Thursday, January 03, 2008

Tell me the story (please!)

I took some photos of the lovely windows at St. Hedwig's Church on Sunday, and today I finished trimming them and importing them. This one struck me in a particular way, because it is only the second time I have ever seen this "motif" and I do not know the story. I'm not even sure who the saint is! (Dominic? Just a guess!)
The first time I saw a depiction of this scene (Dominican with monstrance running out of burning Church) was in a Dominican convent north of Seattle. It had been done in black silhouette, all cut out of paper, by none other than Sr. Mary Jean Dorcy, O.P. (I knew about her from having read her vocational autobiography, "Shepherd's Tartan" before I entered the convent.) She was living in that community at the time, but was too sickly for us to pay a visit. The framed work was on a hallway wall, and it was a good two feet tall. Quite impressive. But (embarrassingly enough, after thirty-plus years in religious life) I don't know what the story is!
Can someone please enlighten me?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Dear Friend,
I have written my good friend Father Victor Brown, OP at the Monestary of the Infant Jesus in Texas...if he doesn't know, perhaps one of the nuns there does.
I have a feeling you have two legends here, the one in the stained glass is perhaps Thomas Aquinas who was devoted to the Blessed Sacrament (Adoro Te, etc.) and the othere...someone protecting the Sacrament from a burning church eludes me. And then yesterday, being the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, there is Blessed John of Vercelli, another Dominican Friar devoted to the Eucharist and the Name of Jesus...I will let you know when I hear something from VBBOP!
Father Fred,CMF

Unknown said...

Here's the scoop from Father Brown:

About the window: the Dominican is St. Hyacinth, a Pole who received the habit from St. Dominic himself. When the Tartars were invading Cracow, he ran into the church to get the Blessed Sacrament lest it fall into their hands. As he was hurrying out of the church, a statue of Our Lady is supposed to have said to him, "Take me with you." So he came out of the church with the Eucharist and the statue of Our Lady in his arms. Hence the images of him.

It's so nice to be able to network like this!
FF, CMF

Sister Anne said...

Oh, thanks so much! It makes sense that it would be a Polish saint: this was in St. Hedwig's Church, which is still a very Polish parish. (They have Polish missalettes in the pews, and the parish bulletin is tri-lingual, adding Spanish for the new Latino population.)

Anonymous said...

Would Fr. Victor Brown be the same Beverly Brown who attended Jesuit High School with James T. Flanagan in the class of 1945? Just musing.spqr

Unknown said...

Yes, spqr(Mom/Winifred), it is...another "Crescent City Connection"
He was pastor of St. Dominic, where I said my first mass in the 1970s and came back as an associate pastor in the 90s before going back to Lufkin. We became immediate friends when he arrived in Lakeview and have kept up our friendship all these year...he is also a wonderful model of priesthood and a mentor of sorts...I'll ask if he remembers you all...
Father Fred

Anonymous said...

Thanks, he will remember Jim. wf