Still Finding Heraldry Everywhere! - Part 1

I had the opportunity earlier this month to attend the monthly meeting of the Quilters' Guild of Dallas at their new "home", Spring Valley United Methodist Church in northern Dallas, Texas.

I'm not a quilter myself, but my late wife was, and I was hoping to find new homes from some quilts that she had "rescued" from various garage sales and antique malls. She just couldn't stand the thought of quilts that someone had put their heart, soul, and time into creating being sold away from the creator's family, so she "adopted" them. She's gone now, and while I'm keeping three of her rescued quilts, I needed to try to find new homes for the others, and the Quilters' Guild seemed, and was, a likely place to do that.

Anyway, the meeting was in the multipurpose room of the church, Wesley Hall, which has a row of stained glass windows down each side of the room. With shields on them.

There are fourteen of these windows in the hall, but two of them (the ones on the left in the above photo) are plain; one is Gules and the next one is Or. Ah, but the others!

I suspected from the start that the shields in these windows represented the Twelve Apostles from the New Testament of the Bible. And, sure enough, in less than ten minutes research after getting home and looking at the pictures I took, I learned that that hunch was indeed correct!

So today, we're going to look at the first six windows, beginning on this side of the room. 

Saint Paul: A sword, symbolizing his martyrdom (beheading). Also often (as here) depicted with a book or scroll, representing his writings in the New Testament. St. Paul has been here substituted for St. Matthias, whose symbols were an open book surmounted by an axe. The axe refers to his martyrdom. St. Matthias was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot.

Next, we have Saint Peter: Two crossed keys, representing his role as the keeper of the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven and his authority. Sometimes (as here) depicted with an upside-down cross, signifying his martyrdom. The keys refer to the keys of Heaven, and the inverted cross refers to Peter’s crucifixion.

The next window is Saint James the Greater, with his scallop shells, often associated with pilgrimage, particularly by sea. St. James was the first to go on a missionary journey.

The next window is Saint John. His symbol is a chalice with a snake, referencing a story of a poisoned cup he was offered. (He is sometimes shown as an eagle, symbolizing his gospel's focus on the divinity of Christ.)

Saint John is followed by Saint Philip: Two baskets of loaves of bread and a cross, referencing the miracle of the loaves and fishes.

And finally, rounding out the first six Apostles symbolized in these windows, we have Saint Andrew: An X-shaped cross (also known in heraldry as a saltire), on which he was crucified.

Next time, we'll look at the windows and emblems of the remaining six Apostles.