Historic Windows Dedicated at Manhattan College Chapel

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Twelve stained glass windows signifying The Life and Work of St. John Baptist de La Salle are back home with the Brothers of the Christian Schools at Manhattan College.

The college celebrated the Feast of St. John Baptist de La Salle with the unveiling and dedication of the stained glass windows at Manhattan’s Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers on April 7.

St. John Baptist de La Salle is the founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, and Manhattan was the first Lasallian college established in the United States.

“We had Mass at the brothers’ residence (on April 6), and the homilist, who is alumnus of the college from the 60s, said something that was very moving and I never thought before,” said Dr. Brennan O’Donnell, president of Manhattan College, in an interview with CNY.

“It’s almost like the chapel has been waiting 100 years to be completed. That notion that the windows complete the chapel is really nice because it’s really true. There was always a sense stained glass should be in there.’’

The dedication ceremony included the presentation of the windows by James Casey and John Hannaway, co-chairs of District of Eastern North America De La Salle Windows Campaign Committee. The presentation was followed by the blessing of the windows by Auxiliary Bishop John J. Jenik, episcopal vicar of the Bronx and North Manhattan and Central Harlem, and Father Erwin H. Schweigardt, a Manhattan graduate and retired pastor from the Diocese of Albany.

“The chapel is 10 times more beautiful with the stained glass. People are going to appreciate the chapel a lot more,’’ said Valentina Valladares, 18, a freshman from Rockland County. “It represents so many Catholic things that are important to us and establish us as a college. So it’s important they are here and they help us so much establish ourselves as a Catholic institution.”

Manhattan also presented an honorary degree to Brother Gustavo Ramirez Barba, F.S.C., one of seven general councilors for Lasallian Higher Education Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.

“This Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers, the centerpiece of the Manhattan College campus, has been, is and will be a place of worship; that is true. But, now, with these new windows, you have made this Chapel also a place of discovery for those who search for meaning to their lives,’’ Brother Ramirez Barba said to the crowd in accepting his degree.

The De La Salle windows, created by the French workshop of L. Mazuet et fils of Bayeux in the early 1900s, were originally installed at the Christian Brothers Novitiate in Pocantico Hills. The windows were moved to the Christian Brothers Novitiate in Barrytown in 1930 and remained there after the Christian Brothers sold the Dutchess County property in 1974. The Christian Brothers and Manhattan College reacquired the windows last year.

The windows were removed and replaced at Barrytown, slightly cut to fit the window openings at the Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers and restored by Rohlf’s Stained and Leaded Glass Studio in Mount Vernon. The windows were installed at Manhattan earlier this year. The project cost $1.2 million, money raised through donations from contributors by the college and the District Council of the brothers’ District of Eastern North America.

“It was a great collaborative project between the college and the district,” O’Donnell said. “It makes great sense for the windows to be in a college because of the fact they are teaching tools, and this is a very vibrant crossroads where a lot of people will see them.

“It’s a nice moment for the college, and it’s a really nice moment for the whole district of the brothers’ community here to come together. Some of the brothers in the chapel lived with the windows when they were in formation (at Barrytown). That’s very moving, I think, because the windows are near and dear to their heart, and they’re glad they can come see them.’’

Brother Raymond Meagher, F.S.C, a professor at Manhattan College, was thrilled to see the windows again.

“Having the windows here is sensational,” he said. “When I was in Barrytown, all these windows I saw everyday, but just took them for granted. They were there; I never looked at them really closely. Now they’re here and my life is going back 40 years. These are memories of what we are about.”