Stain Glass by David Strang

As a former member of CCC, and deeply immersed in church activities there for about twenty year when I lived in Eau Claire, I always enjoy catching up with events in the Diocese via the "Eau Claire Herald." 

I have lived for the past 18+ years in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania in the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem, and work in near by Wilkes - Barre, Pennsylvania. 

As a medievalist, much interested in church stained glass, I always enjoyed the windows at CCC, though my favorite was always the tour-de-force great near Nativity window. A color photo of the Nativity window used to be available via CCC in a Christmas card version. I don't know if they still sell them. 

In any case, I was thrilled to see the cover of the April, 2004 "The Herald," which just arrived in my mailbox

Dean Brandt was still in charge of the Cathedral when I was first living in Eau Claire, and he had supervised some of the window installation. About one-third of the windows had not been installed at the end of World War II, and I recall his telling on several occasions that the original maker of most of the CCC windows, including the Resurrection and Nativity windows, had been destroyed/gone out of business during the War. It was thus necessary for CCC to locate another English stained glass firm to finish them off. Thus, I think if you check the bases of the windows, you'll find two different firms listed. There used to be a little guidebook edited by Dean Brandt with the particulars. 

The second firm used considerably brighter colors than the first firm, and armed with this information it's fairly easy to pick out the windows of the original firm from the second firm. 

What's also interesting is that the style chosen for the CCC Windows is very like ubiquitous, but finely made "Munich Glass" windows produced by several firms in Bavaria for Roman Catholic Churches. 

Competing with this rather Romantic window style was the push, beginning in England, but exemplified by American firms such as Charles Connick and Willet [Boston and Philadelphia, respectively], for reproducing the medieval styles and color schemes out of such memorable collections as at Chartres, Canterbury, and York. 

If you're ever in Saint Paul, check out the ravishingly beautiful Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal parish [Portland and Kent, and just off Summit Avenue] where there are Connick style medieval windows in portions of the church and windows that would be at home at CCC in other portions.