Espinosa_Ronald_Ferrer
Andy Murray defeated David Ferrer. 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(1)
Andy Murray defeated David Ferrer. 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(1), slide
Great Western Window of Saint Raymond of Penafort by Charles Connick

The Great Western Window at Saint Vincent Ferrer is beautiful, dominated by deep shades of blue. Charles Connick designed the window along with the other windows in the church. The lower center of the window is a depiction of Saint Dominic (1170-1221). According to  Wikipedia,  Saint Dominic was a Spanish priest and founder of the Dominican Order. Dominic is the patron saint of astronomers. 

From the  church website: 

“The dominant theme of the great Rose Window is “the whole company of heaven, and all the powers therein,” marshaled under the nine choirs of angels. In medieval angelology, there were nine orders of angels: Angels, Archangels, Powers, Thrones, Dominations, Principalities, Virtues, Cherubim, and Seraphim. Orders are grouped around figures of saintly and celebrated Dominicans who serve as the representatives on earth of the distinctive spiritual qualities symbolized by the various members of the angelic choir.

The Great Western Window was made by the master craftsman Charles Connick, who worked under the direction of Bertram Goodhue, the architect of the church. 

St. Dominic, surrounded by the Seraphim, whose name in Hebrew means ‘the burning ones.’ The Seraphim burn mostly brightly as those angels closest to God. A dream of his mother, Bl. Jane of Aza, foretold that Dominic would ignite the world on fire with his preaching.”

Charles Connick (1875-1945) produced the spectacular stained glass windows in the church. Connick was a prominent artist best known for his work in stained glass in the Gothic Revival style. He was born in Crawford Country, Pennsylvania and developed an interest in drawing at an early age. He left high school when his father became disabled to become an illustrator on the staff of the Pittsburgh Press. At the age of 19, he learned the art of stained glass as an apprentice in the shop of Rudy Brothers in Pittsburgh, where he stayed through 1899. He worked for a number of stained glass companies in Pittsburgh and New York. He went to England and France to study ancient and modern stained glass, including those in the Chartres Cathedral. His first major work was First Baptist Church in Pittsburgh in 1912. 

Connick settled in Boston opening a stained glass studio in Back Bay in 1913; the Charles J. Connick Associates Studio continued to operate after his death until 1986. He produced many notable windows in such churches as Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Saint John the Divine, the Princeton University Chapel, and Saint Vincent Ferrer. According to Wikipedia, the Charles J. Connick Associates Studio produced some 15,000 windows in more than 5,000 churches and public buildings.

According to Wikipedia,  “Connick preferred to use clear "antique" glass, similar to that of the Middle Ages and praised this type of glass as "colored radiance, with the lustre, intensity, and baffling vibrant quality of dancing lights." He employed a technique of "staggered" solder-joints in his leading and bars, which English stained-glass historian Peter Cormack says gives the windows their "syncopated or 'swinging' character." His style incorporated a strong interest in symbolism as well. Connick expressed the opinion that stained glass's first job was to serve the architectural effect and he believed that his greatest contribution to glasswork was "rescuing it from the abysmal depth of opalescent picture windows" of the sort popularized by Louis Comfort Tiffany and John La Farge. Although firmly committed to a regenerated handicraft tradition, Connick welcomed innovation and experimentation in design and technique among his co-workers at his studio.”

According to the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation website “Using pure, intense color and strong linear design, this guild of artists led the modern revitalization of medieval stained glass craftsmanship in the United States.  Their work reflected a strong interest in symbolism in design and color, and stressed the importance of the relationship between the window’s design and its surrounding architecture.  As if with one mind and one pair of hands, the craftsmen in the Connick Studio worked collectively on their windows like the 12th- and 13th- century artisans whose craft inspired them.”
The Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation was formed after the studio closed in 1986. According to the foundation website “The mission of the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation, Ltd. is to promote the true understanding of the glorious medium of color and light and to preserve and perpetuate the Connick tradition of stained glass.”

Here is an interesting video from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Connick. In December 2008, the foundation donated materials to MIT’s Rotch Library of Architecture and Planning to form the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation Collection.
Great Western Window of Saint Raymond of Penafort by Charles Connick

The Great Western Window at Saint Vincent Ferrer is beautiful, dominated by deep shades of blue and purple. Charles Connick designed the window along with the other windows in the church. The center of the window is a depiction of Saint Raymond of Penafort (1175-1275). According to  Wikipedia,  Raymond was a Catalan Dominican friar in the 13th-century, who compiled the Decretals of Gregory IX, a collection of canon laws that remained a major part of Church law until the 20th century. He is honored as a saint in the Catholic Church and is the patron saint of lawyers, especially canon lawyers.

He was educated in Barcelona and at the University of Bologna, where he received doctorates in both civil and canon law. From 1195 to 1210, he taught canon law. In 1210, he moved to Bologna, where he remained until 1222, including three years occupying the Chair of canon law at the university. He came to know the newly-founded Dominican Order there and entered it in 1216, at age 41. 

Raymond was instrumental in the founding of the Mercedarian friars in 1218.

Raymond died at the age of 100 in Barcelona in 1275 and was canonized by Pope Clement VIII in the year 1601. He was buried in Barcelona.

From the  church website: 

“The dominant theme of the great Rose Window is “the whole company of heaven, and all the powers therein,” marshaled under the nine choirs of angels. In medieval angelology, there were nine orders of angels: Angels, Archangels, Powers, Thrones, Dominations, Principalities, Virtues, Cherubim, and Seraphim. Orders are grouped around figures of saintly and celebrated Dominicans who serve as the representatives on earth of the distinctive spiritual qualities symbolized by the various members of the angelic choir.

The Great Western Window was made by the master craftsman Charles Connick, who worked under the direction of Bertram Goodhue, the architect of the church. 

St. Raymond of Penafort, the counsellor to the King of Aragon, surrounded by the Principalities, who are sent by God to protect earthly rulers.”

Charles Connick (1875-1945) produced the spectacular stained glass windows in the church. Connick was a prominent artist best known for his work in stained glass in the Gothic Revival style. He was born in Crawford Country, Pennsylvania and developed an interest in drawing at an early age. He left high school when his father became disabled to become an illustrator on the staff of the Pittsburgh Press. At the age of 19, he learned the art of stained glass as an apprentice in the shop of Rudy Brothers in Pittsburgh, where he stayed through 1899. He worked for a number of stained glass companies in Pittsburgh and New York. He went to England and France to study ancient and modern stained glass, including those in the Chartres Cathedral. His first major work was First Baptist Church in Pittsburgh in 1912. 

Connick settled in Boston opening a stained glass studio in Back Bay in 1913; the Charles J. Connick Associates Studio continued to operate after his death until 1986. He produced many notable windows in such churches as Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Saint John the Divine, the Princeton University Chapel, and Saint Vincent Ferrer. According to Wikipedia, the Charles J. Connick Associates Studio produced some 15,000 windows in more than 5,000 churches and public buildings.

According to Wikipedia,  “Connick preferred to use clear "antique" glass, similar to that of the Middle Ages and praised this type of glass as "colored radiance, with the lustre, intensity, and baffling vibrant quality of dancing lights." He employed a technique of "staggered" solder-joints in his leading and bars, which English stained-glass historian Peter Cormack says gives the windows their "syncopated or 'swinging' character." His style incorporated a strong interest in symbolism as well. Connick expressed the opinion that stained glass's first job was to serve the architectural effect and he believed that his greatest contribution to glasswork was "rescuing it from the abysmal depth of opalescent picture windows" of the sort popularized by Louis Comfort Tiffany and John La Farge. Although firmly committed to a regenerated handicraft tradition, Connick welcomed innovation and experimentation in design and technique among his co-workers at his studio.”

According to the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation website “Using pure, intense color and strong linear design, this guild of artists led the modern revitalization of medieval stained glass craftsmanship in the United States.  Their work reflected a strong interest in symbolism in design and color, and stressed the importance of the relationship between the window’s design and its surrounding architecture.  As if with one mind and one pair of hands, the craftsmen in the Connick Studio worked collectively on their windows like the 12th- and 13th- century artisans whose craft inspired them.”
The Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation was formed after the studio closed in 1986. According to the foundation website “The mission of the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation, Ltd. is to promote the true understanding of the glorious medium of color and light and to preserve and perpetuate the Connick tradition of stained glass.”

Here is an interesting video from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Connick. In December 2008, the foundation donated materials to MIT’s Rotch Library of Architecture and Planning to form the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation Collection.
Nick ferrer CJ Jonhson
Saint Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church

The history of Saint Vincent Ferrer starts in 1867 when the Dominican Brothers and Fathers were charged with founding a parish in New York City. Once established, the Dominicans became popular among New York City Catholics. John Cardinal McCloskey, archbishop of New York and America’s first cardinal, asked the Dominican preachers to establish themselves permanently in the city by founding and serving a parish on the east side of Manhattan, marking the birth of Saint Vincent Ferrer. After borrowing $10,000, the Dominicans secured 18 lots of land on Lexington Avenue between 65th and 66th Streets.  On this land, the six priests assigned to this new foundation oversaw the construction of a small chapel, and the first Mass was offered in September 1867. In November of that year, the cornerstone was laid for a more substantial gothic church that was finally dedicated in December 1879. This second church served the growing parish until 1914, when it was dismantled to make way for the present church. During the difficult years of the First World War, the friars and parishioners of St. Vincent’s worshipped in a temporary structure on East 67th Street while plans were finalized for the church we see and enjoy today according to the church website.

The Dominicans were impressed with several New York churches including Saint Thomas Episcopal Church and the Cadet Chapel at West Point. When they decided to build a new church, the Dominicans turned to the architect of both churches, Bertram Goodhue, to work on the project. He was chosen just after he left Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson to start his own firm. The church was named as one of the 50 most beautiful structures in the country, and Goodhue thought it was his best work. He designed the church at a time when Gothic Revival was at its highest point. He designed the church in the style of Fourteenth Century French Gothic with echoes of Norman Romanesque

The church is unique in several respects. First, a crucifixion scene was placed prominently on the façade of the entry of the church. Lee O. Lawrie, America’s greatest sculptor at that time, carved the sculpture. Placing a crucifix outside a church was a very rare feature in American churches and there are few examples to this day. Second, all windows were designed to compliment one another. The position of the reds and blues was arranged so that, in direct sunlight, the windows in dominant blues would interact beautifully with the opposite windows that showcase warm reds and golds. “Finally, in regard to the Stations of the Cross, the precedent established in the Dominican shrines of Spain was continued.  Instead of statuary or carvings, large oil paintings were used to depict the scenes of Christ’s via dolorosa.  Goodhue decided that these stations should look as if they were old art pieces painted in different countries at different times.  One effect of this technique is the ever-changing color of Christ’s robe as one moves from station to station.  Telford Paullin and his wife, Ethel, were chosen to create the paintings,” according to the church website. 

Inside the church, the High Pulpit was installed in 1931. It is composed of quartered oak and formed and is in the 14th century Gothic style. 

According to Wikipedia, Andy Warhol, a devout Byzantine Catholic attended Mass regularly at the church in the 1960s and 1970s. The pastor of the church at that time remembers Warhol sitting quietly in the back of the church, neither taking communion nor confession.

Former Treasury Secretary and financier William E. Simon made contributions to help purchase a Schantz pipe organ.

Former Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro’s funeral was held at the church in March 2011. 

The church website has extremely detailed descriptions of the architectural features of the church including panel-by-panel descriptions of the beautiful stained glass windows by Charles Connick.
Saint Vincent Ferrer Saint Rose of Lima Stained Glass Window by Charles Connick

The church website provides substantial panel-by-panel detail on the windows in the church. This beautiful window caught my eye, the Saint Rose of Lima window. At the upper center is Rose of Lima. From the church website: “Rose of Lima is portrayed attired in the habit of the Third Order of St. Dominic.  She  carries a crucifix and a lily, and a padlocked chain sits around her waist.  She wore it as a penance.  At her mother’s request, her confessor forbade her to continue this practice. Rose then made a girdle of the chain, drew it around her waist and fastened it with a lock. She threw away the key because she was afraid she would be tempted to remove the chain.  Above her is the Christ Child surrounded by roses.  A devil stands at her feet.” The figure at the upper right is Blessed Imelda Lambertine. From the website: “Bl. Imelda Lambertini is the patroness of First Communicants.  She wears the veil of the Second Order and points to the symbol of the Blessed Sacrament in her heart.  At her feet is a symbol of Calvary, which she erected in a corner of her garden and surrounded with flowers.” At the upper left is Blessed Jane of Portugal. She stands “…wearing the veil of the Second Order.  At her feet are the Arms of Portugal with five small shields.”

Charles Connick (1875-1945) produced the spectacular stained glass windows in the church. Connick was a prominent artist best known for his work in stained glass in the Gothic Revival style. He was born in Crawford Country, Pennsylvania and developed an interest in drawing at an early age. He left high school when his father became disabled to become an illustrator on the staff of the Pittsburgh Press. At the age of 19, he learned the art of stained glass as an apprentice in the shop of Rudy Brothers in Pittsburgh, where he stayed through 1899. He worked for a number of stained glass companies in Pittsburgh and New York. He went to England and France to study ancient and modern stained glass, including those in the Chartres Cathedral. His first major work was First Baptist Church in Pittsburgh in 1912. 

Connick settled in Boston opening a stained glass studio in Back Bay in 1913; the Charles J. Connick Associates Studio continued to operate after his death until 1986. He produced many notable windows in such churches as Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Saint John the Divine, the Princeton University Chapel, and Saint Vincent Ferrer. According to Wikipedia, the Charles J. Connick Associates Studio produced some 15,000 windows in more than 5,000 churches and public buildings.

According to Wikipedia,  “Connick preferred to use clear "antique" glass, similar to that of the Middle Ages and praised this type of glass as "colored radiance, with the lustre, intensity, and baffling vibrant quality of dancing lights." He employed a technique of "staggered" solder-joints in his leading and bars, which English stained-glass historian Peter Cormack says gives the windows their "syncopated or 'swinging' character." His style incorporated a strong interest in symbolism as well. Connick expressed the opinion that stained glass's first job was to serve the architectural effect and he believed that his greatest contribution to glasswork was "rescuing it from the abysmal depth of opalescent picture windows" of the sort popularized by Louis Comfort Tiffany and John La Farge. Although firmly committed to a regenerated handicraft tradition, Connick welcomed innovation and experimentation in design and technique among his co-workers at his studio.”

According to the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation website “Using pure, intense color and strong linear design, this guild of artists led the modern revitalization of medieval stained glass craftsmanship in the United States.  Their work reflected a strong interest in symbolism in design and color, and stressed the importance of the relationship between the window’s design and its surrounding architecture.  As if with one mind and one pair of hands, the craftsmen in the Connick Studio worked collectively on their windows like the 12th- and 13th- century artisans whose craft inspired them.”

The Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation was formed after the studio closed in 1986. According to the foundation website “The mission of the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation, Ltd. is to promote the true understanding of the glorious medium of color and light and to preserve and perpetuate the Connick tradition of stained glass.”

Here is an interesting video from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Connick. In December 2008, the foundation donated materials to MIT’s Rotch Library of Architecture and Planning to form the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation Collection.
St-Vincent-Ferrer-Catholic-church-Rosary-Altar
Espinosa_Ronald_Ferrer
Espinosa_Ronald_Ferrer
Espinosa_Ronald_Ferrer
See photo in original gallery.