Window 3: The Last Rites
The third window in the Creation and the New Creation series of windows at the church of
Saints Leonard and Fergus, Dundee.
The light from the first day of Creation in Window 2 extends into this window, Window 3: The Last Rites, apparent in the Celtic latticework pattern that forms the background to this window. In it, the light stands out against a variety of blues and greens, representative of water. This is particularly noticeable in the transom, a simple leaded light with no detail other than the subtle colour changes.
The Last Rites, also known as the Anointing of the Sick or Extreme Unction, are the last prayers and sacraments given to someone shortly before death. As discussed in the previous window, Window 2: The Resurrection, it may initially seem strange that Jesus’s Resurrection and this final sacrament, offered to a person at their death, come so early in the windows. But as already explained, taken together, both windows symbolise the beginning of the New Creation, in that the end of earthly life is really the beginning of eternal life. The Last Rites sacrament is performed to heal and strengthen the dying Christian and prepare them for a new eternal life in Christ in which they, too, become Christ-like.
The transom, showing subtle colour changes in the Celtic style latticework.
The Last Rites are symbolically depicted high up in the main window by a ship, sailing into harbour. This illustration is Dad’s own design but in the style of a medieval illumination, linking it to the one of Jesus’s Resurrection in the transom of Window 2.
The ship represents the individual soul, and the harbour represents heaven and eternal life. There is a golden glow above the harbour representing the rising sun, symbolic not only of the New Creation and a new beginning, but of the oil used for anointing the sick or dying person.
While the Last Rites connects backwards to Jesus’s Resurrection, it also links forwards to the next two windows. As mentioned above, various shades of blue and green are introduced into the Celtic latticework background of this window which are representative of water. Water is a major
Window 3: The Last Rites.
feature of this and the next two windows, Window 4: The Firmament and Window 5: Baptism. Together they connect to the second day of Creation when God created the Firmament ‘to separate the waters from the waters’ (Gen 1.6).
The 'ship of the soul' sailing into the harbour of heaven and eternal life.
Apart from the variety of water colours in the Celtic background pattern of these three windows, the water theme is present in this window in the ‘ship of the soul’ mentioned above, sailing on the sea into the harbour of heaven. In Window 4, it is present in the big billowy clouds and the sea, separated by the Firmament, represented by a rainbow. In Window 5, it is present in the water of baptism, over which the Holy Spirit, as a dove, hovers. The medieval style of depicting water is followed both in the Last Rites ship sailing into harbour and in the water over which the Holy Spirit hovers.
In addition to the reference to the biblical account of the second day of Creation, Dad included a more scientific and contemporary perspective of the evolution of life on earth although he was keen to include only forms of life still in existence now rather than any prehistoric life forms. At the bottom of this first, watery window are hints of the beginnings of primitive sea life: jellyfish, seaweed – probably the first plants on earth – and a school of small fry, all appearing in sea-blues, greens and greys. They are not easy to see at first, indicating something of the newness of life on this planet, overlapping with the newness of eternal life indicated in the sacrament of the Last Rites. The jellyfish are particularly ethereal, being acid-etched in glass of light shades.
The small sea life details in the bottom of this window lead into the full expression of the second day of Creation in the next window, Window 4: The Firmament.
The beginnings of primitive sea life: jellyfish, seaweed and a school of small fry.