poliphilo: (Default)
poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2021-04-15 03:53 pm

Three National Saints

This window in Leigh church commemorates Lieutenant Godfrey Hine of the Irish Guards who was killed at Loos in 1915. It's the work of the prolific stained glass artist Archibald Keightly Nicholson. I'm not saying it's anything more than a typical example of the ecclesiastical art of its period, but I find the iconography interesting and touching.



In the centre we have St Patrick for Ireland- and he's flanked on either side by St Joan for France and St George for England. I haven't come across this particular arrangement before- and the writer of the church's entry on the British Listed Buildings site agrees that it's unusual. Given that Joan is sporting a halo and wasn't officially canonized until 1920 I'm guessing the window was installed in the early nineteen twenties.

Like most English people I love St Joan.


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