Video: A Christmas Tree in Stained Glass

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In this new video from Christian Art, Fr Patrick van der Vorst visits the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, in London's Mayfair to explore one of the Church's most profound visual meditations on the Christmas mystery: the Jesse Window, a Christmas tree in stained glass.

Hidden behind the Georgian façades of Mayfair, the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception rises in luminous Gothic Revival splendour. Built between 1844 and 1849, Farm Street quickly became a centre of Catholic life and devotion in Victorian London. Its architecture, inspired by medieval precedent, reflects the renewed confidence and rich sacramental imagination of the 19th-century Catholic revival.

Stepping into the sanctuary, Fr Patrick reflects on how the church intentionally lifts the human gaze heavenward. The high altar, designed by the great Gothic revival architect Augustus Pugin, draws worshippers toward the sacramental heart of the Church. Above it shimmer two Venetian mosaics by Antonio Salviati, depicting the Annunciation and the Coronation of Our Lady-moments that frame the mystery of the Incarnation.

Crowning the vertical ascent is the Jesse Window, a radiant stained-glass masterpiece unfolding salvation history in colour and light. At the base, Jesse-father of King David-lies in repose, from whom the lineage of Christ springs. Rising heavenward, the branches culminate in Mary, Queen of Heaven, crowned in gold and holding the Christ Child. The prophets and forefathers flank the composition, silent sentinels pointing to the coming of the Messiah. At its pinnacle, Mary is shown as Stabat Mater, pierced by sorrow as foretold by Simeon-a foreshadowing of the Passion that makes Christmas inseparable from the Cross.

Fr Patrick then visits the London studio of stained-glass artist John Reyntiens to witness this ancient craft in practice. Through collage studies, hand-painting, firing in the kiln at 660°C, and the patient skill of leading and assembly, Reyntiens shows how coloured glass is transformed into windows capable of proclaiming the Gospel for centuries. His studio carries forward a legacy that includes the celebrated Diamond Jubilee window in Westminster Hall, the first major artistic stained glass installed there since the Reformation.

As dusk gathers in the church, the theological meaning comes into focus: stained glass only truly lives when light passes through it. By day, the windows blaze with colour, radiant with meaning; by night, they fall silent, waiting for the light to return. So too the human soul remains dim until the light of Christ shines through us. Mary's fiat-her yes-opened her completely to divine light, through which salvation entered Creation.

The Jesse Window becomes, in this light, a Christmas Tree in stained glass-rooted in the prophecy of Isaiah, blossoming into the birth of Christ. Here, the Christmas tree is not a cultural ornament, but a symbol of salvation history: a visual genealogy culminating in the Light of the world.

This film invites viewers, as Christmas draws near, to receive that light, to say yes as Mary did, and to let Christ illuminate their lives so His radiance may shine through them into a world longing for hope.

Watch the video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEeosAGV-gc&t=2s