On sunny afternoons, the stenciled-glass windows in St. Peter’s south wall by the rectory splash the oak pews with different colors, and sunbeams travel across the nave to the north wall on C Street. It’s a beautiful time for prayer.
All the church windows, except for the 12 stained-glass windows in the three apses, are stenciled glass. The windows in the apses and the 12 side windows below the frieze (the Latin inscription) date from the 1890 church; they survived the 1940 fire.
The 42 windows in the clerestory (above the frieze), which share the same designs in 14 groupings of three windows each, were added in the 1941 church, replacing windows that didn’t survive the fire.
The side windows by the pews share many design elements but have different symbols (top center) and memorials (mostly bottom left). The symbols were deciphered by the late Mary Shaw, a parishioner and senior cataloger at the Library of Congress, for the parish’s 175th anniversary in 1996.
Here are the symbols and memorials in the windows on the south side, from front to back:
1) Heart pierced by sword (represents the Immaculate Heart of Mary and her seven sorrows); GIFT OF MR ET MRS F. DUHEY (the use of the Latin “et” for “and” may have been to save space).
2) Lilies (represent the Resurrection, new life, purity); TWO MEMORIALS: lower left: IN MEMORY OF LITTLE GEO. ET LOUIS WELLER; lower right: IN MEMORY OF THOS. J. BAYNE (Thomas Bayne was one of the first converts at St. Peter’s and an active lay leader; around 1855 he and fellow parishioner John Fitzpatrick donated the bell still in our belltower, purchased from a fire company in Baltimore, and in 1866 Bayne donated the land for the parish school).
3) Triangle around human eye (represents the Trinity and all-seeing eye of God); GIFT OF MR ET MRS G.R. REPETTI (one of two windows donated by the Repetti family, prominent parishioners and successful realtors on Capitol Hill in the late 19th and early 20th centuries).
4) Morning star (represents Mary); no memorials.
5) Dove (represents the Holy Spirit); IN MEMORY OF T.A. RICHARDS.
6) Two wheat sheaves (represent the Eucharist); GIFT OF REV. G.W. DEVINE (Father George W. Devine was the parish’s 12th pastor, serving from February 1886 to March 1888).
Here are the symbols (top center) and memorials (bottom left) in the lower windows on the north side, from front to back:
1) Heart encircled by thorns (represents the Sacred Heart of Jesus); GIFT OF A. RICHARDS (one of two windows donated by the Richards family; Alfred Richards founded the Alfred Richards Brick Company on land that is now the site of Nats Park; this brickyard supplied many of the bricks used in the Capitol Hill housing boom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries).
2) Red roses (represent martyrdom); IN MEMORY OF MR ET MRS JOS REPETTI.
3) Gold door (represents gate of heaven); GIFT OF S.H. DECKER.
4) Lamb on Book of Seven Seals (represents Christ); IN MEMORY OF P.H. McCARTHY.
5) Cross, nails, and crown of thorns (represent the Crucifixion); IN MEMORY OF A. LEONARD.
6) Bunches of grapes (represent the Eucharist); GIFT OF REV. T.J. BROYDRICK (Father Thomas J. Broydrick served as an assistant at St. Peter’s from January to December 1880).
