The St. Cecilia window is dedicated to the Glory of God and in loving memory of Joseph and Emma Agg and their family. Joseph Agg was organist and choir director at All Saints’ from 1919–1926, Emma was an active member of the choir and the   Woman’s Auxiliary.

The window is rich and warm in its varying shades of cream, gold, green, and brown. The bright golden organ occupies the right foreground of the window and is commanding in its mass and brilliance. The angel rising in the upper back third of the window is dramatic and eye-catching. The compression of its wings in the arch of the window creates the impression that the grandeur of this angel is barely contained within the scene. The subject of the window, St. Cecilia herself, occupies the left-hand portion of the window. The nimbus and red shawl collar of her cloak serve to frame her lovely face.

Conspicuously central to the window, in the space between these three major elements — the saint, the organ, the angel — is Cecilia’s single upraised hand. Her fingers are elegantly outstretched and her thumb slightly crossed over her palm as if she has just raised her hand from the keyboard. Consider also the tilt of her jaw and the way she is glancing sideways and upward toward the angel. This is no question that this central gesture is that of a conductor, perhaps cueing her trumpeter to an entry or maybe a tempo change in her song. How fitting a memorial for a music director.

In her time (c 200 AD), Cecilia was a cultivated young Roman woman who vowed her virginity to God. On her wedding day, “as the musicians played, she sang in her heart to God only” (cantantibus organis illa in corde suo soi domino decantabat). Cecilia told her new husband, Valerian, that she was accompanied by an angel, and in order to see it, he must be baptized. Valerian and his brother were converted and later martyred for their faith. Cecilia was also killed. Some accounts indicate that as she was dying, Cecilia again sang in her heart to God. By the 15th century, St. Cecilia was declared Patron Saint of musicians, poets, and church music. In art, she is most often depicted playing the organ and accompanied by cherubim or an angel. Palms, a symbol of martyrdom, and lilies, the flowers of purity, also often appear in St. Cecilia depictions. Not surprisingly, St. Cecilia windows are usually situated in choir lofts, music rooms, or near to the organ.

A final notable feature of this window is the last line of the dedication: “Given by the late Ronald Agg 1985.” It was Ronald Agg, Joseph and     Emma’s youngest son, who spearheaded the arrangements for the window’s creation and installation. He did not live to see it dedicated.

 

Whitby Doors Open 2016 this May celebrated the life and history of John Hamar Greenwood. The window on the west wall of All Saints is dedicated to his memory and to that of his wife, Charlotte Churchill Hubbard.

The couple was married in 1865 in Pickering by the Incumbent of All Saints’, the Rev. J. D’Arcy Cayley. The church building was in the process of being constructed at the time.

Mr. Greenwood (1829-1903) was a lawyer, a mayor of Whitby, and an active member of the church. Mrs. Greenwood was the daughter of a United Empire Loyalist family.

One of their sons, born 1870 and originally named Thomas, but later taking Hamar as his first name, emigrated to England and eventually served as Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1920-1922. He was created a Baronet in 1915 and later became 1st Viscount Greenwood” in 1937.

In 1938, Viscount and Lady Greenwood visited Whitby and All Saints for the dedication of his parents’ memorial window. He is named in the window along with his six siblings, Mary, Charlotte, William, Florence, Margery, and Gladys.

 In the circular window is the Greenwood coat of arms, with the family motto, “Law and Loyalty”. In the main panels, the left one depicts a figure of “Faith” and the right one “Charity”. The plaque also bearing the Greenwood coat of arms was placed beneath the window by the congregation after the Viscount Greenwood’s death in 1938.

 

Above the Rev. E. Ralph Adye, Rector of All Saints’ Church, Viscount Hamar Greenwood, Viscountess Greenwood (with children Eric and Doborah behind her), and the Most Rev. Derwyn T. Owen, Archbishop of Toronto and Primate of all Canada, stand in front of All Saints’ after the unveiling of the Hamar Greenwood memorial window on September 4, 1938.

Below the Greenwood family poses with R.S. and Mrs. McLaughlin who hosted the Greenwood at Parkwood, the McLaughin residence  in Oshawa. See more images in the Whitby Digital Archives.

Twenty-five years passed between the time the Balcony Window was reserved and a memorial window was installed and dedicated in that space. In January 1939, Vestry was asked “to approve of, and order the reservation of the space at the South end of the church above the Front doors, for the erection, at some time in the future, of a memorial window.” The donor desired “The Ascension of our Blessed Lord in Heaven to be the subject depicted in stained glass.”

At Vestry in January 1963, the Rector reported on the bequest from the estate of Mrs. Christian, which allowed for the commission and installation of that memorial window over the front doors. The window was dedicated on March 8th, 1964.

The scene falls naturally into two zones, an upper heavenly part and a lower earthly part. The circular window above depicts an angel holding the golden crown of life. The main panels show Christ ascending, flanked by angels, one with a banner reading “Praise the Lord,” the other with a banner reading “For the Lord is Good.” The lower earthbound scene features the Virgin Mary, who is traditionally placed at the centre of the grouping, with her head bowed. She is surrounded by the upward-looking apostles.

“Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.        

To the glory of God and in loving memory of  Arthur Edward Christian who died July 4, 1931.

And his wife Clarissa Elmina Christian who died July 6, 1962.”

 

The two windows on the east side of the church and closest to the chancel are memorials to Daniel Betts and his wife Eliza Almond Betts.

The Daniel Betts window depicts seven Christian symbols. Above all is the Pentecost dove of the Holy Spirit. Below that are (on the left) the intertwined Greek letters, alpha (Α) and omega (Ω), the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet and the Revelation identification of Christ. Opposite this is the Christogram, “IHS” which are the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus, IHΣΟΥΣ, iota–eta–sigma, or ΙΗΣ. Centrally, on bright red backgrounds, are a golden cross ribboned with the words “Take up thy cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24), and a golden crown and lilies with the words “I will give thee a Crown of Life” (Rev. 2:10). At the bottom are the three interconnected loops of the trefoil (the three-lobed shape) superimposed on the triangle denoting the Holy Trinity. Together they emphasize the eternity or unifying love of the Trinity. Opposite this is the crown of thorns and three nails of the Crucifixion.

The Eliza Betts window is an elegantly understated, pale-toned window with two nearly mirror-image panels (noting the differences in the angels makes for nice game to pass the time with little ones in church).

Although Mrs. Betts lived into the 20th century, and she herself, in her will, gave instructions for the installation of the window, the archaic term “relict” is used instead of “widow” to describe her relationship to Daniel, her husband. Notable also, is how precisely her age at death is measured.