ST. BENEDICT

This Catholic stained glass window is centered on St. Benedict of Nursia. St. Benedict was born in Nursia Italy in 480 and died at Monte Cassino Abbey, which he founded, in 534. After a great personal spiritual struggle he founded the monastic order of St Benedict. He wrote his famous rule for the order, which became the foundation for all monastic orders in the west. He is considered the founder of western monasticism. To find out more about St. Benedict go to newadvent.org and type in the saint’s name in their internal search engine.

      At the top of the window is a dove surrounded by tongues of fire. The dove represents the Holy Spirit and the tongues of fire represent the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, which inspired St. Benedict to write his rule. Below the central image are two ovals. The one on the left contains the Sacred Heart of Jesus The one on the right contains the Holy Eucharist. The central oval contains the St Benedict Medal. On top of the outer frame are seven fire-like winged shapes that represent the seven spirits (angels) of God that surround his throne in the book of Revelation. The twenty light blue circles in the border around the window represent the twenty mysteries of the rosary, which is a contemplative prayer of the life of Jesus, Mary. The eighteen yellow, orange, red diamond like shapes in between the rosary beads represent the angels assigned to help

St Benedict in his work of foundation of his order and rule.