Searching for heaven; the souls of the builders of the Middle Ages

For the medieval mind, this earth was a place of exile in which there was a paradise: the Holy Catholic Church, the only true church of the only true God.  And the stained glass windows were the windows of this paradise. 

 

The  Romans discovered the window, but they never made stained glass windows.

When did stained glass start?

When the desire for the marvelous started.

If the souls of the stained glass makers were not searching for this blue, green and gold, would they have taken the trouble to discover them?

 

They preferred to live a life of semi-poverty to find that perfect blue or green for a stained glass window of Our Lady, Saint Gabriel, or some other saint.

Afterward, they died happily: "Our Lady now has a perfect blue color in her stained glass window.  This is my contribution that will remain forever for Her glory."

And we would like to imagine that the angel that came to take their soul at death had the holiness and virtue to match the color of their dream. 

This was the death of an artisan who made the stained glass window.

 

He could say:

"My life has meaning and purpose; I made this color known to men, to the piety of the Church, for the glory of Our Lady in a certain mystery of Her life.  O sun!  You were created before me, but you were also made so one day your rays would cross my window.  For as long as you exist, for as long as the world exists, a ray of yours will cross the blue of my dreams, and brighten the granite floor and lift up the soul of some faithful that sees it.  My life is explained."

Behind the history of the stained glass window is the story of the souls that desired these colors.

But there's more.

It is the history of a family of souls that desired something marvelous that was far more universal than one color.   They desired the complete stained glass window. 

And above them were the souls who thought of the cathedral.

Why -- is not the stained glass window just part of the cathedral? 

The stained glass windows are the 'eyes' of the cathedral, if you will.

The soul of the Middle Ages that thought of the cathedrals and castles desired more, more and more.

When was this soul born?

When was the soul and spirit of the Middle Ages born?

We row up the river of Church history when we ask ourselves these questions.

All these souls who engendered the gothic, desired always more, more and more perfect things. 

And the day will come when the perfection of the Church and Christian Civilization will reach such a height that the Reign of Mary will be established on earth. 

And, therefore, art and culture, and the stained glass windows, plus many other things, will flourish and excel like never before.

We are in an era where the Reign of Mary is germinating.

To know what the Reign of Mary will be like, we should try to feel it pulsating in our souls and not so much try to plan or organize it.

(Taken from: http://tudosobreidademedia.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html.  Originally, from a lecture by Plínio Correa de Oliveira.  The translation is my own and it was not revised by the author. )