• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Five stained-glass windows depicting biblical symbols line the balcony of New All Saints Church in Liberty Heights. (Kevin J. Parks/CR staff)

Brooklyn stained glass studio creates windows for Liberty Heights church

December 13, 2018
By Emily Rosenthal Alster
Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News, Video

Mildred Yamileth Monzón Hernandez wraps the edges of a piece of glass for the New All Saints stained glass window project. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

St. Junipero Serra. St. Kateri Tekakwitha. St. Martin de Porres. St. Rose of Lima. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Mother Mary Lange.

Saints from the Americas constitute half of those depicted in new stained- glass windows at New All Saints in Liberty Heights.

“I wanted to reflect the cultural and racial diversity that is a part of our history … of the church in America,” said Father Donald A. Sterling, pastor. “There are people typically we may know by name, but you never see them anywhere.”

In commissioning the work, Father Sterling found a local business familiar with the territory: Terraza Stained Glass, located in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Baltimore but founded by a native of Argentina.

A stained glass window of St. Martin de Porres was recently installed at New All Saints Church in Liberty Heights. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Opened 11 years ago by Roberto Terraza, the studio completed the New All Saints project, which included stained glass for 12 large and seven smaller windows, in early November.

The studio’s process begins with Terraza’s 28-year-old daughter, Melina, the first hire of a company that now employs 20. She has a background in art and design and, from her home in Mendoza, Argentina, creates a custom design for every piece.

That template is then sent to the studio, where glass is cut and grinded, then painted with care and attention to detail by Mohammed Alkurdi, an artist with 25 years of experience.

The shaped pieces are placed on the template – all numbered to keep them straight – and each is wrapped with copper foil. An acid solution is placed on the edges and they are soldered with lead.

Terraza has gone as far as California to install his company’s work, which all began when he made his home in Locust Point.

A decade or so ago, Terraza, a machinist by trade, created a stained-glass piece for the door of his home. A neighbor offered to pay him to make one for his own door. Not wanting to take on the project, Terraza gave a high price – one that was willingly accepted by that neighbor, and another who liked his work.

That spurred Terraza and his wife, Donna, to open a business dedicated to stained glass. Four years ago, they moved it from their basement to Brooklyn. In September, they opened a second location, in Kansas City, Mo.

Terraza’s older daughter, Florencia, runs the business’s online Etsy shop, which has more than 300 five-star reviews.

Mily Lara Wolking, the production manager at the Brooklyn studio, said the larger windows for New All Saints took approximately two days apiece to create.

She studied architecture at a university in her native Mexico, where there was a Catholic church seemingly on every corner in her hometown of San Luis Potosí. She admired the ornate stained glass that filled many of the windows, and draws on those memories as she works in a medium in which she had little previous experience.

“This is my dream job,” Wolking said Nov. 1, during a break in the Brooklyn studio. “It’s like a candy store, but with glass.”

Though she lives in Brooklyn, Wolking likes to frequent the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Cathedral Street for Mass.

“I feel like I’m doing a good job,” Wolking said of work destined for  Catholic churches. “It makes me think about religion a little bit more.”

Her favorite of the New All Saints windows is the Blessed Virgin Mary. She made it, and besides, Mary is her favorite saint.

“She always is my favorite,” said Wolking, whose home has depictions of the Blessed Mother throughout.

Roberto Terraza, owner of Terraza Stained Glass in Baltimore, installs a new window depicting Abraham in New All Saints Church. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

She initially thought the New All Saints window was too dark and had too much green, but that was before she took it outside.

“I like the way it looks in the light,” she said. “When you put it in the light – it changes everything.”

That window was placed alongside five others lining the northwest side of the church, all portraying familiar figures from the Bible and the Gospels, during their installation Nov. 5-7. The six on the opposite wall feature the American saints.

According to Father Sterling, the parish replaced the framing, and the previous windows, with clear glass about three years ago.

“You had no opportunity to see beyond the walls or the inside (of the church),” he said, of a choice that gave the parish more time to consider options for new stained glass.

Father Sterling said he had not seen many saints from the Americas depicted in stained glass before. He likened the depictions to “masterpieces” on a wall and said they chose to make just a section of the windows stained glass to “keep the building somewhat open.”

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Emily Rosenthal Alster

Emily Rosenthal Alster, a former staff writer for the Catholic Review, is a contributing writer. She is a lifelong resident of Maryland and a parishioner of St. John in Westminster.

Emily is a graduate of Delone Catholic High School in McSherrystown, Pa. She holds a bachelor's degree in business communication from Stevenson University.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Pope Francis says situation at U.S.-Mexico border is ‘serious problem’
  • Movie Review: ‘The Little Mermaid’
  • Missionary of mercy priest: ‘Be Christ to all people’ in a world ‘hungry for the Word’
  • TV Review: ‘Mrs. Davis’
  • In honoring anti-Catholic activists, L.A. Dodgers strike out

| Latest Local News |

CEO, authors, NFL coach take part in Catholic college commencements

Connect program centered on empathy, listening

RADIO INTERVIEW: How to grow in your openness to the Holy Spirit

| Latest World News |

Dioceses wake up to youth mental health crisis, helping parents, teachers and pastors take action

Experts hail U.S. surgeon general’s social media warning for youth mental health

Missionary of mercy priest: ‘Be Christ to all people’ in a world ‘hungry for the Word’

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Dioceses wake up to youth mental health crisis, helping parents, teachers and pastors take action
  • The Beauty of Mass in the Gym
  • Exquisite pizza, the school year winding down, and a shopping day (7 Quick Takes)
  • Experts hail U.S. surgeon general’s social media warning for youth mental health
  • As COVID’s emergency phase ends, Catholic experts share takeaways for the church
  • Missionary of mercy priest: ‘Be Christ to all people’ in a world ‘hungry for the Word’
  • Florida Catholic wife, mom, doctor involved in sainthood causes says Eucharist is central to all she does
  • Nun’s incorruptible remains highlight rich heritage of Black Catholics in U.S., say experts
  • Under surveillance, government pressure, China needs prayers, observers say

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED