Here in the United States are two major celebrations of King Louis IX of France. There is a basilica in St. Louis, Missouri, and a cathedral in New Orleans, Louisiana. Both are magnificent structures and splendidly adorned. The object of this essay is the cathedral in New Orleans situated on the west edge of Jackson Square. More specifically we are interested in the story told by ten of the most colorful stained-glass windows in the United States.
The story of the windows began nearly 100 years ago in a small village in Germany. There is little Internet information about Linnich, Germany and not a single mention of a stain-glass manufacturer with the name the Oidtaan Studio. I have discovered the name Oidtaan is of Finnish origin.
Today Linnich is part of the North Rhine-Westphalia German State. The population of the village exceeds 12,000 residents and many of those are earning their living from a company devoted to laminate packaging for the pharmaceutical industry. Curiously, however, Linnich is the home of the Deutsche Glasmalerei-Museum (a museum and learning center with a mission of teaching and understanding the art and practice of stained glass.)
The first visit I made to New Orleans was over 25 years ago. I was one of the lucky members of my class, I left school and walked across Manhattan in the early ‘90s and found work within a month. After just another month, I was asked to represent our organization at a convention of like-minded museum employees in New Orleans. I left two days early and found myself in a kind of Disney-setting. It went from pillar to post and then became a visit of wandering, seeing the sights, and enjoying the restaurants. But when you are in New Orleans in the middle of August there is one other thing you are forced to do – seek shelter from the heat of day. Such was the case of how I learned of the ten windows in the cathedral which tell the story of St. Louis, King of France.
Through the years since that visit, I have searched for a set of postcards dedicated to those ten windows but have met failure in every attempt except one. About twelve years ago at a postcard show in Illinois, I found a linen-folder entitled, St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, La. I have tired of the search; therefore, I hope you will forgive the use of the pages in this folder as illustrations.
To present at least a minimum of history, I called the Cathedral the other day and talked to a knowledgeable person who very kindly answered my questions. And, I thank her.
In just a few minutes I learned what I needed. The windows were made in Germany and shipped to Louisiana in the late 1920s. Upon arrival at New Orleans an art glass company that may very well have been owned and operated by a Jacob Julian Lips (and his son, J. J. Lips, Jr.), installed the windows at the church in 1929. (Apparently the Lips concern is still in business. There is a website for Julius Lips Glass in Gretna, Louisiana.)
The Windows of St. Louis
Click each image to enlarge for better viewing.
Louis and Margaret of Provence were married in 1234. He was 20; she was 14. The marriage created political connections and she was crowned Queen of France the next day at Sens.
Louis IX worked tirelessly to advance his faith. He avidly collected religious relics, among these was the Crown of Thorns. Early in his reign Louis commissioned the
Sainte-Chapelle in Paris as a home for the crown, one of Christianity’s most cherished treasurers.
When Louis IX came to realize that his duty to God rivaled his duty to country, he was dubbed the Crusading King. Louis came to believe he was God’s Lieutenant on Earth.
By 1248 the home of Islam had moved to Egypt from the Holy Land and as the leader of the Seventh Crusade Louis landed in Damiette in 1249. The attack was successful, but short lived. The following year Louis lost his army and was captured. He was forced to pay a ransom and surrender Damiette.
Louis was renowned for his charity. Beggars were fed from his table and he often ate what they did not want. He washed their feet and ministered to the wants of lepers, who were ostracized from all society. He fed over one hundred of the poor almost daily. He visited the Lepers to bless their bodies and pray for their souls.
Louis IX, King of France died August 25, 1270, a victim of an epidemic of dysentery while on his second crusade in Tunisia.
His mortal remains were subjected to a process known as Mos Teutonicus*
The funeral of the King was a rather lengthy affair – it lasted ten months. The entombment occurred in May 1271 at the Basilica of Saint Denis in Saint-Denis, France. His casket was draped with a Christian Flag.
Louis IX was proclaimed a saint of the Catholic church by Pope Boniface VIII in 1297.
*Mos Teutonicus was a postmortem funerary custom used in Europe in the Middle Ages as a means of transporting, and solemnly disposing of, the bodies of high status individuals. Nobles would often undergo Mos Teutonicus since their burial plots were often located far away from their place of death. The process involved the removal of the flesh from the body, by boiling so that the bones of the deceased could be transported hygienically from distant lands back home. – Wikipedia.
Thank you very much for your interesting article about the stainglass windows in St. Louis Cathedral
in New Orleans.I have been in the cathedral and found it a haven of peace and quiet in a very noisy city. Like you I also enjoy collecting postcards and have quite a lot of the city and cathedral
This interesting article brought back memories of several visits to St. Louis Cathedral over a 25-year period. I checked my collection and there are, in fact, at least two post cards of the windows. The two I have are chrome and appear to be published by the Cathedral itself: STLC-20 St. Louis Crowned King of France; and STLC-21 St. Louis receiving the keys of Damiette. Who knows–there may be a complete set of the windows? I have other cards, also numbered in this same series, depicting paintings in the Cathedral and one of a statue of St. Louis.
What a fascinating story! We love visiting NOLA and will most certainly stop in the next time we are there. The Mos Teutonicus procedure did sound rather gruesome however.
Since there are approximately 500 relics which are purported to be the Crown of Thorns, at least 499 of them are obviously fakes.
Jacob Julius Lips was my grandfather. I’ve heard many great stories of all the stain glass installed through out the New Orleans area by our family. All my uncles and cousins took great pride in their work. My father was Julius James Lips and our company was closed in 2022. It was a pleasure reading this article.
It was my grandfather HENRY JULIUS LIPS that did the glass work for the St Louis Cathedral . When my grandfather became ill with cancer and my mother moved him to Santa Fe NM my mothers Aunt went into his house and stole all his stained and leaded glass work along with all his drawings/sketches/tools. Shortly after that other relatives started claiming credit for his work. My grandfather was one of very few that knew the method of overlapping painting stained glass work.
Missy, I think we are related. My grandfather was Jacob Julius Lips,Sr. and my father was Jacob Julius Lips,Jr. Henry J. lips was my father’s brother. Uncle Henry was famous for his work in New Orleans and along the Mississippi coast. He did many of the famous beveled glass doors on St. Charles Avenue. My brothers and my husband worked for him through the years! Uncle Henry was a very kind man and truly a great artist! Uncle Henry had one daughter- Verna.
Verna was my mother. She told me and showed me all my grandfathers work. I believe we are related. I’d love to know all the places that my grandfather did work. As I mentioned above all his things were stolen so I have no record from my mom. Sadly-she passed in 2020 and her memory had failed her years earlier. If you could shed light on this I’d appreciate it so much.
Are you living in NO?
Yes, we now live in Kenner, La. Which is 10 miles west of New Orleans. I remember Verna. When my father died I was 3 and she took care of me during the funeral service. My Daddy, Jacob Julius, Jr was Henry’s younger brother. I remember Verna as a beautiful young girl! I know Uncle Henry did a lot of work in and around New Orleans. My e-mail is normasaau@yahoo.com . I would love to talk and maybe meet you. My husband worked for Uncle Henry so he might remember some of the work. I hope to hear from you… Read more »