Two of the latest memorial windows at St. Stephen’s, neighbors on the northwest wall backlit artificially as interior windows, perform a unique visual “duet.” Their physical contrast and different scriptural stories illuminate similar experiences: two communities’ extraordinary responses to revered members--with profound consequences. Today, such interaction in our own midst brings needed light for many.

The Price memorial window, Gamaliel, 1914

Tiffany’s serene opalescent window represents, in fact, a tense, groundbreaking event in Acts 5. Gamaliel, a venerated Pharisee leader and scholar, persuades his colleagues at the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, to free the apostles arrested for spreading Jesus’ forbidden teachings. Gamaliel’s skyward gesture signals his winning argument: If these “rebels” are indeed sent by God, Israel could not fight God. The scholar deployed a shared faith with his profound learning to defend the apostles, who thus gained a precious reprieve (after beatings and orders to stop preaching which they ignored). 

Gamaliel’s impact on his audience appears in several ways. The rapt attention of such different individuals conveys his wide-ranging authority. The inscription emphasizes Gamaliel’s exceptional stature by citing his description in the opening scriptural passage (5:34): “A doctor of the law had in reputation of all the people.” 

The window thus memorializes William S. Price (1817-1912) as the pivotal modern-day Gamaliel, advocate for Christians. Price was renowned as a brilliant dean of the Philadelphia Bar Association who won highly publicized court cases--and was Chancellor (in-house counsel) of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania into his 90s (details from obituaries provided by Mike Krasulski). Price, a longtime congregant of St. Stephen’s, put his formidable legal skills to the service of the broader Church. I wonder, since I find nothing on the project in our archives, if the tribute came from that broader community--legal and diocesan--to honor this esteemed attorney at his chosen place of worship. The press noted this contingency’s massive attendance at Price’s funeral at St. Stephen’s. 

Today, as part of its community ministries, St. Stephen’s offers the services of attorney Stephen P. Chawaga, Esq. of the Episcopal Legal Aid. Like William Price, Steve has close ties to this diocese: He’s its parliamentarian and a congregant at Church of St. Asaph’s in Bala Cynwyd. At St. Stephen’s he’s “officed” in front of the Price Gamaliel window, his luminous sign and model. Here, as at his other venues, Steve has helped many throughout Philadelphia (including us). We applaud his 2020 award from the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation for outstanding pro bono service.

Anna J. Magee memorial window, Dorcas, 1940s/50s.
(Read our earlier post on the Magee/Dorcas window here ➚ )

D’Ascenzo Studios’ visionary neo-Byzantine window presents the woman “disciple” whose community so revered her for caring for others that it pursued the apostle Peter to return her to life when she suddenly died. He accepted and succeeded (Acts 9), among his early miracles that convinced witnesses of the apostles’ special connection with God. 

The window’s ornate tabernacle and cherub/guide sanctify an apparition of Dorcas’ exemplary daily life: The graceful matron embraces and wraps her needy neighbor in rich cloth.

Their mutual gaze deepens the link. Such shared heart vivifies charity as personal bond. For all the eloquent symbols and inscriptions, this window’s power centers on the two women’s warm engagement. The ensemble presents an “everyday saint” blessed by the divine, who engages intimately with her community, that in turn seeks a miracle to keep her.

The portrayal, according to the window’s inscription, honors the generosity to the church of congregant Anna J. Magee (1841-1923), the last of a family that provided many of the church’s major interior features as family memorials (beginning with the first figural windows discussed in these Anniversary Thoughts). This remarkable woman, as active as she was devout, participated in community ventures throughout the city and for the church. Her most visible contribution to St. Stephen’s is Tiffany’s redecoration of the interior (1917-8) in place today. Together with structural improvements, these final gifts commemorated the church’s 100th Anniversary in 1923, at the end of which she died.

The church community provided this window, the last of all here, to mark Anna Magee’s many benefactions to St. Stephen’s, though the archives grow silent about the project after 1930. 

Today, like the Price Gamaliel window nearby, the Magee Dorcas window presides over related community activity within the nave: the Hope and Healing ministries that feature a clothing closet for the needy, with Dorcas as model. Yet this enterprise has gained a new community dimension. It has drawn contributions and volunteers from outside our walls: a nearby social service agency, Episcopal churches extending even to Ohio, and a diocesan deacon with deacons-in-training. 

The community grows and interacts in new ways.

Our sustained commitment to connection and continuity thus evolves as we enter Century 3. Join in! 

— Suzanne Glover Lindsay, St. Stephen’s historian and curator