Life and Miracles of Saint Nicholas
Chartres Cathedral, France
Chartres is said to have one of the most complete collections of medieval stained glass in the world. There are two large windows telling the story of Saint Nicolas. This one is from the early 13th century with the five lower replacement panes from 1924. The other medieval window is in the nave. The glass escaped harm during the 16th century religious wars. During World War II it was safe-guarded by being removed and stored in the surrounding countryside. Following the war it was reinstalled. The window is shown in sections; the story links will bring up larger images of the scenes. These panels are in the south choir, bay 14. It is behind a gate in the small "Confessors' Chapel," the second in the south ambulatory. (The chapel was formerly known as the "Chapel of Saint Nicolas" because of his popularity and the central placement of the window.
Click the text to see larger images of each scene; links to stories are at the bottom of the page.
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Top: Top: Child falls into sea with golden cup St Nicholas returns child to parents
Middle: St Nicholas resuscitates youths
Bottom: Three youths enter inn Innkeeper murders youths
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Top: Dishonest borrower crushed by cart Cheated lender strikes St Nicholas statue
Middle: Jewish lender baptized
Bottom: A Jewish man lends money Borrower dishonestly swears on St Nicholas statue
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Top: St Nicholas' coming blesses Myra Wheat unloaded to relieve Myra's famine
Middle: Nicholas consecrated bishop
Bottom: Nicholas led into into church Nicholas prays before altar
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Top: Nicholas comes to church to pray Clergy looking for Nicholas
Middle: Dowry money for the three maidens
Bottom: Infant Nicholas refuses breast Nicolas at school
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Top: Nicholas birth First bath
Middle: Lower panels given in 1924
Bottom: Angel Angel
Stories represented in the window
One Cup or Two
The Evil Butcher
The Deceitful Borrower combined with The Guardian
Famine Relief
How Nicholas Became a Bishop
Story of the Dowries
Nicholas' Birth & Infancy Stories
Photos by Micheletb, from Wikipedia. Used under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International License.