Saint John
Phipps, Ball & Burnham (conjecture) 1920
"Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet and a Light Unto My Path!" In Memoriam Gilbert Higgs D.D.
DESCRIPTION: This small figural clerestory window in the south transept depicts Saint John. He is featured as a young, clean-shaven man wearing a loose-fitting white garment and a red cloak. Above his head is a banderole with the words, "Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet and a Light Unto My Path." (Psalm 119: 105). He holds an open book in his left hand and a quill in his right.
SAINT JOHN: The fourth Gospel in the New Testament is attributed to John, son of Zebedee, although, as with the other Gospels, the author is not named. Written perhaps 60 or more years after the Crucifixion, his Gospel brings out the spiritual significance behind Jesus' works and words. From John comes one of the most often quoted of all Bible verses: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
MEMORIAL: Gilbert Higgs was born in Bermuda in June 1844. He became rector of St. Paul's in 1890. It was here he met Clara Victoria Hertell of Key West and they were married in a lovely ceremony with Bishop William Crane Gray officiating. Their two daughters, Ruth and Marian, were the first children born in the rectory.
Dr. Higgs was a man of great energy and fine artistic taste. He planned a Victorian garden on the church grounds that became one of the showplaces of the city. The roses grown there were sold by a young man, Eugene Lowe, the proceeds of which were used to buy a processional cross. Dr. Higgs instituted the first vested choir, began the use of candles on the altar, and ensured that the wall in front of the church was completed in time for his wedding on May 9, 1894. In that year he served as Archdeacon of Monroe, Lee and Dade counties. He covered this expansive territory at a time when travel from the Keys to the mainland could be accomplished only by boat.
When services in the home of Clement Knowles, Sr. resulted in the formation of (First) Holy Innocents Mission, opposite the fire station on Grinnell Street, Dr. Higgs designed and built the altar. When the mission closed its doors in 1917, the altar was moved to St. Paul's Lady Chapel in the south transept, where it was used for many years.
Dr. and Mrs. J.Y. Porter, Sr. were the donors of the window. All three clerestory windows in the south transept, which in unison bathe the Lady Chapel in magnificent light, were donated by the Porter family.
Source: The Golden Cockerel: The Art, Symbolism & History of the Stained Glass Windows, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Key West, Florida by Winifred Shine Fryzel.
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