Ten new stained glass windows installed at Our Lady of Loreto Parish in Foxfield depict the mysteries of the rosary in dazzling pieces of abstract art.
The windows mark yet another addition to Our Lady of Loreto’s already-impressive collection of stained glass windows that adorn their enormous chapel. The windows, which were made possible by an anonymous donor, were designed by artist and Littleton native Scott Parsons, who designed the 16 stained glass windows that were installed at the parish in February 2014.
Monsignor Edward Buelt, pastor of Our Lady of Loreto, and the anonymous donor worked with Parsons to conceptualize the windows, which trace the mysteries of the rosary. In addition to sacred Scripture, they drew from theological works of St. Ephrem of Syria, St. John Paul II and Romano Guardini as guiding principles for their design, which depict the mysteries in brilliant color and an artistic style known as abstract realism.
“[They’re] not the usual depictions of the mysteries,” said Monsignor Buelt. “They are abstract realism because the mysteries of our faith are abstract. Abstract art, by its very nature, requires that you put yourself into it in order to draw yourself out of it, and not simply stand before it.”
Monsignor Buelt said the response to the windows from Our Lady of Loreto parishioners has been nothing but positive.
“They love them. They cry when they see them. They speak of them as stunning, exquisite, miraculous, marvelous,” he said. “You can be engaged by them from anywhere, which is what stained glass windows are supposed to do, to teach, to engage, to call us into those mysteries through which light shines to us.”