New Mosaic in Breck's Chapel of the Holy Spirit
It's the third Holy Spirit Window for Breck. But it isn't a window.
Breck's Chapel is consecrated to the Holy Spirit, and was built in 1982 after the beloved former Chapel of the Holy Spirit burned to the ground in November of 1979. The rose window from that chapel featured tongues of flame, images of scripture, crests of places like Shattuck-St. Mary's and Nashotah House Seminary, and a dove.
For the Chapel at the New Golden Valley campus, diocesan needlework artist Phyllis Lehmberg made a beautiful wall hanging with most of the same elements. But years of sunshine faded the tapestry, and so, last year, some fans of retiring Headmaster Samuel A. Salas commissioned a more permanent "Holy Spirit WIndow," in the form of a mosaic.
The winning design came from St. Paul mosaic artist Lori Greene, and after a year of cutting and piecing Italian glass tiles, it now graces the Chapel of the Holy Spirit.
Greene's design includes a hovering dove, seven flames, the Tree of Life, the primal elements of earth, air, fire, and water, and a huge scroll with Biblical quotations in six world languages.
The Hebrew quotation harkens back to the Holy Spirit brooding over the waters at Creation. Then comes a Spanish rendering of the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, at Jesus' baptism, a line in Greek from the Pentecost miracle of the tongues of fire, the simple "God is Love, from I John, a Chinese quotation from Acts about the miraculous learning of languages, and finally, from the Nicene Creed, Arabic calligraphy reading, "The Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life."
These latter three titles are also among the ninety-nine names of God in the Muslim scripture, the Qur'an.
Lori Greene is co-owner of Mosaic on a Stick, on Snelling just south of the State Fairgrounds, and most recently installed the beautiful mosaic on the Resource Center for the Americas building.
A dedication of the Holy Spirit mosaic is planned for the fall, with Mr. and Mrs. Salas attending.
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