• Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Synod
  • Columnists
  • Revista Catolica
  • Vatican
  • Subscribe
The Texas Catholic
The Texas Catholic

Dallas, Texas

Today is Monday, March 27, 2023
  • Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Synod
  • Columnists
  • Revista Catolica
  • Vatican
  • Subscribe
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Linkedin
    • Instagram
Home
Top Stories

Restoring testaments of faith

Friday, November 10, 2017

By Cathy Harasta
The Texas Catholic

WACO — Along the country roads near the northern rim of Waco, dairy farms and horse ranches abound on the way to the clustered artists’ workshops that anchor Stanton Studios’ 25-acre property.

Distinctive buildings house the creative and technical energy of owner Bryant Stanton and his 13 staff members, who work in wood, glass and metal.

The glass studio features compelling stained-glass windows that gleam in the woodsy setting.

This is where the 115-year-old stained glass windows from the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe in downtown Dallas have come for the careful restoration that will enhance their visual celebration of the Diocese of Dallas and its heart.

Atop seven work tables in the central studio, bits and pieces of colored glass resemble jigsaw puzzles awaiting completion and a return to their expressive wholeness.

On a July morning, Stanton tenderly lifted a glass segment and held it aloft to point out an intricate background pattern that the restoration process had made visible again.

“Hail and high winds battered the windows before they had protective glass,” said Stanton, who founded the family-run company in 1979. “They took a beating. We imported glass from Germany to make replacement pieces for the pieces that are missing.

“To transform the cathedral from years of disrepair back to ‘like new’ condition speaks volumes of the love and care the congregation has for the cathedral, like a rebirth.”

Restoring 82 stained glass windows is part of a $7 million exterior renovation project that began last fall with funds from the $12 million designated by the recent diocesan-wide Our Faith…Our Future capital campaign for the Nicholas J. Clayton-designed cathedral.

Father Stephen Bierschenk, the rector of the cathedral, said that the windows’ artistic merits underscore their faith significance.

“I think that what’s most remarkable about what’s happening here is that those windows are a testament of faith,” he said. “Over a hundred years ago, people wanted something beautiful to signify their giving of glory to God.

“One of the interesting things about the windows is that they were donated by groups around the diocese and people who were wanting to be part of the cathedral.”

The Diocese of Dallas’ parishes, clergy, religious orders and individuals donated the windows, which date to the cathedral’s 1902 dedication.

Several Chicago and Dallas ornamental glass companies made the windows, according to Diocese of Dallas archives.

Stanton — who has restored stained glass for Ursuline Academy of Dallas among his projects with religious organizations and worship spaces — said that working on the cathedral’s altar windows revealed that they had been retrofitted into the openings, as the window frames were configured for an arch shape that differed from the glass design.

The windows, which are being transported to and from Waco in wooden crates in Stanton’s covered trailer, should all be reinstalled at the cathedral by the spring of 2018.

“One of the things that really is striking is that when people enter the cathedral, they will find it much brighter,” said Sandra Cortinas, director of business administration for the cathedral. “Some windows were recently reinstalled. The colors are just incredible. The colors and the warmth are so inviting and spiritual. The exterior coverings that used to protect the stained glass were opaque. During the restoration, those were replaced with clear, up-to-date materials.”

Stanton Studios partnered with Mominee Studios and Landmark Construction for the restoration process.

When the windows arrive at Stanton Studios, the artists make rubbings to serve as blueprints that show where the lead was placed in the window.

The windows are taken apart and cleaned. Broken pieces are mended or replaced. A glass painter creates replicas of pieces shattered beyond repair.

New lead is used to reassemble the windows, which then are soldered and grouted.

On a recent morning, artist Aaron Haas concentrated on the waterproofing process in the studio’s “mud room.”

“It probably takes roughly a week to take apart a window, clean it and restore it,” he said. “Fine cleaning and buffing is the last stage.”

He stood back to admire a quatrefoil, or clover-shaped, window that he had just finished restoring.

“A lot of work goes into it,” Haas said. “It feels good to see the finished product.”

  • Tags
  • Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe
  • Our Faith...Our Future
  • The Texas Catholic
  • video
Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest
Next article Dancing for Our Lady of Guadalupe
Previous article Pope offers prayers for victims of Texas shooting

Related Posts

Sharing faith through music Diocese
Monday, March 27, 2023

Sharing faith through music

Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops supports parental choice in education bills Diocese
Sunday, March 26, 2023

Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops supports parental choice in education bills

Making wishes come true Diocese
Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Making wishes come true

Texas Catholic Classics

A look at the five Dallas law enforcement officers who gave their lives while protecting citizens during a mass shooting in downtown Dallas in July 2016.

 

How a child with special needs inspired a high school volleyball team, community and a family who heeded God’s call to protect life.

 

After a young runner collapsed at a Dallas marathon, grace and providence unfolded for those involved in the valiant effort to help her.

   

In the summer of 2016, 50 students and 25 chaperones from Dallas Catholic high schools traveled to Nicaragua for a 10-day mission trip.

 

Early on a November morning, Kenndrick Mendieta bounded from the gym at Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep toward the campus’ athletic fields as clouds lifted on a fresh new day.

 

Subscribe

Get the award-winning Texas Catholic delivered to your door. Use the menu below to subscribe now.


Subscription length




 

Photo Gallery

Click here to find your favorite Texas Catholic photographs.

The Texas Catholic Newspaper

Catholic Diocese of Dallas
Michael Gresham, Editor

3725 Blackburn Street
Dallas, Texas 75219
(214) 379-2800

Our Affiliated Sites

Texas Catholic Youth

Revista Católica

Legal and Other

Contact us

Terms of service

Privacy policy

Site map

Site powered by TexasCatholicMedia

© 2013-2019 The Texas Catholic Publishing Company. All rights reserved.