Record of the Week: Nativity stained glass window

A Merry, Joyful Christmas to All!

In 1976 Canada Post issued a Christmas stamp depicting a stained glass window from St. Michael's Cathedral.  It is the central portion of the Nativity of Our Lord window.  For the sesquicentennial of the Archdiocese of Toronto in 1991, a photograph of the stamp was reproduced as part of an anniversary calendar that was published.

The month of December in the Archdiocese of Toronto's 150th Anniversary Calendar.
The 1976 eight-cent stamp was reproduced courtesy of the Canada Post Corporation

The Nativity is part of a series of fourteen windows located on the north and south walls of the nave. They were created in the nineteenth century and are of Austrian and Bavarian origin. Many of the records associated with their production were destroyed during the bombing of Munich during the Second World War.  The Nativity window was installed 100 years ago - in May 1913 - as a memorial to Eugene McLean French, a former parishioner.

Nativity of Our Lord window at St. Michael's Cathedral in Toronto.
It is located on the west-most side of the north wall of the nave.
Photo courtesy Archdiocese of Toronto.