Ecclesiastical Fribourg

This is a stained glass window that acts as a monumental page of the city chronicle: instead of ink — light. The program is idealistically solemn but at the same time very concrete: it shows how Fribourg built its religious and institutional identity, from the patronage of St. Nicholas to the formal elevation of the temple (from a collegiate church to a cathedral).

A story “for ordinary people”: how to read it (from top to bottom)

Mehoffer commands this window to be read “downwards,” register by register — as if saying: the community consists of layers: patronage → values → oath → people → protection of Mary → facts and dates.

1) The Highest Register: St. Nicholas enthroned – the patron who “holds the line”

In the highest register sits St. Nicholas, the patron of the cathedral, depicted as a spiritual authority and guardian of order. The narrative begins with him: he is the “keystone” of the entire story.

2) The Register of Ideas: APOSTASIA versus FIDES

Lower down, on the sides, personifications appear with inscriptions:

• APOSTASIA (apostasy/abandonment)
• FIDES (faith)

It is audaciously effective: before you see names and dates, you receive a message that the history of the Church is not just events — it is choices.

3) The “Constitutional” Register: Oath on the Gospel and the community motto

Under the motif of the reliquary/hand (a sign of continuity and authority), the Fribourg magistrate takes an oath on the Gospel. Across the three lancets runs the slogan: RELIGIONI – PATRUM – FIDELES,
meaning: “Faithful to the religion of the fathers.” This is the ideological heart of the window.

4) The Register of People: A “gallery of pillars” of the Fribourg Church

Further down, you enter the concrete realm:

• Peter Schneuwly (1549/50–1597) – Provost, with the title PATER PATRIAE (Father of the Fatherland).
• Sebastian Werro (1555–1614) – also a Provost at St. Nicholas.
• Peter Canisius (1521–1597) – on the left; a prominent theologian, taught at the College of St. Michael in Fribourg from 1580.
• Giovanni Francesco Bonomi – on the right; Papal Nuncio to the Confederation (1579–1581). Here, the stained glass ceases to be an allegory. It becomes personal memory.

Here, the stained glass ceases to be an allegory. It becomes personal memory.

5) The Register of Patronage: Mary and a formula that sounds like a civic incantation

Below the hierarchs, the center is occupied by Mary — a very important local accent (patroness of Fribourg alongside St. Nicholas).
Beneath her appears the motto: SUB HOC PATROCINIO – STAT STABITQUE – FRIBURGUM (“Under this protection, Fribourg stands and shall stand”).
At this point, the window shifts from a “chronicle” into a manifesto of identity.

6) The Finale at the Bottom: Dates and the elevation of the church – 1512 → 1924

The lowest register closes the story with facts:

• 1512 – status of a collegiate church
• 1924 – elevation to the rank of a cathedral

Added to this are figures of the chapter and inscriptions of functions (e.g., DECAN / CANTOR / PRAEPOSITUS) as well as heraldry. The message is clear: an institution “becomes a cathedral” not only through walls but through history, law, and community.

Style and Workshop

• Narrative quality: The arrangement of multiple registers and scenes refers to the logic of medieval narrative windows, but Mehoffer conducts it with a modern rhythm (symmetry, legible fields, strong bands of inscriptions).
• Secession vs. “Architecture” of the Presbytery: In this window, the Secessionist line and ornament are still strong, but subordinate to an axial order and “official” legibility of the program — mentally, this is close to early Art Deco.
• Social Dimension: The program of the window demonstrates the coupling of municipal and ecclesiastical authorities (oath, inscriptions, status of the temple) as the foundation of community order.

Significance and Reception

This is one of the best examples of how Mehoffer manages to combine a grand religious narrative with local patriotism and the recent history of the institution. The window not only “tells” but legitimizes memory: it shows who built the Fribourg Church, on what values, and in what form.

What to zoom in on in the Gigapixel (list of frames)

1. St. Nicholas: Face, hands, pastoral staff – painting and light on white.
2. Personifications and Inscriptions: APOSTASIA and FIDES – the contrast of ideas.
3. Oath on the Gospel Scene: Gesture, book, central composition.
4. Slogan across three lancets: RELIGIONI / PATRUM / FIDELES – the “constitution of the window.”
5. Portraits and Signatures: P. SCHNEUWLY (PATER PATRIAE), S. WERRO, P. CANISIUS, N. F. BONOMIO.
6. Mary + Motto: SUB HOC PATROCINIO / STAT STABITQUE / FRIBURGUM.
7. Date Medals: AD 1512 and AD 1924 – the institutional bracket.
8. Lower Register: Figures of the chapter with signatures DECAN / CANTOR / PRAEPOSITUS + coats of arms (heraldry as the “language of memory”).

Monographs (Core Literature)

• Tadeusz Adamowicz, Witraże fryburskie Józefa Mehoffera: monografia zespołu, Wrocław: Ossolineum, 1982. The most complete classic study in Polish: iconography, genesis of the program, analysis of style and context (from the perspective of Polish art history).
• Hortensia von Roda, Die Glasmalereien von Józef Mehoffer in der Kathedrale St. Nikolaus in Freiburg i. Üe., Bern: Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte (GSK), 1995 (series Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte der Schweiz, no. 7; ISBN 3-7165-0969-8). “Window-by-window monograph”: documentation, attributions, description of the program and workshop; the foundation for research on the Swiss/German side.
• Gérard Bourgarel / Grzegorz Tomczak / Augustin Pasquier (eds./contrib.), Józef Mehoffer: de Cracovie à Fribourg, ce flamboyant art nouveau polonais, Fribourg: Pro Fribourg 106/107, 1995 (collective publication; approx. 120 pp.). The most important volume in French: local reception, Fribourg contexts, workshop themes (including Kirsch & Fleckner), interpretive essays.
• Tadeusz Stryjeński, Vitraux de Joseph Mehoffer à la Cathédrale de Fribourg, Kraków, 1929. Early, historical perspective (valuable as a testimony of the era and the circulation of opinion).
• Hortensia von Roda, Les vitraux de Jozef von Mehoffer, Fribourg: Pro Fribourg (no. 67), 1985. Early synthetic publication (preceding the “full” monograph of 1995).