ELYRIA — On Easter Sunday, the light from the rising sun will again shine through beautiful stained glass windows in the sanctuary at St. Mary Church.

The project to remove plaster and bricks that blocked the windows for more than 70 years was completed this week, said Mike Moore, the church’s music director and business manager.

The first to enjoy them included seventh- and eighth-graders being confirmed Thursday, he said.

“People are excited — it’s on everyone’s minds and lips,” Moore said.

“We knew there were windows — they were visible from the outside — but there’s always been speculation on what they look like,” Moore said. “Practically nobody alive today knew how to answer that question.”

The windows above the sanctuary have been blocked off since a renovation project in the 1930s, according to the Rev. Charles Diedrick, the priest at St. Mary.

Moore said it was Diedrick who wanted to open up the windows after he became the priest at St. Mary’s and parishioner Steve Ross of Ross Builders made it happen.

Diedrick said he was very pleased to see the windows were in such great shape.

“My grandfather was the 12th person baptized in this church and my grandmother’s brother was ordained a priest in 1906 and came to St. Mary as his first assignment,” Diedrick said. “My parents were married at St. Mary’s in 1949 and I was confirmed here.”

Moore said the northeast window donated by Severine Ott shows the Archangel Gabriel approaching Mary in the Annunciation when she learns she will bear the Christ child.

The southeast window donated by John Eigner shows Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when he realizes he will suffer and die, Moore said.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

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