The facial details in these photos are also worn away. In addition, there is quite a lot of dirt on the window, especially on our Lady’s face. In her left hand she is holding a flower stem with a single lily flower, white with yellow anthers.
There is a brass plate beneath the window which entreats us to –
St. Patrick appears to be holding a strange-looking plant in his right hand. It has rudimentary green leaves and three flowers at the top, white with yellow stamens, best seen in the third photo – it is definitely not a shamrock! Perhaps it is reminiscent of how his staff took root on one occasion. He is carrying a bag of some sort in his left hand – perhaps it contains St. Patrick’s bell. On his chest, Patrick wears the Breastpiece (or Breastplate) of Judgement. It has four rows of three holes representing the twelve tribes of Israel and was first worn by Aaron, the high priest, when he entered the Holy Place in the Temple. [Exodus 28:15].
As with the Red Saint’s window, much of the detail of face and hands has worn away.
There is a brass plate beneath the window which entreats us to –
The letters IHS represent the first three letters of the Greek version of the name Jesus. The explanation is given in the description of the Sacred Heart window.
The dedication at the bottom of the window is shown in the image at far right and reads,
The letter alpha (α) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. The second letter is beta (β) and the word “alphabet” is formed from the names of these two letters. The last letter of the alphabet is omega (ω). These are the lower case or small letters. The capital letters are Α, Β, and Ω, respectively.
The combination of Α and Ω is used to refer to God who is the beginning and end of all things –
“I am the first and the last” [Isaiah 44:6]
“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.'” [Revelations 1:8]
The dedication at the bottom of the window is shown in the image at far right and reads,
We are unable to say who is depicted in this window. Much of the detail of the hands and face has been worn away. It appears to be a woman but that’s about all we can say, so we have called her the Red Saint because of her red cloak. She may be one of the martyrs who are often shown wearing red garments because of the blood they shed, or she may be Mary Magdalene who is often supposed to have been a great sinner (though there is little evidence to support this) and red is often the colour of sin and evil.
In order to bring out the details of the face and hands we have darkened the two images on the right and increased the contrast. In her right hand the saint is holding a banner which has some very faint writing on it. However, we have been unable to decipher it.
There is a brass plate beneath the window which entreats us to –
There are five windows in the north transept – one on the east wall, two on the gable, and two on the west wall. We will describe them from east to west (right to left). This is the same order as in the menu opposite.
We would be glad to hear from anyone who can give us information on the Red Saint (of the first window) as we know nothing about her (it’s probably a woman). One possibility is St. Brigid. She and St. Patrick (of the fourth window) are our two most important Irish Saints and, perhaps, they are together in the noth transept. Another possibility is St. Ita, another Irish saint who, like St. Declan, belonged to the royal family of the Decies kingdom. She was born c. 480 in County Waterford and was baptised Deirdre. The name Ita, which she later acquired, signified her “thirst for Divine Love”.
The image below is from a stained-glass window in the Church of Our Lady and St. Kieran, Ballylooby, County Waterford.
The main detail in this window shows a crown of thorns and three nails. The thorns were used when Jesus was delivered to the Roman soldiers for crucifixion –
“And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him and, twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!'” [Matthew 27:28,29].
The nails or spikes were of square section, about 15 to 20 centimetres (six or seven inches) long and made of iron. Three were used to nail Jesus to the cross – one nail through each wrist and one for the feet which were nailed together. The feet were not nailed as depicted in religious art but were turned outward and the nail was driven through the two heels, just in front of the Achilles tendons.
The dedication at the bottom of the window is shown in the image at far right and reads,
This window reminds us of the thirty pieces of silver which Judas Iscariot was paid for betraying Jesus to the Jewish authorities –
“Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?’ And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
In this window we see a spear and a stick with a sponge on the end. They refer to two separate incidents that occurred while Jesus was on the cross. The sponge is mentioned when –
“A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.” [John 19:29].
Even today the experts are not sure what plant is referred to as hyssop. It is mentioned many times in the Bible and was frequently used for sprinkling blood during Jewish religious ceremonies. It may have been a variety of oregano which is a member of the mint family (like basil, sage, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, and lavender). In some translations of the incident the sponge is put on a reed rather than a hyssop branch and that is more in keeping with the detail in the window.
You may think that a reed is a bit short for reaching up to Jesus’ mouth. So it would be if the cross were twenty metres high as in many religious illustrations. In fact, Jesus would have been raised only a metre or less above the ground.
The sour wine is variously translated as wine, bitter wine, wine vinegar, and vinegar. It is likely that it was just the wine that the soldiers drank which would have been poor quality wine and might have been tart rather than sour.
The spear incident occurred after Jesus had died on the cross. The crucified victim was not able to support his own weight properly and, when hanging from his (women were never crucified) arms, could not breathe properly. Death eventually came from the wounds of the scourging and nailing or from suffocation. It was common practice to “finish off” the victim by breaking his legs, thus ensuring speedy suffocation. The victim was often left on the cross for several days. Crucifixion was normally a slow death but, for Jesus, it lasted six hours from the third hour (9 a.m.) until the ninth hour (3 p.m.), hence the spear. –
“But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.” [John 19:33,34].
The dedication at the bottom of the window is shown in the image at far right and reads,
The main detail in this window reminds us of the scourging that Jesus endured before he was crucified. Three objects are shown: a stone pillar to which the victim was tied, a flagellum, and a rod. A rod is a bundle of stalks or twigs bound together. A flagellum is a whip with multiple lashes, each lash being knotted with pieces of leather or metal which tear the flesh. The Romans were particularly adept at scourging and it was common practice to scourge a victim before crucifixion. The victim was flogged until almost dead but was not supposed to die as crucifixion would then be pointless. Crucifixion was much worse than scourging and was a slow, painful, and shameful death, usually reserved for those who had defied Rome.
The dedication at the bottom of the window is shown in the image at far right and reads,