St. Mary's

St. Mary’s has one memorial window, given in memory of Mary Shelton Woodbury, a woman of rare “mental and literary attainment” and the late wife of church warden, C.M. (Corrington Messenger) Woodbury. Mary Shelton Woodbury died February 4, 1890. According the July 22 edition of The (Middlesborough) Daily News, the window was created by Coulter Studios in Cincinnati (now Beau Verre Riordan Studios in Middletown, Ohio).

The window is an Art Nouveau triptych. This movement followed the Arts and Crafts Movement and preceded the Art Deco movement in art and architecture. It is true stained glass, that is not only colored but upon which paint has been added to enhance texture and color. Art Nouveau features of the window include many rondelles (circles that look like bottle bottoms) and numerous jewels, nuggets of faceted cut glass. The best time to view the window is in the mid-afternoon on a sunny day, when the colors appear to take on a radiant life of their own.

The two side panels are nearly identical. Mary is represented by a fleur-de-lis in the middle of each panel. Above the fleur-de-lis on the left panel is a picture of a linen covered altar with a chalice, representing the sacrament of Holy Communion. On the right panel is the picture of a baptismal font, representing the sacrament of Holy Baptism.

The middle panel features Jesus the Good Shepherd, on a rock outcropping not dissimilar to the nearby pinnacle. Jesus is clad in a blue and purple garment, royal colors, and a young lamb is on his shoulders.

In 1993, the window was dismantled and taken to a firm in Knoxville for cleaning and repair. It is now protected from the elements by a layer of Plexiglas.

The most famous or infamous part of the window is the heart with ivy design located at the bottom of each side panel. From the outside of the church, some see a devil’s face, others see the Dodge Ram symbol, and still others see nothing at all. Because parts of the Jesus’ robe are painted, his robe appears to be black from the outside and this has had some folks claim to observe Satan in the window. Youth and young adults come from all over the tri-state area to see “the devil church”. We have been assured by stained glass experts that this feature was an unintended consequence of the Art Nouveau style, an accident that has landed us a prominent place in community lore.