The stained glass windows of San Agustín Cathedral recount in their vibrant beauty a liturgical story told in art and craftsmanship. As well, they bear a prominent role in the Cathedral’s history.
As plans took form for the restoration of the beloved landmark, the windows took priority as an endangered historic element of the Cathedral. A 2014 onsite assessment revealed that a protective Lexan cover over each south-facing window had accelerated their degradation with a greenhouse effect of drastically high temperatures.
To ensure that the 24 fragile stained glass windows long keep their place in the Cathedral, they are undergoing a restoration conducted by Ted Weiser of Cathedral Stained Glass (CSG) of Austin. Weiser detailed their condition with written documentation, photos, rubbings, drawings, and the numbering of each piece of glass in each window.
Weiser and his crew have thus far removed nine windows from the Cathedral’s southern façade, and they have done so with great care — part of Weiser’s staff inside the Cathedral gently tapping them from their aperture, and others outside to receive them into specially crafted crates for safe transport to the CSG studio in Austin.
There, under Weiser’s experienced hands, the wooden frame around each window is forensically examined to determine wood type, age, and origin before going to a mill shop for restoration. Weiser and his staff undertake the work of disassembling the windows and reassembling them, using new lead caming that has been mixed with antimony for additional strength. When necessary, simple cracks and breaks are re-fired before re-assembly.
The aperture of each window that goes to Austin is temporarily closed with the old Lexan and plywood. Seven of the nine windows Weiser removed have been restored and reinstalled. Each window will be covered with plate glass that is drilled through with small ports to allow air to circulate in the space between the protective glass and the window.
Weiser’s work complies with the guidelines of the Texas Historic Commission and the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Rehabilitation of Historic Properties. Each window is insured.
The oldest of the Cathedral’s windows — the side altar windows of the Annunciation of Mary/Nativity and Our Lady of Sorrows and the Mater Dolorosa/Immaculate Conception— are dedicated to the life of Mary. Their nameplates give the year of their installation, 1874 and 1876, respectively. According to Weiser, the ornate windows are middle period Munich windows based on the Northern Renaissance school of painting fathered by Hans Holbein the Younger. “The altar windows, which face each other, are unique because they are not direct copies of a masterwork, as were many middle Munich School windows,” Weiser said.
The nave windows are Munich School windows that age indicators reveal were created between 1928 and 1932. “They are from the late Munich period, influenced by German Expressionistic painting and European decorative art as seen in the long, angular faces and figures that seem to almost come forward from the window sills and fill the Church,” Weiser observed.
He said that photographs taken in 1926 from the Cathedral’s courtyard do not show the two windows in place. Another indicator of the late Munich period, he said, is that saddle bars and copper wires soldered to windows and wrapped to the bars for structural support went out of use in the United States by 1930 and were replaced by reinforcement bars that were less strong and less visible. “The artwork with its strong German influence leads us to believe they were made in Germany,” he said.
Two high windows that flank the back of the altar, which depict Divine Providence and the Balance of Good and Evil, are partially obscured by ductwork outside the Cathedral, They were installed in 1944 when the church and altar were enlarged. Weiser said that when the ducts are re-routed and the windows re-installed, illumination by natural light will show the windows to be “brilliant jewels lost for decades.” He said the kaleidoscopic design suggests an American origin consistent with the works of Charles Jay Connick of Boston. Weiser said it is possible that a signature may be found when the windows are removed from their aperture.
Two grants totaling $604,400 from the Matias de Llano Charitable Trust have underwritten the restoration costs of eight windows on the southern wall of the Cathedral and one of the pair that face one another across the altar. The grant covers the restoration of windows that depict the Coronation of Mary, the Assumption, the Descent of the Holy Ghost, the Ascension, the Resurrection, the Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, Mater Dolorosa/the Immaculate Conception, the Apparition of the Sacred Heart, the Annunciation to Mary, and the Birth of Christ.
Two windows to the south that depict the Prodigal Son and Christ Curing the Paralytic have been funded by a grant from the John G. and Estella Kenedy Memorial Fund.
A grant from the Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Foundation will cover the restoration of the round Rose Window above the Cathedral’s doors on the western elevation. The window’s removal and restoration will be coordinated with the removal of the historic pipe organ in the choir loft.
The Diocese seeks funding for the restoration of the eight stained glass windows on the northern wall of the Cathedral and the two east façade windows above the altar that depict Divine Providence and the Balance of Good and Evil.
The windows on the northern façade depict the Mater Dolorosa, the Immaculate Conception, the Apparition of the Sacred Heart, Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter, the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging at the Pillar, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Good Shepherd, and a window in memory of Bishop Peter Verdaguer. The Verdaguer window is located just north of the front doors of the building in the small chapel called the Entombment Room.
According to Teresa Fonseca, AIA, facilities manager for the Diocese of Laredo, she anticipates that the restoration of all stained glass windows will be completed in the next 18 months at a projected cost of $1.4 million which covers hard costs; soft costs for forensics, testing, and engineering; and historic documentation, restoration documentation, research, architectural consultation services for submissions to the THC and the City’s Landmark Board, and related administrative costs.
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Laura Duckworth of Cathedral Stained Glass works from the interior of the Cathedral to remove a window from its aperture.
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Tom Duckworth and Jake Roundtree (on scaffold) lower a window to Ted Weiser and Charlie Roundtree for crating and transport to Austin.
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Charlie Roundtree and Jan Weiser are pictured finishing a crate for window shipment to Austin.
THE CATHEDRAL RESTORATION
The Diocese of Laredo commissioned Hickey-Peña Architects in 2014 to create a master plan for the restoration of San Agustín Cathedral.
“Bishop Tamayo and the Diocese Construction Committee wanted to ensure that money being spent on emergency building repairs and maintenance had the side effect of advancing an overall vision,” said architect Mario Peña. “We partnered with Frank Architects and a team of engineers, historians, and various specialists to analyze every aspect of the Cathedral, including mechanical, electrical, and acoustic systems, the structural integrity, the tower bells, the organ, and the stained glass windows. The team compiled a building history that would guide its eventual restoration,” he continued.
According to Peña, the team — basing itself on the assessment findings and following historic preservation best practices — organized a list of prioritized tasks, created a framework maintenance program, and illustrated a vision for the restoration and the interior enhancements necessary for the historic church to function as a cathedral.
Considering that the project was a historic restoration, priority was given to issues that could create a hazardous environment for the building’s users. Mitigating issues that pose a danger to the historic elements of the building were also considered.
Peña said that once those two priorities were completed the building would be ready to be restored, enhanced, and preserved through a comprehensive maintenance plan. He said that his firm organized a two-day workshop with the project team and Diocesan staff to place in a sequential course of action the projects and ideas of the master plan.
“The resulting implementation plan seeks to reconcile the projected costs with available financial resources and with efforts to raise the rest of the necessary funding for the rest of the Cathedral restoration and its eventual conservation in perpetuity,” Peña said, adding that restoration and enhancement efforts are grouped into phases.
Plans include the restoration of the neighboring St. Augustine Parochial School building which will house a permanent Cathedral office, a museum, and a conference center.
Peña said it is anticipated that the capital campaign now underway will cover the restoration of the stained glass windows; complete restoration of all interior finishes of plaster, wood, floors, and ceilings; the replacement of pews; replacement of air conditioning systems to ensure maximum energy efficiency and improved acoustics; the removal of the unsightly mechanical room and exposed ductwork on the east façade behind the altar and above the sacristy; the restoration of all interior and exterior lighting or replacement with historically compatible warm LED lighting; the slight expansion of the altar and choir loft to allow for Cathedral-specific ceremonies to take place; the restoration of the tower bells and fitting with programmable chimes; the restoration of the tower clock and fitting with an electronic time-keeping mechanism; lighting of the clock face and tower, and the exterior façade.
The capital campaign has been named the San Agustín Cathedral: Our Story, Our Faith, Our Cathedral.
The parish of San Agustín de Laredo was founded over 250 years ago. The extant church was built in 1872.
