The Story Behind the Stained Glass at the Former St. Mark’s Church in Warren

Photography by Wolf Matthewson

In 2014, Hadley Arnold and her husband, Peter, purchased the former St. Mark’s Church in Warren with plans to turn it into a home. A mainstay of the seaside neighborhood for nearly two centuries, the Episcopal church had closed in 2010 and was facing an uncertain future. As they began the painstaking process of transforming the Greek Revival structure into a residence, Arnold made a startling discovery: There, in one of the high frames flanking the church’s walls, was a stained-glass window showing Jesus speaking with three biblical women, all of them — Christ and his counterparts — depicted as people of color. “It was so abundantly apparent that this was an object designed to speak to a full spectrum of humanity rather than a narrow slice,” Arnold says. A stained-glass scholar confirmed the pigments were original to the piece, created in 1877 by artist Henry Sharp, and not the result of changes over the years. Adding to its curiosity, the window was dedicated in memory of two women, both members of the slave-trading DeWolf family, whose opinions on their family’s inhumane industry have been blurred by time. Since then, Arnold has devoted herself to sharing the window’s story through public meetings and forums. Far from offering easy answers, the window has sparked conversation about what it means to be seen and drawn reactions from viewers who have traditionally found themselves left out of Western religious art. “We’ve had people walk up to that window and say, ‘I see myself in them,’” Arnold says. She hopes to find the window a home in a museum or academic institution that can further uncover its mysteries and preserve its message for years to come. 

Photography by Wolf Matthewson