios. Following in his footsteps was Henry Lee Willet of Philadelphia, and Grace Cathedral has seven more modern-style Willet windows by Willet designer Marguerite Gaudin. A third artist, Mark Adams of San Francisco, has also fashioned a cathedral window. A fourth artist, Narcissus Quagliata, created Grace Cathedral's last window (2000), a fused glass work showing our galaxy within a human silhouette.

Gabriel Loire

Faceted glass, a new type of thick stained glass, was invented in France in the early 20th century. Inch-thick colored glass bricks were chipped or faceted on the inner surface to give a jewel-like effect to incoming light. No metal paint was used on the glass. The shaped glass was set into epoxy or cement rather than lead, and installed like wall sections. Grace Cathedral has 24 faceted windows by Gabriel Loire of Chartres, one of the best-known artists in the medium.

Einstein Window Click here for The Year of Einstein tale

The visitor lucky enough to bring binoculars to Grace Cathedral can enjoy a feast of window detail covering some 7290 square feet and over 1100 figures ranging from Adam and Eve to Albert Einstein. The Chapel of Grace's Gospel series - Matthew, Mark Luke, John - some of Connick's finest glass, was inspired by the windows of the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. The famous liquid Connick blues seen in the series derives from the mineral cobalt. Nearby is his exquisite Twenty-Third Psalm window, with scenes from the famous psalm beginning "The Lord is my Shepherd."

Grace Cathedral's 41-foot-tall choir and apse windows show saintly pairs (man and woman) exemplifying the attributes of the traditional nine choirs of angels. The two Connick transept facade windows, probably the largest of their kind in the west (23 by 45 feet), contrast Old Testament prophecy with Christian brotherhood. High up in the nave clerestory are faceted Loire windows of Human Endeavor, made possible by the sustaining power of divine grace. Outstanding 20th century Americans represent various fields -- Albert Einstein and his E=mc² formula -- Natural Science, still-living John Glenn -- Exploration, Justice Thurgood Marshall -- Law, Jane Addams -- Social Work, San Francisco-born poet Robert Frost -- Letters, etc. Nearby is the great east rose window, envisioning St. Francis' great poem the Canticle of the Sun with nearly 3800 pieces of faceted glass. Like several other windows it is floodlit from within at night. Set into the adjacent south tower is the unique Love of Nature of St. Francis window, which is a mosaic design on the outside, and a faceted window seen from inside. Like most of the cathedral's windows it had endured decades of weather.

In 1995-1998 several of the cathedral's choir and aisle windows were restored by Reflection Studios of Emeryville, California. The complex restoration process involved removing, cleaning and restoring the glass, replacing cracked pure lead supports with more durable impure lead supports, reframing the panels and reinstalling the windows. Reflection Studios are currently restoring the Chapel of Grace windows.

See for yourself ... A QuickTime VR view of the stained glass windows from the nave of Grace Cathedral.

The direct emotional impact of intense color can be moving and very powerful. Yet the slow contemplation of the cathedral windows, and the careful study of their messages, can lead to a deeper and more lasting spiritual understanding that transcends both color and window. Perhaps the Abbot Suger said it best in the explanation of his new abbey's stained glass. Its purpose, in his words, was "to illumine men's minds so that they may travel through it to an apprehension of God's light."

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