The Windows of the St. James Chapel

s Europe emerged from the Dark Ages, the ability to read and write - a skill we take for granted today - was the exception rather than the rule. Literacy was a privelege of the clergy,  the men and women who embraced ecclesiastic life, and some members of the royal court. Nevertheless, people had to learn the Bible and morality, which were the foundations of Christianity in the Middle Ages. This is where Gothic artisans played a leading role.

A Gothic cathedral was like a library, only its store of knowledge was in its statues and stained glass. The great stained glass windows of Europe's cathedrals were, for a lack of a better way to describe it, Medieval stories told frame by frame, window by window. A cathedral's windows also told stories and implied relationships by their proximity to one another. Togehter, the windows and statues of a cathedral attempted to tell the history of the Church, starting with the Creation and ending with Judgment Day.

A Statue of Mary on Quigley's Exterior