Stanton Stained Glass

Stained glass part of Ursuline legacy

By Grace Cicardo
Special to The Texas Catholic

In 1899, Ursuline women gathered to celebrate the Silver Jubilee and to come together as a group of alumnae. This year, more than 110 years later, women, young and old, came together to celebrate the school’s rich history and tradition and to embrace a symbol of the past.

Many high schools have alumni reunions, but Ursuline’s Alumnae Homecoming is rooted in a special tradition started more than 100 years ago.

Ursuline Academy was started in Dallas in 1874, after a group of Ursuline nuns came to Dallas from Galveston.

In 1899, a few women felt they needed to give a donation as part of the first action as an alumnae association, then known as the Old Pupil’s Association. They donated a stained glass window, in honor of Ursuline Academy’s Silver Jubilee.

The window cost $1,000. It was designed and created by German artist Franz Xavier Zettler, who used large pieces of glass with a minimum number of lead lines. Zettler is widely recognized as the master of the use of perspective and is credited with being the first to use three-point perspective in stained glass windows.

The stained glass, a depiction of Christ and the Five Wise Virgins, was displayed in the chapel of the old Ursuline Academy on Bryan Street.

The stained glass conveys the wisdom of Ursuline founders and their mission to educate women, particularly insightful in the 19th century.

When Ursuline Academy moved to its current location on Walnut Hill more than 50 years ago, the stained glass moved too, but remained in storage until 1974. At that time, the window was donated to the Dallas Historical Society for display in Old City Park in honor of Ursuline Academy’s 100th anniversary.

However, Old City Park officials could not find a location for the large window and it was returned to Ursuline in its original crates. The stained glass was rediscovered in a storage shed on the campus in 1994.

New beginning

Once Ursuline administrators knew they would have a permanent home for it, they began the restoration. The meticulous restoration was completed by Stanton Glass Studio in Waco.

Bryant Stanton, the company’s owner, was astounded by the workmanship in the stained glass. “The most unusual aspect of this project is the way it came to us — it was a do-it-yourself jigsaw puzzle with thousands of pieces,” says Stanton.

The window was not fully pictured in the few photos that were kept of the window. This was one of the many difficulties in repairing the glass.

Once the restoration work was completed, the glass was installed in the new French Family Science, Math and Technology Center last year.

It brings the rich history of the founding Ursuline sisters to the new, sleek building. The building was blessed on Jan. 31 during the Alumnae Homecoming with alumnae, young and old, coming to celebrate the past and the future.

Sister Mary Troy blessed the window with the help of Aimee Baillargeon Griffiths, class of 1990 and president of the Alumnae Board.

Sybil Tucker, class of 1951 and Ursuline Academy archivist, best describes the addition and its contribution to the new building: “Part of the Ursuline mission is to educate the whole woman — mind and soul. The window speaks to the soul just as the new French Family Science, Math, and Technology Center speaks to the mind.”

Grace Cicardo, a sophomore at Ursuline Academy in Dallas, is a member of The Texas Catholic Youth Advisory Board.

(c) 2010 The Texas Catholic Online