12 Blessed are the Meek

Greene Memorial Window

Painted Signature: Tiffany Studios/New York — August 1908

Window 13 is to the right on the balcony towards the entrance.

The simply clad and shrouded angel gazes down to the cloth she carries that contains leaves and berries — symbolic of the earth’s plentitude. The two cherubs hold sheaths of palm and rest their shields against their bodies. These are ornamented by grisaille with a Renaissance-style design. The clouds at the bottom of the composition echo the shape of the cloth and flowers held by the angel. Similar to several other Beatitude windows in this series, rectangular hand-shaped jewels, cruciform shapes, and vines adorn the border.

Mrs. Greene (1841–1905), the donor of the Sanctuary’s “Good Shepherd” memorial window in the Sanctuary (9), was involved in the “Society of the Helping Hand” at the Arlington Street Church. Its mission was to help children living in poverty and sponsor nurses who worked in the poorest neighborhoods of the city. She was also Vice-President of the Ladies’ Union that raised funds for women living in poverty through the selling of the union members’ needlepoint works. The selection of this Beatitude ideally resonated with her charitable work.