St. Stephen's Chapel - Catholic Cathedral of St. Stephen
Brisbane, Queensland.

(Queensland's oldest church)

Commissioned 1998 by the Liturgical Commission - Archdiocese of Brisbane
Consulting architects, Robin Gibson & Partners.  

New 27 light neo-gothic west window. Leaded - painted, stained and fired French & English antique glass; stainless steel bar.

Top: The garden of paradise & heraldic crest                                             
Centre: Christ in glory
Sides: The story of St. Stephen
Bottom: The four evangelists
Dimensions: Overall width 2.6 m; Height 3.6 m

Click images to enlarge

Feeding the widows

Debating in the temple

Christ in glory

Stoning of Stephen

Background to the Commission

In 1997, the Brisbane architectural firm Robin Gibson & Partners, was commissioned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane to manage a restoration of Brisbane's oldest church and third oldest building in Queensland - St. Stephen's Chapel Brisbane. The chapel - built from a design by the renowned British Victorian architect A. W. Pugin and located in the city centre - was begun in 1848 and completed in 1850; serving as the principal site of worship until St. Stephen's Catholic Cathedral was opened in 1874.

The Chapel and the commission process for the new NW stained glass window
On the north western façade above the entrance, a wooden armature - in extremely poor condition - had been glazed with amber coloured glass. The light transmitted through the window, was orange/yellow and unnaturally coloured internal surfaces of the building, including the white sandstone, cedar roof and pews. The restoration committee wanted to improve the interior environment and restore a more neutral light to the interior. A new stained glass window - in keeping with the style of the building - and including a balanced spectrum of colour, was required. Perpendicular in style, the new window would comprise five gothic lancets on the lower level, these being divided in the upper tier to form ten smaller lancets surmounted by a tracery of quatrefoils and trefoils. At the centre, a multi-foil would hold the heraldic achievement for the Archdiocese of Brisbane. The wooden armature would be replaced with carved stone mullions and tracery - a detail which had been called for in the original 19 th century drawings, but omitted during the building construction. Robin Gibson commissioned Lance Feeney to design and manufacture the new window suggesting the composition would contain scenes from the life and death of St. Stephen, and be generally designed and painted in the Victorian neo-gothic style. An original design was submitted in 1998 after researching the work of A.W. Pugin The design was accepted by The Liturgical Commission of Brisbane on behalf of the Archbishop on 27 th April 1998.  

Description of the NW window

Dimensions (overall); Width = 2.6 m; Height = 3.5 m

Lower Half of the Window
The five bottom lancets Height = 1.7 m; Width = 0.4m (glass size)

Centre lancet
Christ in Glory floats on a background of English ruby glass within a decorative gothic styled nimbus. He holds a book ('The Word') in his left hand, his right hand raised in benediction. On either side at the bottom of the lancet are symbols depicting the emblems of the Christian Brothers.  

Lancets to the Left
Stephen (the first Christian martyr) stands within a decorative gothic pediment, feeding widowed women outside the city walls of Jerusalem. With six other men he was chosen by the Church and ordained by the Apostles to help administer the Church's relief funds in the early days ( Acts 6 1-6) . Below, the Byzantine styled St. Matthew kneels by his writing lectern and faces Christ in Glory.

Stephen defends charges of blasphemy against Moses and God in the Temple. Being a man of eloquence, Stephen engaged also in much Christian evangelistic work. This angered a number of the Jews in Jerusalem. They endeavoured to argue with him, but, being beaten in argument, got others to circulate charges against Stephen. Disturbances broke out, and Stephen was brought before the High Priest and the Council. He defended himself and the speech was long and skilful, but as it progressed Stephen saw that his hearers were hardened against him. Suddenly he denounced them and uproar broke out. Below, the winged lion - Byzantine symbol for St. Mark - looks upward to Christ.

Lancets to the Right
Stephen is dragged outside the city and stoned by an angry mob, commending his spirit to Jesus as he died, and praying for his murderers (Acts 6. 8-7). Below the Byzantine styled symbol of St. Luke (winged Ox) looks back to Christ.

St. Stephen stands robed in white together with other martyred saints within a decorated gothic pediment under which a dove (the Holy Spirit) showers benediction. Below, St John (Byzantine eagle) looks toward Christ.

Below the medallions containing the four Byzantine Evangelists is a dedication banner reading: "On the 9th July 1868 in this Chapel, The Christian Brothers began their first school in Queensland, St. Joseph's College Gregory Terrace".

The tracery trefoils and quatrefoils contain stylized flowers, radiating to their borders. Each panel is bounded by a pastel 'pearled' fillet, accentuating the perpendicular stone mullions and giving lightness and delicacy to the increasing mass of stonework at the apex of the window. A multi-foil at the centre of the composition contains the heraldic crest for the Archdiocese of Brisbane, emblazoned on a ruby background and surrounded by eight white stars.

Making the Window

West Window
St. Stephen’s Chapel
St. Stephen’s Catholic Cathedral
Brisbane QLD

The Construction Process
Begun in May 1998
Full size drawings for the proposed new stone armature were provided by the architect. Utilising these drawings, masons carved the new stonework, and we constructed the new stained glass window. Accuracy in construction from both the masons and our team of glaziers was crucial if the panels were to fit into their allocated apertures.

A group of dedicated craftspeople working in a cooperative and sharing a studio located on the outskirts of Byron Bay NSW were chosen to undertake the work. The project team included:

Artist/Designer, Painter & Project Manager – Lance Feeney;
Studio Manager and Glazier - Arlee Bryant;
Glazier and Installation – Helen Fawell ;
Firing & Kiln-work – Trish Magee, Katie;
Waterproofing – Soji Bryant.

The Cartoons
Charcoal cartoons (full sized drawings) for the proposed panels were drawn up from the scale sketch, including the position of panel joins and supporting ‘saddle bars’. The lead lines were drawn onto the drawing in ink. Cut-lines were traced from the cartoons for glass cutting and glazing. Heavy grade tracing paper was used.

Choosing and cutting the glass
To assist colour choice and overall balance within individual panels and throughout the window, sheets of plate glass (approximate to the sizes of the individual panels) were put up on wooden easels, after being painted with black poster paint (on the reverse side) to simulate the proposed lead lines. The individual pieces of cut glass were then affixed to the plate glass using small balls of plasticine. This jigsaw/mosaic like process, enabled colours and tonal variation to be balanced under optimal natural light and provided opportunities for glass to be replaced before the painting process was undertaken. The choice of glass is critical and much care and time was devoted to ‘getting it right’. In some cases, whole areas of drapery, background or borders were re-cut. This became necessary due to the innate difference between the transparency of glass and the opaque nature of paint on paper. What works in water-colour, may not work in glass.

Painting and firing the glass
The next stage in painting each panel was to remove the individual cut pieces of glass (those requiring painting) from the easel and trace the main outlines - with the glass laid flat. The painted glass was then loaded onto kiln shelves and fired at 1250 degrees Fahrenheit.

After firing was complete, the glass was removed from the kiln, sorted, inspected and then re-applied to the transparent plate glass panels using drops of melted bees wax. This process is called ‘Waxing Up’.

The glass panel was then placed onto a vertical easel and a process of matting performed – i.e.. This process of applying a thin wash of glass paint to the surface of the glass, blending the paint and removing areas of paint to produce highlights and shadows, is called ‘matting’. It allows the artist to control the amount of light transmitted through the glass and modifying transparency.

Matting completed, the glass is again taken down from the easel and fired. The process is repeated until the desired effect has been achieved.

Fabrication
The painted glass is then leaded-up, soldered, waterproofed, polished, banded with copper tie wires and readied for fixing.

Fixing
The 37 crated panels, together with equipment and tools for fixing the window were transported to the Cathedral site in Brisbane. The window was located 3.0M above the Chapel floor and scaffolding was erected internally and also externally. Both sides of the window needed to be accessed for panel placement. Masons drilled holes in the new stonework to hold the supporting Saddle Bars.

Beginning from the base of the window, panels were checked for size against the new stone apertures and placed into their respective positions.

Panels correctly placed and aligned, copper tie wires were then secured to the saddle bars – ‘Banding’. The remaining external gap in the stone glazing grove was mortared to waterproof the window and the scaffolding removed. Fixing the window took four days.