The Chapel’s Stained Glass Windows

The eight chapel windows were installed for the centennial celebration in 1994. They portray Christian leaders who lived during the chapel’s first 100 years.

The four windows on the right side of the chapel depict the diversity of the Anglican Communion, portraying Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Rev. Florence Li Tim Oi, the Rev. David Pendleton Oakerhater, and Florence Nightingale.

The four windows on the left depict individuals representing the four major traditions of the Christian faith, each of whom made significant contributions toward Christian unity. They are Athenagoras I, Pope John XXIII, Lewis Miller and the Rt. Rev. Charles Henry Brent.

Interior Window

The Chapel was built in 1894 and the triangular Gothic Revival window over the alter is thought to be original. The Chautauqua Assembly Herald in describing the dedication July 2, 1894 said the chapel is ‘lighted by cathedral glass windows.’ Both the quatrefoil and the lettering naming the donor are painted. The central figure of Christ as the Good Shepherd is a copy of a detail from a painting by Bernhard Plockhorst (1825-1907), a German artist, whose work adorns many church windows of the period. That part of the window was very likely imported from Europe, and the opalescent glass surrounding was added by an unknown US company. 

When the chapel was renovated in 1994 to celebrate the centennial, the pair of windows memorializing Pardon and Eliza Morey were moved back to the niche where the organ is located and new windows were created along the sides of the nave. Those windows are described in a feature in the Daily, probably the weekend edition of August 13, 1994.

Willet Stained Glass Studios in Philadelphia repaired all the existing windows at that time and said that none are signed. Willet did make the windows near the front door and the window with musical notations over the Columbarium, probably in the 1950s.

The Morey windows were donated about 1915 by their daughter, Anna Morey.  Pardon Morey was a Civil War veteran, local farmer and bricklayer. Anna ran the Morey Cottage. Now, part of the old Morey Cottage building is the Spenser Hotel.

The central design contents of the left window includes a Masonic Blue Lodge 2nd degree emblem with plaque beneath memorializing Pardon H. Morey, flanked by plain columns with stylized Ionic capitals, reminiscent of an aedicule or classical architectural surround.  The addition of classical elements is consistent with the Arts and Crafts style, typical of the chapel when the woodwork was all dark.