Page 2, 18th April 2003
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Ampleforth windows open eyes to faith
BY CHRISTINA WHITE
SlAINLD glass windows designed by the internationally celebrated artist and Catholic Herald critic Patrick Reyntiens have been installed at Ampleforth Abbey in North Yorkshire.
The work is Mr Reyntiens's second major commission for the Benedictine foundation.
The four windows. which show events in the life of Our Lady, complement his existing Annunciation Window in the Lady Chapel of the Abbey Church. They draw on a classical heritage but have been executed with a modem form and colour in keeping with the historic church.
The windows depict the Immaculate Conception, the Wedding Feast at Cana, the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and Our Lady's Assumption into Heaven.
The South Transept Windows have also been replaced using lighter colours.
Abbot Timothy Wright, who officially blessed the new windows at a ceremony at the Benedictine Abbey last weekend, said the beauty of the windows was an aid to prayer.
He said: "The new windows are not just a sign of the tremendous affection that many people have for Ampleforth, but above all they pro' vide an important focus for the prayer that is at the heart of the community.
"The colour and beauty of the windows invite us all to spend some time in prayer in the Lady Chapel, remembering she who said 'yes' to the will of God."
A spokeswoman for the Abbey said the windows had been very well received by both the community and visitors to Ampleforth. 'The Lady Chapel is now a very intimate, reflective place in contrast to the Abbey Church which has very plain windows," she said.
"The South Transept windows are full of light and are a link to the windows of the great preReformation Cistercian Abbeys of Yorkshire. These are two contrasting designs of great beauty. They have added a great deal to the abbey and are taking us forward into a third century. We are thrilled with them."
Mr Reyntiens, whose works include windows at Liverpool's Catholic Cathedral, designed the windows with his son, John, also an accomplished stained glass craftsman. John Reyntiens designed and replaced many of the windows at St George's Chapel, Windsor, after the destructive fire of 1992.
An anonymous donor provided the funds for the Lady Chapel windows. The Community of St Louis Abbey in Missouri, America — founded by Ampleforth in 1955 — and the late Margaret Knollys helped to finance the South Transept windows. Additional funds were raised by the community in acknowledgement of the generosity of the Bamford family to whom the South Transept Windows will be dedicated.
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