Windows of St Bede’s Semaphore 200 Military Road Semaphore South Australia
Baptism & Marriage
Donated in memory of Jack Hopetoun Albert Raggatt and Eileen Raggatt by their son Edward H Raggatt on 10 February 2002.
These represent two important stages of our lives and reminds us of the importance of these commitments that we make at these two stages.
The windows were designed and made by local Adelaide artists Lindy Sando and Vaughan Taylor from Kersbrook. The design located in the porch windows at the church entrance demonstrates the linkages between community life and church life values – the perpetuality of the community and the foundation of our closest relationships.
The Mary Magdalene window is the generous gift of Mrs. Merle Marten to St. Bede's Church, Semaphore. The John the Baptist window is dedicated in loving memory of Merle's late husband, Roy Marten who died in 1988.
The window shows Mary Magdalene in the garden on the first Easter morning. According to tradition, Mary is shown with long auburn hair and a red robe. In her left hand she carries a jar of ointment which she is bringing to the tomb so that she can anoint the lifeless body of Jesus. However, as she approaches the tomb, which can be seen just below her elbow, she hears someone, and turns to meet the Risen Lord. Her face shows apprehension and surprise as she tries to understand what has happened. In the background, the city of Jerusalem can be seen as dawn begins to light the sky.
This window is linked thematically with John the Baptist as he was the last in the line of great prophets of the Old Testament tradition, and was the herald of the coming of Christ. Mary Magdalene, as the first witness to the Resurrection, is the first in the line of faithful followers of the Risen Christ. She has been called the "Apostle to the Apostles." Both characters point away from themselves, towards Jesus.
St John The Baptist The John the Baptist window depicts John the Baptist, clothed in camel skins and with a leather girdle. His arm is raised as he proclaims, “Prepare the way of the Lord". The sky is turbulent, as is the stream at John's feet, to indicate that the old order is about to be disturbed by the coming of the Messiah. John leans on a prophet's staff, which hints at the cross. The background of the picture shows the wilderness, and the border is, appropriately, Sturt's Desert Pea. At the top of the window is the insignia of the Sovereign Order of St. John, to which Roy Marten belonged. The bulldog in the picture is a reminder of the bulldogs which were part of the Marten household for many years.
Dedication to Semaphore
Early scenes of Semaphore and beach dedicated to the Gryst family. The first family member, Fisher Pollard Gryst was a pharmaceutical chemist. In the 1950's, Gryst Chemist’s was a dominant chain of retail pharmacies. These windows depict the working life in the early days and general industry around Semaphore and Port Adelaide. Section 1 and 2 of the window show the original Jervois Bridge. Section 2 includes the stonemasons of old. Section 3 includes the Time Ball Tower and the Water Tower, prominent landmarks. The Time Ball Tower - a solid stone structure was built in 1875. At 1pm daily, the black ball drops, signalling ships to rate their chronometers, vital navigation instruments.
St Luke the Evangelist St Luke the Evangelist (gospel-writer) is traditionally ascribed as author of the Gospel of Luke, one of the four canonical gospels found in the Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
In his Gospel, Luke emphasizes Christ's compassion for sinners and for those who suffer. He focuses on the poor and oppressed, encouraging tenderness and compassion for the less fortunate. The Gospel stresses evangelizing people of all nations. Women also have an important place in Luke's Gospel, including reference to the women who accompanied Jesus, and provided for Jesus and his disciples by using their own resources (Luke 8:1-3).
St Luke is considered to be the writer of the Acts of the Apostle as well as Luke’s Gospel, and to have accompanied St Paul from Macedonia to Philippi, in the mid-first century of the Common Era. Saint Luke was born a Greek and a Gentile (non-Jew) in Antioch, Syria and died in March, 84 in Thiva, Greece.
St Luke is believed to be physician, based on Colossians 4:14, and the witness of ancient writers Eusebius, St Jerome, Saint Irenaeus and Caius (2nd century writer). He is the patron saint of physicians and surgeons. Luke may have been a slave, as it was not uncommon in those times for slaves to be educated in medicine, so the family would have a resident physician. Saint Luke's feast day is celebrated on October 18th.
St George This window was donated by the son of Harold Edwin and Adelaide Purches on Saint Georges Day 1964. Harold was an area Commissioner of the Boy Scouts and St George is their patron saint. Saint George was born to a Christian family during the late 3rd Century. His father was from Cappadocia and served as an officer in the army. His mother was from Lydda, Palestine. The youth followed his father's example by joining the army soon after coming of age. He proved to be a good soldier and consequently rose through the military ranks of the time. By his late twenties he had gained the title of Tribune and then Count, at which time George was stationed in Nicomedia as a member of the personal guard attached to the Roman Emperor Diocletian (Reign 284-305). In 303, Diocletian issued an edict authorising the systematic persecution of the Christian across the Empire. His Caesar, Galerius was supposedly responsible for this decision and would continue the persecution during his own reign (305-311). George was ordered to take part in the persecution but instead confessed to being a Christian himself and criticised the imperial decision. An enraged Diocletian ordered the torture of this apparent traitor and his execution.
Faith Donated in memory of John Bollard and Charles Henry Moritz December, 1911, by their family. John Ballard was the father in law of Henry Moritz. The Moritz Family was associated with the operation of Fort Glanville, where he was the Sergeant Major. Many parishioners of St Bede’s were involved in the construction of Fort Largs and Fort Glanville. Saint Faith The figure on the Window is the artistic depiction of the virtue of "FAITH". Faith (in Latin - Sancta Fides, French - Saint Foy, Spanish - Saint Fe) is a saint who reportedly lived in Gaul (now France) in the late 3rd Century, called “Virgin and Martyr' in the traditional lists of SAINTS. A girl or young woman from the city of Agen in the region of Aquitaine of France, she was arrested during persecutions of Christians by the Roman Empire and refused to make pagan sacrifices even under torture. Her death was sometimes said to occur around 287 AD or 290 AD, also was said that her death may have occurred sometimes in the large-scale persecution under Diocletian beginning in 303 AD. After her death, a number of legends grew up about her. In the year 866, her remains were relocated to Conques, which was along the pilgrimage route to Compostela. Her feast day is October 6. It is now believed by many scholars that she is simply a misunderstanding of the expression "holy faith."
Christ the Good Shepherd Henry Thomas Percy Mackin died August 2nd 1902 Aged at 46 he is one of a number who died young about the turn of the century. In 1883 St Bede's opened Semaphore Collegiate School in Turton St. where Henry Macklin a Lay Reader and Choirmaster of St Bede’s, was later employed as a teacher. Henry Macklin was also a well-known local singer (and highly regarded ), and conductor, and a report in the South Australia Register dated 17 December 1896 gave a glowing account of his ability as a schoolmaster at Semaphore Collegiate School. The Figure in the windows is of Christ the Good Shepherd, looking after his flock. "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me." John 10:14.
Mary
This window was donated by James Henry Gibbon in memory of his wife Jane Marshall Gibbon, who died on the September 22, 1923. Captain James Gibbon, was a warden of the Marine Board of South Australia and also was a surveyor for Lloyds of London from 1815 to 1919, having a career which lasted 68 years. The figure in the window is Mary, mother of Jesus visiting her cousin Elizabeth with the quotation from Luke's gospel, advising her that she was pregnant. Three months after the angel's annunciation, Mary visited her relative Elizabeth, the elderly wife of Zachary who served as a priest in the temple at Jerusalem. Mary had been told that this couple advanced in age was to have a child, too, "for nothing is impossible with God." "Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zachary's house and greeted Elizabeth. "Now when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, 'Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.'" (Luke 1:39-45) Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then went back home. Finally, six months later, her own Son was born.
Resurrection
The Resurrection Window was gifted by the Schroder family in memory of Bill Schroder. The window was designed and painted by Lindy Sando of Artglass and was made by her partner Vaughan Taylor, They are glass artists whose studio is at Kersbrook in the Adelaide Hills Central to the window is the Easter lily, bursting through the outlined Cross. Together, the cross and lily depict the great truths of Easter – death and renewed life. The purple glass of the cross is marked with nails and thorns. At the base of the Easter lily, seed pods fall to the ground in order to germinate, and the cellular shapes behind the lily indicate new birth and growth Ascending from the bottom of the window are the smoky verticals representing the industrial skyline of Port Adelaide, and in particular the towers of Adelaide Brighton Cement. Across the stacks are angular shapes of clear bevelled glass, creating the effect of the cement plant at night. Beneath the arms of the cross are shimmering of angels wings ascending to the glorious blue in the tracery. Here, the interplay of the different blue hues and clear jewel-like roundels is redolent of the heavenly vision and release from earthly pain. Winding across the whole top part of the window is the unwound ribbon of burial bandages left behind by the RESURRECTED LORD.
Charity
In memory of Lottie Swan died June 1912 wife of the Rev’d Canon William A. Swan, Rector of St Bede’s 1901-1918. ‘A gift from the Parishioners’ In the reign of Hadrian, a Roman matron Sophia (Wisdom), with her three youthful daughters, Pistis, Elpis, and Agape (Faith, Hope and Charity), underwent martyrdom for the Faith, and were interred on the Aurelian Way, where their tomb is in a crypt beneath the church afterwards erected to St. Pancratius Later surely than the reign of Hadrian, but at what time is uncertain, another band of martyrs, Sapientia (Wisdom) and her three companions, Spes, Fides and Caritas (Hope, Faith and Charity), suffered death and were buried near the tomb of St. Cecilia in the cemetery of St. Callistus on the Appian Way. Despite the meagreness of these authentic details, the explicit references in the documents cited to a band of martyrs, (mother and daughters), whose names are always given in Greek, and who are buried on the Aurelian Way, and to another band of four martyrs, interred on the Via Appia, whose relationship is not indicated and whose names, though the same as those of the martyrs of the Aurelian Way, are yet always given in Latin, certainly point to distinct groups. Nor is the coincidence in names remarkable, seeing that the early Christians so often took in baptism mystical names indicative of Christian virtues, etc. Thus Sophia, Sapientia, Fides and the like are common names in early Christian inscriptions and martyrologies. The Roman martyrology names on 1 Aug., "the holy virgins, Faith, Hope and Charity, who won the crown of martyrdom under the Emperor Hadrian" and, on 30 Sept., "St. Sophia, widow, mother of the holy virgins, Faith, Hope and Charity". In some places, on 1 Aug., St. Sapientia is also venerated; but generally owing to the confusion of the two groups, none of the second group receives special recognition. In the Eastern Church the feast is kept on 17 September.
St. Oswald A memorial to 2nd Lt John Ainsworth Horrocks who enlisted 16th Feb 1918 and died of wounds died in France, August 8th, 1918. John was the grandson of one of the state’s early pioneers Mr Arthur Horrocks, who with his brother founded the small township of Penworthem near Clare. Arthur Horrocks is also immortalised in Horrocks Pass in the southern Flinders Ranges. Oswald was the eldest son of Aethelfrith, King of Bernicia and was probably born in the royal palace of Yeavering in the year 605. After the death of his father, who was killed in battle by Edwin, Oswald and his brothers went into exile into Scotland, possibly even onto the island of Iona. During his 16 years exile Oswald certainly came into contact with the Community of Columba and, being influenced by their teaching and life-style, became a Christian. After the death of Edwin, Oswald returned in 634 from his exile and sought to regain his kingdom through battle with Cadwallon. The night before the Battle of Heavenfield – near to Hexham – Oswald made a wooden cross, erected it and had his army gather around it and pray for victory. Oswald’s victory led to the unification of the kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira into the kingdom of Northumbria. He set up his royal palace and court at Bamburgh and called for monks from Iona to establish – or in fact re-establish more firmly – Christianity throughout his land. Aidan responded to this call from Iona, and he established a church at Bamburgh and a Community, based on Columba’s Community on the island of Lindisfarne. This was to be a place of learning, of culture and of mission. We know from Bede’s “Ecclesiastical History of the English People” that Oswald and Aidan forged a deep friendship and partnership; the King acted as interpreter for the Bishop, who to begin with only spoke his native Irish language. Oswald, who despite living in violent days, is renowned as a diplomat, a unifier, a generous and humble king, who is remembered as a martyr.
St. Augustine
This window is in memory of the Rev Canon William Alexander Swan, Rector of St Bede’s 1901- 1918 Rev Canon Swan, who was the rector of St Bede's was enthusiastic for the passion of baptism, and for families in the Mission Hall at Mellor Park. His wife Lottie died on June 28th 1912. Lottie is the short term for Charolette. The Burial Register shows that she was 49 yrs of age, and loved by her familiy, and friends St Augustine was the First Archbishop of Canterbury; Apostle of the English, his date of birth is unknown however he died 26 May, 604. Not much is known about his youth except that he was most likely a Roman of aristocratic birth, and that, early in life, he become a monk in the famous monastery of St. Andrew, erected by St. Gregory, out of his own heritage on the Cælian Hill. It was religious intimacies of the Benedictine Rule, and in the bracing atmosphere of a recent foundation, that the character of the future missionary was formed, He was sent by Pope Gregory to lead a party of around 30 monks to bring England (such as it was) under the influence of the Roman world. The journey was halted at one point, the monks losing their nerve and returning to Rome, before successfully landing at Ebbsfleet in 597. Received cautiously by the King of Kent, Ethelbert, Augustine managed to establish a community of monks based first at St Martin's church, and later transferring to the site of the present Cathedral. His feast day in the Roman calendar is kept on 28 May; but in the proper of the English office it occurs two days earlier, the true anniversary of his death.
Madonna and Child It is dedicated to the Glory of God, in thoughtful memory of Annie Cowell, devoted wife and mother, by Mr Arthur Cowell (husband) Born: Ashurst, Kent, England Nov 17th 1874 Died: Largs Bay, Adelaide June 30th 1928 Mr Arthur Cowell attended HMS Worchester (the Thames Nautical Training College for young gentlemen. His uncle was Major General Sir John Clayton Cowell PC, KCB, RE, and Lieutenant Governor of Windsor Castle. This stained glass icon depicts Mary with her son Jesus. A Madonna is a representation of Mary, and the image is a central icon for the Western and Orthodox churches. The word is from the Italian ‘ma donna’, meaning ‘my lady’. The earliest such images date from the Early Christian Church and are found in the Catacombs of Rome. These representations came more common after she was proclaimed ‘God Bearer” at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD.
St Agnes In memory of Ellen Allnut died November 3rd 1901. It is believed to have been donated by her brother Mr Ernest Allnutt, who had attended St Bede’s when working for D & J Fowler at Port Adelaide, before moving to Perth to manage the business there. He married the daughter of the owner and in 1911 became a director then CEO of the company. “The window was executed by Mr HL Vosz, Rundle Street, and the designs are by Mr JP Williams (the firm’s artist). The whole of the work was carried out under Mr Williams supervision” According to her legend, Saint Agnes was a member of the Roman nobility. She was born in the year 291 and raised in a Christian family. She died as a martyr at age 13 during the reign of the Eastern Roman Emperor Diocletian, on January 21, 304. The Official Sempronius wished St. Agnes to marry his son, and on her refusal condemned her to death. Roman law did not permit the execution of virgins, so he ordered her to be raped beforehand; but her virginity was, according to the legend, miraculously preserved. When led out to die she was tied to a stake, but the bundle of wood would not burn, whereupon the officer in charge of the troops drew his sword and struck off her head. Her bones are conserved in the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le Mura in Rome, built over the catacomb that housed St. Agnes' tomb. Saint Agnes is the patron saint of young girls, chastity, gardeners, engaged couples, rape victims and virgins. Folk custom called for them to practice rituals on Saint Agnes' Eve (January 20th) with a view to discovering their future husbands.
St. Michael Kitty Leleu died September 4th,1925 and her sons, Frank and Edwin who died in the 1914-1918 war. Michael is the archangel mentioned in the Bible, Book of Revelation 12:7. In the Hebrew Bible, Michael is mentioned by name in the Persian context of the post-Exilic Book of Daniel. Michael appears to Daniel —as "one of the chief princes" (10:13) who in Daniel's vision comes to the angel Gabriel's aid in his contest with the angel of Persia, and is also described there as the advocate of Israel and "great prince who stands up for the children of your (Daniel's) people" (10:21, 12:1). But according to Rabbi Simeon ben Lakish (AD 230–270), all the specific names for the angels were brought back by the Jews from Babylon, and many modern commentators would agree. Michael is one of the principal angels in Abrahamic tradition; his name was said to have been the war-cry of the angels in the battle fought in heaven against Satan and his followers. The figure of Michael probably originated in Chaldaea as a protective god or spirit. Accepted by the Jews, he emerged as so major an angel in Jewish lore that he was honoured as the patron angel of the nations (out of seventy, or seventy-two according to other sources) who did not fall from grace, his bias entirely understood since it favoured God's Chosen People. St Michael is also considered in many Christian circles as the patron saint of the warrior. Police officers and soldiers, particularly American paratroopers, regard him as their patron saint. Catholics refer to him as St Michael the Archangel and also simply as St Michael while Orthodox Christians refer to him as the Taxiarch Archangel Michael or simply Archangel Michael .
The Venerable Bede (St. Bede)
“Dedicated in memory of Edward Marston Ashwin on Sunday 18 November 1902.” Mr Ashwin was an employee of the Adelaide Fire and Marine Insurance Coy, occupying a prominent position in the insurance world, and was generally considered to be the highest authority in South Australia on insurance matters. His opinion on such subjects was greatly valued throughout Australasia” St Bede spent most of his time as a monk in the monastery of St Paul (Jarrow), one of the only churches in which he worshipped that still survives. Situated in the south of the Tyne on the banks of the River Don lies the St Paul 's, the parish of old Jarrow. St Paul 's Church is still in use for worshipping and is one of the earliest Anglo-Saxon buildings in England . The church stands beside the atmospheric ruins of a late monastery, dating from the 4 th Century. It was built on the remains of the Anglo-Saxon monastery where Bede lived and worked, but which was ravaged by the Village only sixty years after his death. St Bede who lived from 673-735 AD was the TRANSLATOR of the First English Bible and Author of the First History of England. He was the author of the classical “Ecclesiastical History of the English People” and the greatest scholar of his day. He spent his life in the monasteries of St Peter, Monkwearmouth and St Paul Jarrow where he died in 735 AD. About 1022 his bones were brought to Durham and buried with those of St Cuthbert but in 1370 were finally placed in a splendid shrine the Galilee chapel. This was destroyed at the Reformation and Bede's bones are buried in the place where it stood. In 1831 they found some remains of Bede's, which included some of his bones and an iron finger ring, of which now is placed in the Cathedral Museum. The bones were re-interred, and the present altar tomb erected above them, with the ancient inscription. ‘In this tomb are the bones of the Venerable Bede”
St. Hugh of Lincoln This window is in memorial of Anthony Hugh Covernton (died October 25th 1918) and Philippa Mary Covernton (died September 14th 1920). They were the children of Dr Hugh Selby Covernton and his wife Beatrice Alice. Dr Covernton was highly a regarded GP and worked at Hutchinson Hospital in Gawler, before moving to Semaphore. He was the Port Adelaide Racing Club’s surgeon from 1916, and was a president of the Australian Nurses Federation. His wife was the daughter of Canon F Slaney Poole. Hugh of Lincoln was the son of William, Lord of Avalon. He was born at Avalon Castle in Burgundy and was raised and educated at a convent at Villard-Benoit, after his mother died when he was eight. He was professed at fifteen, ordained a deacon at nineteen, and was made Prior of a monastery at Saint-Maxim, while visiting the Grande Chartreuse with his Prior in 1160. It was then he decided to become a Carthusian monk there and was ordained. After ten years, he was named Procurator and in 1175 became Abbot of the first Carthusian monastery in England. This had been built by King Henry II as part of his penance for the murder of Thomas Becket. His reputation for holiness and sanctity spread all over England and attracted many to the monastery. He admonished Henry for keeping Sees vacant to enrich the royal coffers. Income from the vacant Sees went to the royal treasury. He was then named Bishop of the eighteen year old vacant See of Lincoln in 1186 - a post he accepted only when ordered to do so by the prior of the Grande Chartreuse. Hugh quickly restored clerical discipline, laboured to restore religion to the diocese, and became known for his wisdom and justice. He was one of the leaders in denouncing the persecution of the Jews that swept England in 1190 and 1191, repeatedly facing down armed mobs and making them release their victims. He went on a diplomatic mission to France for King John in 1199, visiting the Grande Chartreuse, Cluny, and Citeaux, and returned from the trip in poor health. A few months later, while attending a national council in London, he was stricken and died two months later at the Old Temple in London on November 16. He was canonized twenty years later, in 1220, the first Carthusian to be so honoured.