Dear Parishioners,

Just in time for the celebration of All Saints on November 1, was the installation of the 18 glass panels depicting saints from various times and places throughout Christendom. These panels were part of the overall re-design of the devotional space in our church that included the recent addition of a new statue of the Virgin Mary holding the child Jesus. Both, the statue and glass panels, are the creative handiwork of Wiktor Szostalo, a universally acclaimed sculptor from Poland, whose artwork adorns sacred and secular spaces throughout the world.

His ensemble that now graces our parish church is the end product of over three years of careful planning, research, numerous drafts, revisions and countless hours of painstaking manual labor. While all of the art pieces are in place, we have yet to install the best method for illuminating this area of the church in order to bring forth the exquisite beauty of each panel. This aspect of the project may not be completed until the total enhancement of our church interior is accomplished, hopefully a year from now. Meanwhile, we will experiment with different techniques for lighting.

This time will also afford us the opportunity to study the features of each panel the best we can and to acquaint ourselves with the variety of saints who are honored by these unique images. In selecting the different saints whose images we venerate, an attempt was made to be as inclusive as possible of the various categories of saints as well as their historical contexts and genders. From the ancient church we have: St. Joseph the spouse of Mary, St. John the Baptist, the herald of the Lord, St. Mary Magdalene who is acclaimed as the “disciple to the disciples,” and the two great pillars of Christendom Sts. Peter & Paul. From the Middle Ages we have: St. Benedict and his twin sister St. Scholastica, the founders of Western Monasticism, St. Patrick the great missionary of Ireland, St. Peregrine, the patient saint of cancer patients and the beloved St. Francis of Assis, patron saint of animals and ecology. The church of North America is represented by the Native American St. Kateri Tekakawitha as well as the immigrant St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Modern day saints are portrayed in St. Therese of Lisieux who taught us “The Little Way,” St. Josephine Bakhita, once purchased as an African American slave and then liberated to become a religious sister, St. Maximillian Kolbe who died as martyr in the concentration camp at Auschwitz, St. Teresa of Calcutta who devoted her efforts to serving the poorest of the poor, her dear friend St. John Paul II who led the Catholic Church into the new millennium, Dorothy Day, whose process of canonization is still unfolding but who nonetheless founded the Social Worker movement in New York and who was also a Benedictine Oblate of St. Procopius Abbey and finally, St. Michael the Archangel who, while not a human being, defends humanity against the wickedness and snares of the devil. We are in the process of composing a booklet that will describe the life of each saint in fuller detail. These will be made available to our parishioners.

In order to appreciate the labor intensive process by which each of these panels was created, I asked their, artist. Mr. Szostalo, to describe the various steps that were involved. They are as follows.

1. Researching the life of each saint and identifying some symbol or characteristic that epitomizes his/her.
2. Drawing a sketch of the saint on paper.
3. Sculpting a panel in modeling clay followed by further revision and refinement of the image.
4. Making a mold from the clay panel in silicon rubber.
5. Pouring a plaster base mixture into the rubber mold and allowing this to harden.
6. Trimming off any rough edges from the mold.
7. Building a plaster wall around the image followed by further trimming.
8. Sealing the panel and allowing it to thoroughly dry.
9. Painting the image with powdered glass which generates the color.
10. Adding chunks of crystal glass into the mold.
11. Firing the panel in a kiln for 15 hours at 1500 degrees F and then for 3 more days at 900 degrees F.
12. The kiln is then opened and the mold carefully removed to prevent cracking.
13. A careful inspection of each panel realizing that typically 50% of them will need to be redone.
14. The final polishing of each panel.

The entire process, which is called Glass Kiln Casting, entails approximately 3 weeks of arduous mental and physical labor for each panel. As we gaze upon these iconic representations of our saintly heroes therefore, let us prayerfully remember Mr. Szostalo and all artists who employ their talents to give glory to God and bring beauty and hope to our world.

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