St Augustine's Catholic Church Limerick

Home | History | News | Church Services | Publications | Spirituality | The Gathering | Gallery | Contact

High Altar Stained Glass Windows

Stained Glass Scenes from the Harry Clarke Windows

Five stain glass windows over the high altar created by the Harry Clarke Studio.
(Looking up from left to right over the High Altar):
 
  1. St. Joseph protector of the Augustinian Order
  2. Our Lady of Consolation
  3. Saint Augustine of Hippo
  4. St. Monica, Mother of St. Augustine
  5. St. Nicholas of Tolentine
 High Altar Windows

1. St. Joseph protector of the Augustinian Order

St. Joseph

Almighty and ever living God,
at the beginning of our salvation
when Mary conceived your Son
and brought him forth into the world,
you placed them under Joseph’s watchful care.
May his prayer help our Augustinian Order to be
an equally faithful guardian of your mysteries
and a hopeful sign to the world.
We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Let us Pray

(Feast Day  19th March)
 

2. Our Lady of Consolation
Our Lady

O God of all consolation, you have given
the Blessed Virgin Mary to your Church
as a beacon of unfailing hope.
In your goodness grant that those
who are burdened with life’s cares
may find in her consolation and strength
and those who despair of salvation
may find their hearts warmed and uplifted
as they turn to her in their need.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.

 Let Us Pray
  (Feast Day  4th September)  
Liturgy of the Hours: Augustinian Saints
The origin of this Augustinian devotion is not known. A legend, represented in many paintings, shows Mary appearing to Monica dressed in black with a leather cincture, in response to Monica’s appeal for guidance and consolation in her bereavement after the death of her husband, Patricius. Mary promised special protection and consolation to Monica and others who wore the cincture in her honour.
 

3. St. Augustine of Hippo
St. Augustine of Hippo

Lord in you is found the fullness
of wisdom and love.
Renew in your Church the spirit of Augustine
so that our minds and hearts
may hunger and thirst for you alone.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Let Us Pray
  (Feast Day  28th August)  
Augustine is the best known African religious, priest and saint. Born in 354 to Patricius and Monica, his formative years were lax in moral living. But through the prayers of his mother he was baptised at the age of 33 in Milan by Bishop Ambrose. He, and his friends, founded a monastery in Tagaste and Augustine later wrote a Rule for other monasteries that sprung up over the years there. The lifetime of Saint Augustine (354-430) covered a time of crisis and change. The Roman Empire was slowly disintegrating under the invasions of the surrounding peoples. From the time of his ordination (391) and since his becoming bishop (395) his people had been one with him in seeking God’s glory through the service of the church. To most people Augustine is the great thinker who definitively influenced philosophy, theology and spirituality as well as the charitable and social outlook of the Church. One should not overlook his contribution to monastic life for it was from this source that he drew strength for his great achievements. He died on August 28, 430.
(Office, Augustinian Saints.)
 

4. St. Monica, Mother of St. Augustine
St Monica

God of compassion, you endowed Monica
with the gifts of prayer and tears
by which she gained for you her son Augustine:
grant that our lives also
may draw others to your love
and bring them your blessing
of unity and peace.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ,
your Son, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Amen

 Let Us Pray
  (Feast Day  27th August)  
As a wife and mother Monica suffered greatly. Her husband was hot tempered and irreligious, and her son wayward and contemptuous of her faith. She was a woman of courage and faith, who trusted in God. Her patience and her love won her husband to the Catholic faith, and after long years of waiting and persistent prayer her son too surrendered to Christ. Everything we know about Monica comes from her son’s writings. Not long before she died, as Augustine records in his Confessions, she and Augustine experienced and ecstasy of soul in which “for one brief moment” their hearts “reached up to Wisdom, the maker of all things, and left with him the first fruits of their spirits.” Monica was born in Thagaste, Algeria, in 331 or 332. She followed Augustine to Italy and saw him baptised in Milan. She looked after Augustine and the little circle of friends when they formed a community in Cassiciacum. On the way back to Africa, Monica died in Ostia near Rome in November 387, at the age of fifty-five. Her remains are venerated in the church of Saint Augustine in Rome.
 

5. St. Nicholas of Tolentine
St Nicholas

Lord you worked miracles of healing
and comfort at the hands of St. Nicholas.
Hear those who cry out to you
in their grief for loved ones.
Speak hope into our times
of desolation and loneliness.
With the memory of those who have died,
bring us together in bonds
of faith, prayer and presence.
We remember those who have no one
to pray for them
and those who are grieving alone.
St. Nicholas, Patron of the Holy Souls.
Pray for us. 

 Let Us Pray
  (Feast Day  10th September)  
Nicholas was born in 1245 into a poor family in Pontano, Italy. He entered the Order at an early age. He was a simple priest and religious, full of charity for his brethren and for the people. He visited and showed special concern for the sick and needy and was never ashamed to quest for alms for the community. His preaching brought many to God and he was much sought after as a spiritual guide. He was remarkable for his spirit of prayer, penance and devotion to the holy souls in purgatory. People had a great confidence in his intercession on behalf of departed souls. He lived in Tolentine for practically all his last thirty years, and died there on September 10, 1305. He was canonized by Pope Eugene IV IN 1446. To very many he is revered as the Patron of the Holy Souls. His remains are preserved in his sanctuary at Tolentine.

Liam Ryan OSA

Return to Spirituality