Trinity is fortunate to have beautiful and important stained glass windows gracing our worship space, including two sets of windows by Charles J. Connick Studios of Boston. These include the Rose Window in the west wall of the chancel, ten windows in the nave, two windows in the narthex, and five windows in the chapel.
The parish had hoped and planned to someday adorn the church with stained glass since the building was completed in 1906. That dream was finally realized in 1947 when the first seven Connick windows were installed in the nave. Those windows, given over eighty-years ago now by Trinity parishioners as memorials to loved ones, have become an enduring legacy.
Known for working in the European medieval style of stained glass, Charles J. Connick is widely considered the finest American stained glass artist of the 2Oth century. After Connick’s death in 1945 ownership of the business reverted to his employees who carried on the work as Charles Connick Associates until 1986.
Prior to the installation of the Connick stained glass windows, the original glass in the building was what is called cathedral glass or cast glass. Cathedral glass is made by rolling it into a sheet. The rolling makes the glass relatively thin and different textures can be applied in the rolling process. Although colored and often stenciled for added decoration, cathedral glass is not truly stained glass. Cathedral glass is, however, much easier to produce and install and is therefore far less expensive than actual stained glass. Several windows containing the original cathedral glass remain in place in the Cathedral.
In addition to the Connick windows, the large and prominent Bishop Scott window in the east wall of the nave was originally made for Trinity’s second church at SW 6th and Oak Streets in 1873. The St. Michael Fackler memorial window and some of the cathedral glass windows also came from the second church. After a fire badly damaged that church in 1902 Povey Brothers Glass, an early art glass company based in Portland, were able to salvage many of the windows and reinstall them in our current church, along with additional windows of their own design.
