St. Hedwig Catholic Church 129 29th Ave NE Minneapolis, MN 55418 Phone 612-789-4830 Fax 612-789-1985

Church of St. Hedwig Stained Glass Windows: Our History

Stained Glass Windows
(click on the link to view the windows)

During their renovation project, the parishioners of St. Hedwig's Church decided to install a series of stained glass windows. In itself, this decision was no different from the same decision taken by many other churches.

However, in the case of St. Hedwig's, the content of the windows would be unique. Along with the traditional themes generally seen in most churches, the parishioners decided to set aside a significant number of the panels to commemorate the founders and workers of the original parish.

Immediately at the entrance of the church there is a stained glass representation of Francis of Assisi in the context of the Canticle of the Sun. This portrayal of Francis was seen as a sincere thank you to the spirit that motivated many women to accept his way of life and dedicate themselves to the education of the children of the immigrants who established the Church of St. Hedwig.

In the next panel as one enters the church is a concrete acknowledgement of the Sisters of St. Francis. The window displays the utter simplicity of the parish school, four walls, doors and windows. In this environment, one by the way that no modern teacher would seriously consider as adequate for a proper education, these women worked miracles. They could be called "the thin black line" that provided many of us with sufficient academic tools that made many of us in the second and third generation respected members of the community.

As I thumbed through the school records, I noticed names like Biernat, Decowski, Dziedzic, Grabowski, Hofstede, Karbo, Pendzimaz, Wojack, Wolinski and the like. These are names still seen around Northeast to this day.

In that same panel, next to the school, is a picture of a Franciscan Sister in traditional habit. The greatest pleasure I have gotten from this portrayal is the reactions of the viewers. Everyone, it seems, is absolutely convinced that it represents one of their grade school teachers. There were 58 Sisters who spent some time at the school. I would hope that everyone of them is remembered by someone as their favorite teacher displayed in that window.

Those 58 women contributed one hundred and ninety-three years of service to the parish school. There was Sister Estella, who spent 12 years; Sister Consolata, 9 years; Sister Victor, 1 year. But if it is to symbolize any Sister, perhaps it should be Sister Gertrude, who educated both the first and second generation of immigrant children for 19 years, 1920 to 1929 and 1940 to 1950.

In all the publications I have seen, none have made any serious study of the great contribution that these women made to the life of Northeast Minneapolis. Without sophisticated equipment, little if any audio visual aids, no special government aid to help the children of immigrants, and in anonymity of their look-alike habits, these women by any standard were the miracle workers who transformed a population of immigrant Catholics and their children into a significant, productive part of Northeast and the City of Minneapolis.

In the rear of the church, there are seven stained glass panels. The panels are an attempt to acknowledge the founders of the parish. The three central panels identify the roots of the first parishioners. This heritage is represented by the flags of Poland and the United States and the Chi-Rho with loaves and fishes. The other four panels are an essay portraying the work places of the pioneers.

Various artists created the designs for these windows. All, however, were fabricated by John Katrinak, a resident of the Marshall Terrace neighborhood. The parishioners of St. Hedwig invite our neighbors to visit the church and view the windows in their full, splendid color. The 1905 census material and the records of St. Hedwig's School indicate that a significant number of the parishioners were employed as railroad workers. Their occupations ranged from day laborers to station master and superintendent. The railroads remained a significant source of jobs for the community well into the '50s and to a lesser degree today. To reflect the importance of the railroads in the community, two panels depict a train under steam in the old North Town yards with the required watering tower and coal feed. The premier symbol of the railroads in Minneapolis is without doubt the Stone Arch Bridge, now finally undergoing restoration. It can be seen in the railroad panel. Behind the train is a grain elevator. In the census material, a number of our community residents were employed by the grain companies. Like the railroads, the mills furnished jobs to a significant number of the parishioners into the '50s, much less so today. The last object depicted in the railroad panels is a representation of the neon Grain Belt Brewery sign. For my generation, at least, it had become a kind of welcome home to Northeast as we crossed the Hennepin Avenue Bridge on the streetcar we affectionately called the "Polish Express." A third panel suggests the earliest occupations of the Northeast community. The stables, foundries and saw mills are portrayed along the River with a supply of logs floating down to Boom Island. In the 1905 census, there are still found saw mill workers, blacksmiths, stable attendants and managers. All occupations that by the '30s had pretty well disappeared. There were, of course, many other occupations. The bartenders and owners, firemen and street car operators, shoemakers and postal workers, even a farmer or two. More intriguing is the presence of the arts. There were furriers and actors and sculptors. There was at least one piano tuner. This stained glass essay concludes with the fourth panel: Boom Island Park. The logs are no longer there. Graceful bridges span the River. The odors of the B. F. Nelson plant are gone. The trash littered right-of-way of the railroad tracks has been replaced with walkways. One non-operating foundry is left. There are no more saw mills. One thing that does remain is the many residences along the River, some dating back more than 100 years. As you walk along the park's pathways to the south is the new suspension bridge. To the north you see the Grain Belt Brewery. As you look along the banks of the River, the pioneers' children's children live, fish and romp where their great-great grandparents toiled to create first Old St. Anthony and then Northeast Minneapolis.

Those who worked and lived along the Mississippi have remained the staunchest stewards of the River. It is largely through the efforts of the Northeast pioneer descendants that we are seeing a reclaimed Riverfront. The hopes and dreams of their great-great grandparents for a better life may be completely fulfilled by this generation. We are seeing greater opportunities for enhanced River neighborhoods. We can have reclamation of the Mississippi for the enjoyment of the children's children of those who toiled at its edge.

On the north and south walls of the Church of St. Hedwig expansion is a mirror series of three stained glass panels reflecting a poetic union between Northeast Minneapolis and Rome. The imaginative juxtaposition of these two disparate locations in the windows is the result of a series of photographs taken by one of the architects.

The architect took a series of photographs of Northeast Minne-apolis during a walking tour of the area in preparation for the design of the St. Hedwig renovation. As he examined the results, he was reminded of a series of photographs he had taken during a recent tour of Rome. He was struck by the similarity of the Tiber River with its elongated Isola Tiberina and the Mississippi River with its elongated Nicollet Island. A river would tie together his poetic comparison of the two areas. Going from right to left, the three panes are united by a blue ribbon signifying a river, with the second and third panel further united with an elongated island. The bottom section of the three panels represents Northeast Minneapolis; the river is the Mississippi and the elongated island is Nicollet Island. The first panel symbolizes the business and industry element of the area. Some might find a striking similarity of this abstract design to a local landmark. The lower half of the second panel represents the historic heart of Northeast: a series of homes joined together with a church. A fitting symbol of the ethnic-religious heritage of our area. The third panel is a portrayal of the new entrance to St. Hedwig's Church. From left to right, the upper sections signify in abstract form unique views of the hidden area of the Vatican; the river now becomes the Tiber, the elongated island the Isola Tiberina. The upper part of the first two panels are unique views of St. Peter's rarely seen in tourist guides. The poem concludes with a cross in the upper part of the third panel. The cross adds the final dimension. The two areas not only share a historic dependence on their respective rivers, but for a large number of churches in the river area of Northeast Minneapolis, the areas share a common religious heritage. A sad and ironic fact is that one can see and understand more about our river in the stained glass of St. Hedwig's Church than one can see driving down Marshall Street from St. Anthony Parkway to 8th Avenue.

Window designers and dates of installation: