Stained Glass Windows

GUNNISON CHAPEL IS KNOWN FOR ITS BEAUTIFUL STAINED GLASS WINDOWS. The stained glass windows are central part of the chapel. When the chapel was built, only two stained glass windows were installed at the time. Those two original windows are still here. The Cross and the Crown window is positioned directly behind the altar and it is fashioned after a window found in the Universalist Church of Malden, Massachusetts where Dr. Richard Eddy Sykes, President of St. Lawrence University at the time of the chapel's construction served before becoming St. Lawrence’s president in 1919. The other original stained glass window is from Virgil’s and from Mallory’s Morte d’Arthur.

All of the other windows were clear windows for nearly 50 years. Installation of the rest of the stained glass windows began in 1972 by the renowned Willet Studios. The chapel windows were designed by Marguerite Gaudin who has been associated with Willet Studios since 1931. 

In 1972, over 20 stained glass windows designed and executed by Willet Studios were installed as memorial gifts from alumni, family members, and friends of the University. Through our celebrated Stained Glass Windows, Gunnison Chapel is a teaching chapel. The larger stained glass windows depict scenes and academic majors at St. Lawrence, and the smaller, head-height, windows depict historical figures who have influenced the university and world in some way – like Emily Dickinson, Gandhi, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The largest of all stained glass windows is The Great North Window, in the rear of the chapel, over the entrance. In this window is a famous quote from one of the school’s founders: “We have lit a candle in the wilderness that will never be extinguished.”

Chaplain Shaun offers a Stained Glass Windows Tour for the campus and community on the first Tuesday of every month at 4:30 pm.  Join us!