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.
