Stained Glass Window Restoration

The restoration of Saint Stephen's began last year with the plastering and painting of areas of the church that were peeling and chipped. The next phase is the restoration of our beautiful stained glass windows.

One former parishioner, George Barrett (of the Barrett-Vokey-Glasspoole Clan) posed a very good question about the cost of this phase. Specifically, Mr. Barrett asked how much would Saint Stephen's need after the grant. Unfortunately, we have no clear answer to that. The so-called Round Table of the Religious Heritage Foundation - as I understand it, this is the body which decides the amount of money and to which church or synagogue the funds will go - will be meeting in April. We missed the deadline last year due to illness and missing documents, but expect to be given consideration this year.

People have been generously contributing towards this project and we have already used some of these funds to begin the work. Specifically, the window behind the High Altar was in bad shape. Experts had warned us over the last few months that it was in danger of bulging right out onto the ground. Warnings became so intense that we decided we had better act immediately. John Pickup, as new Property Manager, spent hours - days, in fact - as expert stained glass technicians removed the window (with some difficulty - it was very heavy and the distance through the church and out to the street is lengthy). Then John had to engage Alain, a carpenter who had done many jobs at Saint Stephen's over the past fifteen years, to replace the frame before the repaired window could be re-installed. The window is back in place with a clean refreshed look to the stained glass. It is worth noting that this window - in memory of Annie Gwenilyan Albutt - was installed in 1889, 121 years ago!

That has cost us about $8,000.00 so far and there is more work to be done on the outside frame this summer for additional protection.

None of the other windows will be as expensive to refurbish. At the moment, the window dedicated to the memory of Deaconess E. Francis Wilgress is out at the glass-workers' shop.

Not all the windows require work, but there are four more needing varying degrees of work. A total of six needed work.

I have discovered that with the work ongoing, I have been paying closer attention to the biblical narratives displayed or illustrated in the stained glass. Furthermore, the real people who worshipped at Saint Stephen's come to life again through the dedications. For example, the first window on the north wall of the nave was erected in memory of Sigismund Joseph Doran who died April 7th, 1900 - 110 years ago, near this year's Easter Day. It notes that he was a Churchwarden and Delegate to the Synod for Saint Stephen's.

If you would like to learn more about some of our old windows, you can go on the Roots Website which is dedicated to Quebec's English Churches at: www.rootsweb.ancestry.com or own website at: www.ststephensanglicanchurch.com. Go to the "Photo Album" and click on "Stained Glass Windows".

Written by Bob Smith in the Easter Newsletter dated April 2010.

In Memory of the Reverend Canon Dr. Jenö Kohner

St. Stephen's is sad to announce the death of Father Kohner on November 26th, 2009. Father Kohner was a faithful shepherd to us at St. Stephen's and will be sadly missed by us all. These photos were taken May 31st, 2009 when we celebrated and gave thanks to Father Kohner for all he had done for St. Stephen's. We were pleased to have people from the congregations of St. Mark's (Dorval) and Resurrection (Valois) present on that day. The funeral will take place Saturday, December 5th at 11:00am at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Lachine.