WINDOW TO ST. THOMAS AQUINAS AND ST. ALBERT THE GREAT.
(East elevation - 8th window) The main figure is St. Thomas Aquinas, Patron of all learning. He is shown standing back of a prie-dieu. The Saint’s right hand is raised to direct attention to an ostensorium above the head. This is to symbolize his love for the Eucharist. The adjacent text, Haec Requies Mea In Saeculum Saeculi (Psalm 131), is said to have been his last utterance. He holds a copy of his work, Summa Theologica. The small figures of the attendant angels are suggestive of choir stall carvings and they provide an opportunity to express the terms, Doctor Angelicus and Lumen Ecclesiae, that is, Angelic Doctor and Light of the Church, the Saint’s familiar titles. The heraldic device set between is a motif for the French Saint and King Louis IX, a great admirer of St. Thomas Aquinas. The small diamond shaped pieces of green glass contain symbols of the Kingship of Christ, which was the thesis submitted by St. Thomas for his degree of Doctor of Theology. The figure subject in the medallion beneath depicts Pope Gregory X directing St. Thomas, by Briel, to defend the Catholic cause against the Greeks. To the right of the main figure, the medallion has as subject SS. Thomas and Albert the Great. The medallion at the left of the main figure portrays St. Albert the Great. |
The motifs on the shields in the background are:
In the base, left, is introduced the Dominican motif, Domini Canis, a play upon words, meaning Watch-dog of the Lord from Dominicani. In the base, right, is an heraldic setting of the motto Veritas (truth). The monogram in the base border, at the center, consists of the initials O.F.P., to signify Order of Friars Preachers. In the medallion at the right of the window is Doctor Universalis, applied to St. Albert the Great. The use of the Dominican emblems is intended as a tribute to St. Dominic, Founder of the Order, among whose followers were St. Thomas and St. Albert. |