As the sun rises from the East to West side of campus each morning, sunlight streams through the windows of DePaul College Prep. This early morning occurrence is particularly special for students and faculty on the building’s first floor. Beams of color—existing in different shades and sizes—are put on display in the school’s chapel.
The casted colors are the result of seven high resolution images printed onto plexiglass, inspired by stained glass installations in the nearby St. Vincent de Paul Church. Six pieces depict definitive moments in Jesus’ life—ranging from the Annunciation to Pentecost—while the last illustrates what an individual sees when entering heaven.
These pieces were not always part of the school’s sacred space. Discussion of the pictures began in 2019 as DePaul Prep renovated its future campus.
Fr. Chris Robinson, a member of DePaul Prep’s Board of Directors and representative of Vincentian Fathers and Brothers, collaborated with architects during the design process. The main challenge they faced was converting an old dining room into a modern chapel suitable for the school community.
“The current chapel [on campus] was a dining room,” said Fr. Robinson. “And so how do you turn a dining room into a chapel?”
Florence Merkl-Deutsch, DePaul Prep’s Director of Mission and Ministry, was tasked with creating what she described as “a flexible sacred space that could host mass.”
As architects surveyed the space, Merkl-Deutsch and Fr. Robinson knew they wanted to incorporate St. Vincent DePaul Parish into the final design—which is where the stained plexiglass pieces came into discussion.
“I worked with the architect and said, ‘If we take high resolution pictures of the stained glass at St. Vincent Parish, can you recreate that using plexiglass?’” Fr. Robinson explained. “And that’s exactly what they did.”
After Fr. Robinson supplied the images, the construction process was completed relatively quickly, with the pieces officially being installed in the summer of 2020 before DePaul Prep moved into its new building.
Besides “[elevating] the space as a sacred space where everyone is welcome to be surrounded by beauty” as Merkl-Deutsch described, the windows have helped merge different styles and remind students of their Vincentian roots.
“It’s a wonderful meeting of the traditional and modern,” said Merkl-Deutsch. “I love that it connects us with our school’s home parish of St. Vincent DePaul Church…they’re good for us to meditate on and teach us.”
Fr. Robinson agreed, explaining how the windows symbolize DePaul Prep’s connection to St. Vincent Parish and the greater Vincentian mission. He paralleled this relationship between DePaul and its affiliations to a family’s heirlooms being passed down to family members.
“It’s kind of like if you have a big family, and a grandmother gives everybody something to have in their home that reminds them they’re part of the family,” he explained.
Furthermore, Fr. Robinson believes the material of the windows literally and metaphorically gives viewers a new lens to look through at the world.
“Glass doesn’t block out the light, but it takes light and makes it really beautiful,” he said. “A painting is also beautiful, but you can’t go through the painting. Whereas with a window, you see the world differently if you’re looking through.”
According to him, this experience is similar to an old expression—when someone “looks at the world with rose-colored glasses.”
“When you look through a window that has color, the world looks more beautiful than maybe it really is. Whereas for us, looking through a window of the Crucifix or Mary and the Saints or the Wedding in Cana, it makes us want to make the world as beautiful as that window,” Fr. Robinson said.
Through this experience, viewers are “[inspired] to make the world as beautiful as the piece of art.”
