Mayer of Munich

For many people the stained glass windows in the Church of the Immaculate Conception are an iconic feature of our church and the most fascinating example of our church artefacts. They have provided opportunity for prayer, spiritual upliftment and mindfulness for the last 100 years.

These beautiful windows were manufactured by the renowned German firm, Mayer of Munich. Mayer was famous for creating windows of rich symbolism, colour and beauty. Although the firm was German and the windows made in Munich, they had offices in London, and an agent in Dublin (Joshua Clarke, who was the father of the renowned Irish stained-glass artist Harry Clarke and started out as their Irish agent).

The company was founded in 1847 by Franz Mayer whose aspiration was to create a company dedicated to ‘a combination of fine arts, architecture, sculpture and painting…’ When Pope Leo XIII awarded the company the Pontifical Institute of Christian Art in 1892, Mayer became the foremost supplier of stained glass to Irish churches, both Catholic and Protestant.

By illustrating in a tangible form, the teachings of the church, stained glass in Catholic churches has been used to encourage prayer, devotion and instruction. The congregation could relate to the images: the life of Jesus, Our Lady or the saints, in some cases of a particular saint whom the church may be named after, e.g. St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh has many windows dedicated to St Patrick. Parishioners recognised the stories and parables, so the windows became, and still are, an effective aide to prayer and meditation.

‘The Church needs art. In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ. The Church needs art. Art must make perceptible, and as far as possible attractive, the word of the spirit, of the invisible, of God’ Pope John Paul II

In addition to the large stained glass windows in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, we are also fortunate to have Stations of the Cross which were manufactured by Mayer and delivered to the Church in February 1896. The fourteen stations are painted three-dimensional plaster casting on wood and were made by the Pontifical Art Studio of Franz Mayer & Co. in Munich.