The Rose Window by Tiffany Studios was given to St. Stephen’s in 1914 to honor congregant Marie Louise Baird and her love of the church and beauty. Installed at the top center of Furness’ transept, this window illuminates the liturgical center of the church but quickly reveals its presence from a distance.
Even without figures or writing, it teems with meaning.
The shape is either the open rose (associated with Mary) or a spoked wheel, adapting the “fish,” symbol of the man-God Jesus. There are 8 segments, a number that appears repeatedly in the Bible to signal resurrection, regeneration, or a new order.
Throughout are four-leafed forms (quatrefoils) that stand for the four Evangelists, witnesses and messengers of the Word.
Colors intensify from light and delicate at the center to dark and rich at the edges. Individual hues blend into Tiffany’s turquoise for us on the ground, but in fact they represent the rainbow, symbol of God’s covenant with the earth (Genesis 9:13) and of human faith in divine support to the end.
This is a “cosmic” image that, through color and composition, celebrates joyous vitality and harmonious diversity—all transmitted through light, that natural force that brings divine presence into the church.
Even if we don’t know its symbolism, the luminous rainbow radiating from the center mysteriously arrests, reassures, and uplifts us.