Christmas 2023: Mumbai’s churches boast of stained glass but did you know they depict the Nativity of Jesus?

When one enters the Holy Name Cathedral in Colaba, you can feel the Christmas cheer but more than that it has a different kind of aura. It is because the church is adorned with interiors that will simply grasp your attention almost immediately. Right from the ceiling to the walls - every aspect makes you stand in awe of the architecture. Look a little further at the altar and the depiction on the stained glass is even striking as sunlight passes through it during different times of the day. While the church has stained glass windows, this one particularly depicts the Nativity of Jesus in three panels. It also happens to be one of the few churches in the city to do so. With hues of red, blue, green and yellow, it is breathtaking to say the least.

Joynel Fernandes, who is the assistant director at the Archdiocesan Heritage Museum in the Goregaon seminary, explains, "People get interested when they step into the church with stained glass because the moment you come in you have that natural light come in through the coloured glass, and the way it creates the ambiance - not only a devotee but any lay person would be enchanted by the aura."

Nativity of Jesus in stained glass
One of the many striking features is the stained glass that may often look like a blur because of the many colours but a closer look would reveal many details, that even city-based architect David Cardoz, says made him take a second look after this writer reached out to him. He explains, "When I looked at it again, I suddenly began to notice several things I had never noticed. There is a couple alongside Mother Mary and St Joseph, I don't know who they are. There is somebody who looks like a king and there are some shepherds, and then there is a scene on the top with angels, and then there are some houses. So, it would be interesting to get into the iconography of what is depicted and why they depicted that in a particular way."

While the stained glass is popularly known to depict the ‘Stations of the Cross', there are quite a few that actually depict the ‘Nativity of Jesus', and Holy Name Cathedral, which is currently under restoration is only one of them in Mumbai.

Fernandes, notes, "The depiction of the Nativity of Jesus, at Holy Name Cathedral goes very well with the season of Christmas because January 3 is the Feast of the Holy Name, and it is based on the Christmas story, and naming of the child after the birth."

Every year, Christmas is celebrated on December 25 across India and the world. While people indulge in good food and drinks, along with the Christmas tree, gifts and the crib, the Catholic community's annual celebration is usually incomplete without a visit to the church on Christmas Eve, which often showcases the church structure in all its grandeur, with decorations to bring in the festivities. Interestingly, some of Mumbai's churches, which boast of stained glass in their architecture offer more - a portal into the birth of Jesus Christ through the glass panels, which have been artistically showcased with the use of iconography.

It is also why Fernandes believes it is the best depiction of the birth of Jesus Christ because there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. "When you step into it and look at the altar, it depicts the birth of Jesus in three panels - with the Annunciation (left), the name of Jesus, I H S, (centre), and the beautiful birth of Jesus (right) - through its very European-inspired depiction."

In fact, the Mumbaikar, who is currently pursuing her Masters in History, and loves researching Church history and art, says the very seminary that houses the museum, also boasts of a depiction of the Nativity of Jesus, which is showcased on the stained glass in the chapel. "It depicts the life of Christ, but one of the depictions is also of the Nativity. I find the way in which Jesus has been rendered in it to be very interesting with Mother Mary and St Joseph," she adds.

Interestingly, apart from these two gothic structures in the city, Our Lady of Glory Church, more popularly called Gloria Church, in Byculla, and St Peter's Church in Bandra, are the other two Roman Catholic churches in Mumbai that not only boast of stained glass but more particularly the birth of Jesus in a different way. Mumbai architect Ainsley Lewis, who helped conserve the former church along with David Cardoz, another city architect in 2019, explains, "At Gloria Church, one of the main panels in the sanctuary is the nativity scene. We got all these glasses and the panel restored. It is a beautiful kind of panel, which is there, with painted glass. The artists actually paint onto the glass and fire it so that the paint gets embedded into it." Their efforts were immediately recognised and they received the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation in 2019.

Being a Bandra Resident and a parishioner of St Peter's Church, Cardoz is also in total awe of the stained glass at the suburban church. He explains, "One of the stained-glass windows depicts the nativity scene, but that's part of the Joyful mysteries that we have. We have Joyful Mysteries and Glorious Mysteries on either side of St. Peter's Church, and behind is many scenes from the life of St. Peter actually, because it is St. Peter's Church."

Unlike Gloria Church, at St Peter's Church, even the tiny little pieces, he says, like in the scene where the sea is tossing, and Christ is in the boat and even the little flecks of spray are different pieces and different colours of stained glass. "St Peter's Church has got a wonderful variety of colours and in Holy Name Cathedral, it is more classical, more Renaissance and more of the modern kind." The reason for the colourful glass, Cardoz notes, can be attributed to a Jesuit brother who went to China, and was teaching children there the art of stained glass. "So, while it has images that we are all familiar with, the colours that he had access to were amazing because they were all colours from there. While the imagery is all Western, the stylistic pattern and different shades of glass are amazing," he adds.

Some Christmases ago, Cardoz took it a step further with a few locals and decided on one of the stained glasses, which overlooks the midnight mass, which is held in the square, alongside the church. He shares, "We thought we would just light up the Christmas panel and we did that from the inside of the church. We set some bright lights against it. So, while we are at Christmas Midnight Mass, you had the Nativity panel lit, and the rest was dark for the occasion."

Significance of stained glass in churches
It is important to know that while these are Roman Catholic churches in the city that use stained glass to depict the birth of Christ, the Afghan Church, which is an Anglican church, also depicts the birth, and can be seen at eye level. Some of the other fine examples are that of St Thomas Cathedral in Colaba, that showcase the life of Jesus through different kinds of coloured glass.

So, why was stained glass used? Fernandes explains, "It was simply because of those who couldn't understand Latin, which was the language primarily used by the church at the time. They would look at these artworks and understand their faith, and that was one dimension of it. Gradually, the Stations of the Cross became very prominent in most of the churches, if not in stained glass panels, it was in frames."

It was not only the use of Latin, but also the need to educate the masses, says Swati Chandgadkar, Mumbai-based stained-glass expert designer and conservationist, who is currently helping restore Holy Name Cathedral. Adding to what Fernandes highlights, she says, "The story goes back several 100 years ago because with the birth of Christianity, stained glass got an impetus. In the medieval times, much of the population was illiterate. However, there was this great effort to have people read the Bible and know about God's wonder. So, the clergy at the time felt that the best way to educate the illiterate masses was to draw them to the church and make them beholden with something spectacular and that was the birth of stained glass." It was around this time that the stories of the Old Testament and New Testament started getting transcribed into the glass and paintwork, says Chandgadkar. They were deliberately raised to a certain height so that people at the ground level could gaze at the teachings of the Bible in a pictorial form.

With this, the mission of teaching the Word of God, and the Bible in the pictorial form to the people never ceased. She further adds, "It just got more elaborate and more complex. The windows became taller and wider, and the church buildings became more complex architecturally. It was also not made to be didactic in its function but also to make people see the wonder of God through a pictorial figurative form. It was their version of going to a cinema hall. Stained glass became integrated with Christianity and gothic architecture. "When gothic architecture was revived in the 19th century, it came to be known as new gothic architecture, and became almost mandatory for architects to introduce stained glass in Neo-Gothic architectural structures in the century because they were emulating and imitating the Middle Ages. Since the 19th century there has been a revivalist movement where the old crafts were getting revived. So, the architects in England and Europe were emulating the old crafts.

Since India was under British rule at that time, Chandgadkar says, they started building structures at their colonial bases like Mumbai, Surat, Chennai (formerly Madras), and Shimla, where they tried to replicate 19th century England. She explains, "It was a watershed time for the leading studios making stained glass in England and Europe. India being the jewel crown among all the colonies, the best stained glass came here. All the churches in Mumbai that have stained glass windows and have the story of Christ and the same theme but there is a difference in the style because they have come from different studios."

While all Anglican Churches, which are known as Protestant Churches, got their glass from England, all the Roman Catholic churches got their glass from different European countries like Germany and Belgium, she points out. It is also why the depiction of the Nativity of Jesus on the stained glass differs from church to church in the city.

Colours in stained glass
While the iconography is unmissable, the use of bright colours and their shades, which was used depending on the artist and their imagination, is another unique element of the stained glass. Fernandes explains, "Red would symbolise love and humanity, and that is why red is also the colour of Christmas. Blue would often be used for divine beings, and for Mother Mary. Yellow, white, and orange would often depict glory, to show something that is awe-inspiring and beyond earthly perspectives." The colours would also vary depending on different elements. There were also certain colours that would help in the infiltration of light.

It is not only the colours but also the symbols that are very intricately placed in the stained glass in Mumbai's churches. "It is like a whole chapter of the Bible being introduced in that four-panel glass. If you see the oak tree, it depicts endurance;the leaf represents either Mary or loyalty, and if you see a fish, that means it represents Jesus," adds 67-year-old Chandgadkar, who has been working with stained glass for 25 years now.

While the glass and the symbols are important, when can one see the depiction on the stained glass the best? Lewis says, "To really enjoy the nativity scene, you will have to actually visit the churches in the morning, when there is sunlight because most of these churches are oriented in the East-West, and you have to realise that the sun rays actually come into the church from that direction. You will actually see the vibrant colours of the stained glass."

Interestingly, Lewis, who is the dean of the post-graduate programme in Urban Design and Architectural and Urban Conservation at Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies, is also currently helping conserve Our Lady of Grace Cathedral in Vasai, which has stained glass but there is a difference. The churches-- Holy Name Cathedral and Gloria Church, says the 53-year-old, who has a keen interest in the conservation of churches in Mumbai, were basically built much later. "The style of the church was very much based on the artistic kind of style, which was appreciated at that time. Their architecture is a kind that captures the semantics of philosophy of the particular time. But the churches in Vasai and the region were actually built by the Portuguese. You can actually see the ornamentation, which is very different," he adds.

Interestingly with time, the method with which stained glass is produced has changed, and while they traditionally molten glass was blown, today they are manufactured industrially, which means that the first and 10th piece of glass looks exactly the same but in the former, the beauty was that every piece of glass was unique. He explains, "Even when you fire the glass to do a painted glass, there will be these kinds of nuances which add value to the glass it is okay because there's there is there kind of each of the pieces are made individually and you understand that there is a human kind of touch to eventually to put the glass together."

Among the new constructions, Lewis and Chandgadkar worked on building St Jude's Church in Malad East. The church boasts of coloured glass done by the latter, with the interpretation that focused on getting the idea of the stained glass; it was completed in 2019. However, it is in the more contemporary style, as compared to the churches in South Mumbai.

Need for a keen eye, and on preservation
Unfortunately, during the course of their work in the last decade and more, Lewis says they observed that people didn't realise the importance of what they had, and that is how the museum, which was also designed by Lewis, was born in 2011. He explains, "We realised that a lot of antiquity in the church, whether it's church records, the vestments in the church, the architecture of the church was getting spoiled, or deteriorated because people did not firstly value the artefact they had in hand. The second part is they did not go to the root cause of the problem. So, if there was a leakage in the church, they would not replace the roof, they would actually put bathroom tiles till the sanctuary."

It is also why just like Fernandes and Chandgadkar, Lewis believes that not many people pay attention to the nuances of stained glass unless they research about it or there is a workshop held to make people aware about it. It is where, beyond the church, the community associated with it is also instrumental in preserving the churches. "Unfortunately, what is happening in many of our churches in South Mumbai is that many people have migrated either to the north of Mumbai or they have migrated abroad. So, there's no patronage of the community because the church doesn't become a priority in the urban setting," he highlights, while saying often there is a reliance on fundraisers to preserve the structure. Lewis says reimagining the churches as a place which can become cultural spaces that can host carol singing, and other activities related to other feasts, and Easter too.

On the other hand, being enthusiastic about stained glass and the art form, Cardoz has always had a wish. "I have always wanted to actually light up the stained glass from inside St Peter's Church. Stained glass is meant to be seen from inside the church, and it gets lit up when the sunlight falls on it. During the day, you get a lot of sun coming in and so at different times of the day that stained glass looks slightly different. But imagine if we lit up the stained glass from inside, then what would happen is that that same stained glass gets reflected on the outside." Beyond Christmas, he says Mumbaikars could use stained glass sometimes to depict to the outside world what is happening inside when there is a feast, of the Resurrection or the Holy Spirit and highlight that panel. "That was the intent of stained glass; it told a story in light," he concludes.