The Remarkable Story of the Church’s Stained Glass Window.

Almost everything in the St. Ladislas church in Cleveland was destroyed in the fire of August 1970. But the stained glass window had miraculously survived.

After the fire, a parishioner found the window, had it trucked to their backyard, and left it there until 1973. Hearing about the construction of the new church at the Westlake site, theparishioner had the window trucked out to the construction site. The dimensions of the window were a perfect match to the front window space in the architectural plans. When the window was cleaned, it was found to depict the Assumption of Mary into heaven.

The Assumption of Mary is the liturgical feast that coincided with the ground breaking and the dedication ceremony for the church -- August 15th!With these circumstances. the window fittingly became the symbol of trusting the Lord. Just as Mary had trusted God, so the pastor and parishioners were to learn that all of life depends upon a firm, trust relationship with the Lord.

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The Story continues with Refurbishing

In 2003-04 the parish church at St Ladislas undertook a complete refurbishing of its sanctuary space. Part of this project involved enhancing the entrance spaces.  This impacted the location of our Marian window!

It was decided to relocate the window from the front door area to a newly created shrine area in the North Nave. The window was removed and cleaned then re-installed in it's new home. You may see a picture of it to the right.

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