20 Windows of Light: Stained Glass for the Church of the Sacred Heart in Čeljevo

In 2014 the parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Čeljevo, in Herzegovina, gave its church a new language of light. Stanisic Studio made 20 new stained glass windows for it, all in the studio's atelier in Sombor, Republic of Serbia, and installed them in the church.

A parish and its church

Čeljevo is a village in Herzegovina, in the south of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its parish of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus was founded in 1974, and its church was begun in 1976 and blessed in 1979, according to the parish monograph published for its 50th anniversary.

The church is bright and simple: white walls, wooden pilasters and a long band of wood that runs along the nave. Above it, the windows stand in pairs, tall and arched, each pair telling 2 stories side by side.

The commission

The parish, led by its pastor, don Blaž Ivanda, asked for 20 new windows, each about 29 x 90 inches, close to 360 square feet of stained glass in all. The designs were drawn by an artist engaged by the parish, who signed many of the windows with the initials E.M. The studio came to the church to take the exact measurements of every opening, and with the artist and the parish chose the kinds and colors of glass from the studio's large stock of fine colored glass.

Gospel scenes in glass

The windows read like a picture Bible, in strong, clear colors: deep blues for sky and water, warm reds and golds for robes and light.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus, patron of the parish, stands in a red cloak with his heart shining on his breast, above a church and its bell tower, and beside him the Holy Family, Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus, sits in a burst of light.

Other pairs follow the life of Christ and his teaching. Christ stands in the boat and calms the storm, and the sower scatters seed in the field. The Good Shepherd keeps his sheep, and the apostles haul in the miraculous catch of fish. Christ reaches down to save Peter sinking in the waves.

The great feasts are here too. The risen Christ stands on the globe with the banner of victory, and at Pentecost the dove of the Holy Spirit pours its rays over Mary and the apostles. In a single tall window, Christ rises in the Ascension above the apostles who watch from below.

Mary has her own pair: Saint Anne teaching the young Mary, and Our Lady in blue with a rosary, standing above a church tower.

Made the traditional way in Sombor

Every window was made in the atelier in Sombor the way stained glass has always been made. The approved designs were enlarged to full size, 1 to 1, in 2 copies, and templates were cut from them to guide the cutting of every piece of glass.

The glass itself is colored in the making. Faces, hands, clothing and their shadows and volume were then painted onto it by hand with iron oxide paints and fired in the kiln at about 1,200 °F, so the paint fuses with the glass and resists heat, condensation and sunlight for good. The pieces were assembled in lead came, chosen in widths from about 1/8 to 1/2 inch to suit each design, and cemented on both sides so the panels are stable and watertight.

Installation

The finished windows traveled from Sombor to Čeljevo, where the studio installed them in the existing frames of the church, working from a scaffold high along the nave.

Church: Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Čeljevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Pastor: don Blaž Ivanda
Work: 20 stained glass windows, each about 29 x 90 inches
Design: artist engaged by the parish, signed E.M.
Fabrication and installation: Stanisic Studio, Sombor, Republic of Serbia
Year: 2014

The church and its bell tower in Čeljevo The parish at Mass beneath the windows