Patronal Window

This articule originally appeared in the weekly bulletin of Spetember 6, 2020
Today anyone who enters Saint Mary’s Church is immediately struck by the impressive window of the patron of the parish that commands attention on the east wall over the main altar.  This frame is the single largest in the entire complex, made of five tall pointed trefoil arched windows surmounted by a tracery with three five lobed windows; combined these individuals windows create a large Gothic structure rising over twenty-five feet in height.  As the parish is named Saint Mary of the Assumption, this focal window depicts this titular event in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The central window is dominated by the image of Our Lady as she rises from the grave below to heavenly glory.  In the accompanying windows on either side are the apostles surrounding her tomb and as she is enveloped in an aura of glowing light, there are angels to greet her carrying lilies as a sign of her purity and virginity in bearing the Redeemer.  Above these side windows is a trefoil with the interlaced letters of A and M.  These letters recall the greeting of the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation when she was asked and consented to enflesh the Divine Word of God, Hail Mary, rendered in Latin, Ave Maria.  They are also the opening words in Latin of the traditional prayer to Our Lady, using the greeting used by the Angel Gabriel. 
Above these windows in the tracery are representations of the Blessed Trinity. Directly above the center window depicting Our Lady, the trefoil has an image of a dove, with a halo about its head, this represents the Holy Spirit.  Above and to the right is an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the left of that, the five lobed window has a crown in its center to represent God the Father.  With ancient Christian symbolism, this central window tells the story of our Christian faith from its foundation in the Blessed Trinity to the promise of our future, where Our Lady has already been taken, where we hope to follow; she is the promise fulfilled of our own baptism, of each sacrament celebrated beneath this window in the sacred space of this holy church.  That is, that we have a share in the divine communion of the Blessed Trinity by our baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Our Lady as Mother of the Church and our spiritual mother, has been assumed to share the glory to which we aspire and journey by a life of grace through the sacraments of the Church.
The Golden Jubilee history book of the church in 1924, and later repeated in the Centennial booklet of 1948, claims that this window is a product of the Mayer Studios in Munich.  The noted Milford historian and former parishioner, Paul Curran, deciphered the true history of this important window.  Paul was told by Dorothy Burns of her memory of her Confirmation classes being let out early by Fr. William Grace because of the noise generated by the workmen installing the window in October of 1923.  Paul’s diligent effort connected him with Ted Von Gerichten of Middleton, NJ, who found in his company’s records, the Von Gerichten Glass Studios, an order for this same window placed by Fr. David McGrath in 1919, more than a year before his death.  At the same time, the side windows were installed.  These depict the apparition of Our Lady to Bernadette at Lourdes, France (on the south side over the sacristy) and that of Our Lord to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque to reveal his Sacred Heart (on the north side over the current tabernacle).  They continue the story of the windows in the nave taking the life of Our Lady into the life of the Church and that of the parishioners of the early 20^th century, many of whom could remember these events in their own lifetime.
This single window spanned the pastorate of two men, and a third would come for the window to be as it appears today.  That’s another story for later in the 20^th century.  As everyone who enters and prays gazes upon it, it speaks to our Catholic faith and its promise held in every Mass and sacrament that takes place here.

this article originally appeared the parish bulletin of March 14, 2021.

On Wednesday, September 21, 1938, an unprecedented force barreled up the East Coast and slammed into New England, its whirling dervish winds leaving unimaginable destruction in its wake unlike anything Milford had known to date.  Before the ability to predict and anticipate severe storms as can be done in the 21^st century, this one caught the community and the region unaware.  For the only time in its history, Milford along with several other Massachusetts towns, was placed under martial law.   An article in The Milford Daily News in a combined edition for September 21^st and 22^nd, published in Framingham, tells the harrowing details:

“Swept by a wind of hurricane force, which hit with terrifying suddenness about 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon the town was dealt a series of paralyzing blows the life of which it has never before experienced.  Quickly reaching a vicious 120-mile an hour velocity, the wind transformed the business district into a veritable shambles and plunged residential sections into terror as great trees were uprooted and flung against homes of panic-stricken residents.  Adding to the horror of the scene was the dangling danger of power-laden wires which were rent from toppling poles on nearly every street in the town.  Within a half hour after the roaring but invisible force struck, Milford was completely isolated and paralyzed.  Telephone communication with the outside world was cut off.  Power lines were rendered useless, and the main traffic arteries leading from the town were made impassable for miles by fallen trees and poles, intertwined with a network of wires.  Main street became a chasm of shrieking sound as hundreds of plate glass stone fronts crashed into the street, sending up a continual spray of flying glass, which endangered the hundreds of person who sought safety in doorways along the street.”
A tragedy was avoided when a bus on Main Street had started to move amidst the struggling traffic when the façade of the four story Mullen Furniture Co. collapsed on its side.  One passenger and the driver were treated for injuries.  The only death in the area occurred when George McNamara suffered a fractured skull from a falling chimney while he was searching for his daughter who had failed to return home.  The steeple of the Congregational Church was toppled, spiking it six feet into the front lawn of the church.  All police and firefighters were called in. There was only one major fire, a total loss at the Continental Bakery Co. where the fighters were successful in fighting the ferocious winds from communicating the blaze to neighboring buildings.  And the National Guard was called out to assist the Milford Police Department and the Armory was opened for out of towners who were stranded by the storm in town.  No mention in any of the articles of our interest, the large window behind the main altar at Saint Mary’s Church was blown in.  There was other damage to the interior of the church was this was the most costly and would take months to be repaired. 

This is a photo from Anne Lamontagne, taken by her mother, Rita (Kellett) Hanlon shortly after the hurricane showing the damaged window over the main altar from the outside.  The morning of the storm, Mrs. Hanlon had been in Saint Mary's Church for the funeral of her father, John F. Kellett.