A stained-glass rose window that was once in Holy Name of Jesus Church in Tupper Lake is prominently displayed in St. Alphonsus Church. The two Tupper Lake Catholic parishes merged several years ago, and now Holy Name has been closed and is being sold — but this was saved. (Provided photo — JMStevens Photography)

TUPPER LAKE — Beautiful, old stained-glass pops from a back-lit new frame inside St. Alphonsus Church in Tupper Lake.

“We were getting ready to sell Holy Name of Jesus Church because we had two churches in this town in Tupper Lake, two miles apart,” the Rev. Douglas Decker said.

“You can’t maintain them, you know. I was figuring what should we do. I saw this historic rose window in the front of the church. It wasn’t too well known because it was up above the choir area.”

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Parish relic

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Decker broached the subject of bringing the rose window with them to the parish.

“My thinking was to reinstall it at St. Alphonsus, but we were not going to go through the wall,” he said.

“We’re going to put up an artificial wall, and set the window in it with back lighting.”

Decker asked parishioners for their thoughts.

“Several of them said, ‘No. Cost too much money.'”

Decker convincingly argued that this was part of parish history and shouldn’t be left behind.

“You are going to go to New York City, and you will see your window sitting in a barroom somewhere, you know,” he said.

“I said, ‘No. No. No.’ I said I want the tower bell, too. These are historic things, and we’re trying to combine the two churches. So, you have to do something like that.”

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Master design

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Decker checked with Baker Liturgical Art LLC based in Plantsville, Connecticut.

“They are well known up this way because they have worked on different churches,” he said.

“They might’ve even worked on St. Peter’s. They’re excellent. They really listen and they really try to refurbish the churches according to character.

“They are not going to come in and make it all a brand-new church. They are going to maintain the structure.”

Baker Liturgical Art came to assess the architectural element and offered several design solutions.

The company leaned to one design in particular.

“It kind of has sort of the style of an old, back altar with spires,” Decker said.

“They wanted the window at the top. I, at first, thought we would bring it down. He (Brian Baker) said, ‘No, I want it at the top.’ I said, ‘You’re right, probably.’ They were right.”

Below the rose window, the standing wall features a huge wall cross gifted by the local Fire Department when the church burned down.

“They brought that down and put the window at the top,” Decker said.

“They did a beautiful job. It took them only two weeks.”

The window is inscribed with “Rosary Society 1924.”

“That’s when they had that window put in at Holy Name of Jesus Church on Main Street in Tupper Lake,” he said.

“It’s a German window. Mr. Baker said the glass on that window is German glass because it’s very, very intense. It’s hard to get light through it.”

The experts in liturgical design and restoration pulled the window a year ago.

“I didn’t know they were here,” Decker said.

“They came, took it and left. They took it back to Connecticut. They took the whole thing apart, re-leaded all the stained-glass, put it in a brand new frame.”

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Parish praise

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The project cost $80,000.

“That’s why they were crowing about the price,” Decker said.

“I said, ‘You got to realize what we’re doing.’ It’s big money, but life goes on.”

Holy Name has been sold to a local resident.

“We hope to have closing on that pretty soon,” Decker said.

“The man that has bought it, he has a gas station here in town. They also run a day care. He wants want to put exercise machines over there upstairs.”

Someday beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic, parishioners will be able to pray beneath the new/old stained-glass window in St. Alphonsus Church.

“It didn’t have one of those rose windows,” Decker said.

“They are so pleased that I was persistent. They really feel it’s a beautiful addition, and it really is amazing.”

Baker has suggested another improvement.

“He wants to put a new floor in to match the back wall in the sanctuary,” Decker said.

“That’s his plan. He will come over, maybe late fall.”