Trinity Episcopal Church - Table of Contents

"The Sealing of the Twelve Tribes" - Trinity Episcopal Church
389 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY

The church is well know for its incredible collection of stained glass windows by John LaFarge, Louis Comfort Tiffany and others. Of particular note are the five windows of the apse by LaFarge and his window titled "The Sealing of the Twelve Tribes," the topic of which is drawn from Revelations 7.

Commissioned by Charlotte Sherman Watson (who lived across the street from Trinity in the commodious Second Empire house  that is today the Buffalo Club) in memory of her mother and aunt. LaFarge required that Watson allow him to exhibit the window, before sending it to Buffalo, at the 1889 Exposition Universale in Paris, where, he hoped, it would establish his international reputation as a modern master of glass. Greatly impressed by the beauty and originality of the work, the French government awarded LaFarge the Legion of Honor, the highest honor bestowed upon a foreigner, and asked to purchase it.  This award established Lafarge's reputation.

"The Sealing of the Twelve Tribes" is also known as "Angel Sealing the Servants of God." This is LaFarge's most spectacular Trinity Church window. It depicts an angel, carrying the seal of God, who places it upon the forehead of one of the faithful while two more figures ascend into heaven.

This particular window consists of hundreds of pieces of glass in the robes and wings of the figures.

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"The Lord is My Shepherd," in the same chapel as "The Sealing" is LaFarge's portrayal; of the 23rd Psalm. The Lord with a shepherd's staff leads a woman "beside the still waters."

The family of Sarah Mercer Hazard commissioned the window in 1890. Sarah Mercer Hazard was the daughter of Dr. Archibald Mercer of New London, Connecticut, and the Hazard Family was a patron of LaFarge for a number of years. Sarah Hazard was active in the Episcopal Church in Buffalo, The window was restored in 1975 in memory of Elbridge Gerry Spaulding.