And with your Spirit

Denny Nigon, longtime principal at Lourdes High School, loved to tell the story of the day in May 1993, when Paul Doucette, LHS ’93 Class President came to him full of anticipation and excitement to invite his principal for a walk down the hallway of the 1959 wing of LHS.  “It’s here,” Paul was saying. “Wait ‘til you see it!”

Window, gift of Class of '93, as seen in original installation

As they approached the end of the hallway, the beautiful new stained glass window, the image of a dove designed by artist Mike Podulke, shone in the sunlight.  The window was a gift from the Class of ’93, and it has reminded students and staff of the presence of the Holy Spirit every day since its installation.

As plans were being formulated for a new Lourdes High School facility, bringing along artifacts like the Holy Spirit window were important in the process.  The gift from the Class of ’93 will indeed travel to the new facility, and with some modifications in the design, will occupy a place of prominence in the Chapel at the new high school. 

“Given its new location of 26 feet above the ground (over two stories) in the new Chapel, we realized that reading the text around the center Dove medallion and the Dove itself would be unrecognizable from that distance,” said stained glass artist Rick Rian. “We recommended the existing window be altered to fit the new circular opening.”  A 24” circle will be removed from the center of the existing window (containing the dove medallion, the text circling the dove and the rays emanating from the center of the piece) and will be repurposed as separate new panel.  The panel will be displayed in the chapel or elsewhere in the building and give the opportunity for a plaque near it to recognize the Lourdes Class of 1993, the original donors.

The original Holy Spirit window will then be modified and placed in a prestigious location in the new Chapel tower.  A new larger (24”) Dove medallion will be provided to match the original dove in the center of the redesigned/modified window and placed in the tower that will be more identifiable as a dove from ground level. The remaining Holy Spirit window panels will also be modified to make an eight foot diameter window that will fit in the center of the new tower window system.

Design details for new installation