The Sacred Heart
God who is love has set his heart on his people and given us his Son, the gentle and humble at heart. (Solemnities of the Lord in Ordinary Time, The Sacred Heart of Jesus, The Sunday Missal, 2000)
In it’s simplest form, the Sacred Heart symbolizes Jesus’ love for us. The heart is the physical and spiritual core of a person and the Sacred Heart of Jesus represents his divine love. The fire symbolizes Jesus’ burning love for us, when He died on the cross to save us from our sins and give us eternal life. The crown of thorns reminds us of the suffering Jesus endured for the love of man and our pain that he bore in his human heart.
The Feast of the Sacred Heart has been celebrated since 1856, and falls nineteen days after Pentecost Sunday. The devotion to the Sacred Heart is one of the most widely practiced and well-known of the Roman Catholic devotions, taking Jesus’ physical heart as a representation of his divine love for humanity. In Christian art, the Sacred Heart is often presented flaming, shining with divine light, wounded and bleeding, surrounded by the crown of thorns, and surmounted by a cross.
Our Stained Glass Windows
Stained glass windows have been used throughout history to commemorate people and tell stories. Our church's stained glass window was a gift from former parishioner, Thelma Casey, on behalf of her family. She chose the theme of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so that we are reminded of Jesus' love for us each time we enter the church.
Madeleine Clear, a local artist and parishioner was asked to deisgn a concept for the window. She worked with fellow parishioner and glass artist Dianne Elvin to create the window, which was installed in the back of the church in 1991.
The idea for the stained glass window in the Mucciarone Library & Resource Center was suggested by Phyllis Driscoll, the principal of Sacred Heart School at the time of the building of the library. She felt that there should be a permanent memorial in the parish to honor the commitment and work of early parishioners, who had founded and built the parish church and school. Madeleine was asked, as an alum of Sacred Heart School, to develop some deisgn concepts. The design chosen included imagery of the faith and school history, and drew on Madeleine's memories of the construction of the new section of the church while she was a student.
The window was made by glass artists, Judy Kotai and Joannah Luscombe, nee Clear, the latter a former student of Sacred Heart School, using 'Freedom' glass, which is a hand rolled stained glass produced by a local company, though no longer available. It was installed in 1997.
In 2005, the Sacred Heart church stained glass window was damaged and Joannah Luscombe was asked to repair it because of her expertise as glass artist and maker of the school window.