Stained Glass Windows Saint-Jans-Onthoofding Church Stavele

St John's Beheading church has stained glass windows related to the war.

During the First World War, Stavele was mainly a French canton for the French sector.
The soldiers stay in barracks.
On October 15, 1917, near "La ferme barrée" in Bikschote, the French soldier Etienne Lorin, volunteer with the French "263e Régiment d'Artillerie de Campagne", was killed.
He is 18 years old and from Chartres. He is first buried in Stavele, but later his body is transferred to France.
His father is a stained-glass window artist. He processed his grief by making two stained glass windows for the church of Stavele, which were installed in 1919.
The three lance-shaped stained-glass windows are located in the baptistery.
The left one represents the martyrdom of St Etienne, the father incorporates his son's portrait in a medallion. The glass window on the right represents the battlefield at the Yser.

Under each stained-glass window is a quote (French text):
Left: "Today the soldier who leaves his body rises,
triumphantly to heaven.
He ascends, crowned with a laurel wreath,
conquered by the shedding of his blood "
(office St. Etienne)

Middle: "Memory of ETIENNE LORIN,
born in Chartres (France), voluntarily
aspirant of the 263rd Régiment d'Artillerie de Campagne.
died in the field of honor
close to the Yser, on October 15, 1917
at the age of 18 "

Right: "Christ crowns military courage
and secures Christian-accepted death
the soldier the salvation of his soul "
(Cardinal Mercier)


Source: Heritage Object and the "Krant van West-Vlaanderen"

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Source

• Text: Marie-Christine Vinck
• Photos: Marie-Christine Vinck