St. Mary Delaware (Part 2)

I almost forgot I still had plenty of pics from my St. Mary in Delaware shoot that I hadn't posted yet.



This picture of Saint Anthony with the stained glass window reflecting off the wall caught my eye.



There are so many stained glass windows in this church I can only post a few. As you can see from this first photo the majority of the windows are tall slender arches with an artistic pane at the top.









This shot of one of the crucifixes was one of my last shots of the day.



The church web site has a virtual tour that explains all the stained glass windows. Click here to check it out.

St. Sebastian Part 2

More pictures from my trip to Saint Sebastian. Just a few closeups of the main altar and some more beautiful stained glass windows.





There is no shortage of stained glass windows in this church besides numerous saints lining the walls there our several traditional windows.




Matthew 16:18-19 (New International Version)
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

At the back of the church are two large composite stained glass windows. These windows compose of a large angel at the bottom with a medallion of the church at the top. One is in memory of the church when it burned down in 1903 and the other the consecration of the new church.










I'll close with this wonderful Lamb of God window.

Man Card Blues

Church had just ended. We were busy changing Joy Church back into a Community Center when I got my bad news for the day. I had a flat tire on my van. One person offered their gloves and a spare, another a floor jack they had in their car, another a ride. I dismissed them all. After all I had AAA. And to be honest the real reason was I wasn't so sure I could get the tire off. How embarrassing that would be. Sure enough I could not get the lug-nuts to budge.

I hold the jacks and lug wrenches they supply with vehicles today in the lowest of regards and today seem to support my disdain but that really didn't help me much. I called my wife to inform her of my situation and to ask her to bring my X shaped lug wrench. During the conversation my Cell phoned died. I wasn't sure how much of the conversation she got. Shortly a tow-truck appeared and soon my wife. She got the "Couldn't get the tire off" part but not the bring my lug wrench. (Cell Phones are also not high on my list).

The tow-truck guy takes my lug wrench and starts on the tire. At first I started to feeling better as he grunted and pulled with no luck. Then the squeal of metal on metal giving sunk my heart and my pride. With a lot of grunting and muttering he finally got them all free but one. With one Herculean pull he breaks my lug wrench with the stubborn lug-nut refusing to budge. My man card is temporally restored. He goes to his truck and gets his own cross lug wrench and after much effort finally frees the nut and the tire.

After it was all said and done it didn't cost a cent other than the $85 to replace the tire. But I missed a chance for a blessing and to share in the love of God. All because of my foolish pride. The pulpit and the bible tells us "A Prideful Nature is a Spiritual Stumbling Block".



When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom. Proverbs 11:2 NASB



Oh-Well there's always next time.



Pictures taken at St. Sebastian Church.

St. Sebastian

Today I got to visit a wonderful little church just outside of Chickasaw; Saint Sebastian. It was refreshing because I did not have to rush through the shoot. In fact I spent over 2 hours taking pictures.



This statue of Saint Sebastian sits just off the right between the main and right altars. You can see St. Anthony in the background. You cannot see it in the picture but at his feet on the other side of the candle is the hilt of a broken sword.



I really liked the way this picture of the left altar featuring the Virgin Mary came out. St. Rita of Cassius is on the left and St. Theresa (The Little Flower of Jesus) is on the right.



This is a closeup of the Virgin Mary stepping on a serpent.



The right altar featured Joseph with baby Jesus, with St. Anthony on the left and St. Francis of Assisi (The Patron Saint of Animals) pictured here on the right. St Francis is sometimes found with a skull at his feet.



The main altar featured Jesus on the left and Mary on the right.



Flanked by angels.



The High Altar had a relief of the Last Supper that I thought was pretty unique. It actually had disciples on both sides of the table.



The church had plenty of stained glass windows and large statues of the Stations of the Cross.



This one came out pretty cool in Black and White!



This is just one of many of the stained glass windows you will find in this church.



Above the main altar is a stained glass window of St. Sebastian.



The following is an excerpt from the Wikipidia concerning St. Sebastian:
Diocletian reproached Sebastian for his supposed betrayal, and "he commanded him to be led to the field and there to be bounden to a stake for to be shot at. And the archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as an pincushion, leaving him there for dead. Miraculously, the arrows did not kill him.

This was a great shoot and I could post another dozen pictures but I will call it for tonight. I may create another post in the near future.

St. Michael Stained Glass Windows (Ft. Loramie)

Just a quick post of some of the stained glass windows from the Saint Michael Catholic Church in Fort Loramie Ohio.



Every time I take pictures of stained glass windows I keep forgetting to get at least one picture of the entire window. I myself just like the closer views for the detail, but I think it would be nice if you could see what the window looked like whole. So I am going to start using this combo of the wide shot pictured above and the closeup you see below.

Stained Glass Windows 

Saint Michael Catholic Church  

Ft. Loramie Ohio

St. John's Part 2 Freyburg Ohio

I cheated a little on this one. I used Windows Paint to flip the image. I shot the window from the inside with the sun shining through. The window is meant to be read from the outside so the letters were backwards.

Outside I found the rectory close by.



This stained glass window features the implements used in the Crucifixion of Christ.



There are two status of saints on the side walls. The popular St. Anthony and an unidentified woman on the other.





I guess I should of tried to straighten the Stations of the cross before I took this picture of the crucifix hanging on the one wall.


Here is a pretty nice shot of the right altar.


There is this great mural of Mary receiving her crown after her Ascension.



This is the second series I have posted on this church. The imagery I find in these old German Gothic Catholic Churches never ceases to amaze me.

St. Mary Delaware Catholic Church

While in Delaware Ohio on business, I took a brief tour and some pictures of the St. Mary Catholic Church. This church has a wonderful web page with pictures and history of the church. you can check it out by clicking on the post title or related link at the bottom of the post.

My time was limited and as you can see by this shot the church was occupied. A group of kids were rehearsing the Passion of Christ. So I was limited in what I was able to shoot.

The stained glass windows are remarkably similar to those I found in St. John in Fryburg Ohio. Long tall slender arches with medallions of focus at the top.


On the left we have the Archangel Gabriel who appeared to Mary and announced to her "You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High" (Luke 1:3-32).

On the right we have one of the seven angels in Revelation. "And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets" (Revelation 9:2).

All the statues were a shiny porcelain or glaze and reflected my flash badly. I tried to minimize the effect but could not eliminate it completely.

This is the first time I have came across St. Patrick. The shepherd's staff represents his being a bishop of the Church, and the shamrock his great love of Ireland. Notice he is stepping on serpent which supports the legend that he drove out all the snakes in Ireland. A metaphor for his life long fight against evil.



Here on the left altar we have St. Ann mother of Mary, St. Joseph - Husband of Mary and St. Peter the Apostle.

The main altar features Mary with the Christ Child.



While Saint Patrick was my find of the day, this stained glass window lit statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was my favorite shot of the day.



I have plenty more pictures but this is all I am posting for now. I'll save them for another day.

Related Links
St. Mary Delaware Catholic Church