Joseph Beyer was 6 years old when he first saw a stained-glass window. It depicted St. Michael wielding a spear over the head of a dragon in the Bavarian style. Beyer was equally struck equally by the spiritual components as well as the technical skills demonstrated in the piece.
“It was a very dramatic window. The illustration, the draftsmanship was very fine,” Beyer said.
His fascination with the arts remained through college as he majored in painting. Three days after graduation, he started his first day as a painter at a stained-glass studio.
“The first thing they had me paint was the men’s room,” he quipped.
After becoming an apprentice, Beyer started removing and installing stained-glass windows across the United States. His skillset and career blossomed, and ultimately he founded Beyer Studios in northern Philadelphia in 1980.
The studio’s production floor consists of various stations where technicians and artists cut glass, assemble the pieces like a puzzle, and fasten them together with strips of lead. The Arlington diocese has a heavy footprint in the Philadelphia studio.
“We’re doing so much work with the Diocese of Arlington … it’s occupying maybe three-quarters of our studio just to keep up with all the projects. I can’t hire people fast enough,” Beyer said.
The most time-intensive project his studio is working on are the windows for the Cathedral of St. Thomas More. The cathedral will feature copious amounts of new stained glass, the most prominent being a rose window depicting the “New Jerusalem” on the north façade. There also will be numerous windows featuring saints that represent the various cultural communities in the diocese.
Beyer Studios is no stranger to Bishop Michael F. Burbidge or the Arlington diocese over the last decade. Beyer and his team worked with Bishop Burbidge on the glass present within Holy Name Cathedral in Raleigh, N.C., as well as Arlington parishes including St. Jude in Fredericksburg, St. Ambrose in Annandale and St. Mary of Sorrows in Fairfax.
Bishop Burbidge initiated the cathedral renovations to enhance the worship that will take place within its walls. “It has been clear to me for some time that, for the benefit of the faithful, a cathedral renovation would more accurately reflect our devotion, love of God and evangelistic spirit,” he said in a statement.
Beyer believes that a critical element to making a building feel like a church is high-quality stained glass.
“Every single item in (the cathedral) – the pews, the chalice on the altar, the walls – is going to be colored by the light that is filtering through the stained glass. So, we influence everything that they see in there, period,” Beyer said.
Simon Grigsby, a technician at Beyer studios for two decades, recognizes this impact, and it’s what makes him take pride in the work.
“There’s a great deal of satisfaction when you complete a project. The parishioners come in, and just seeing how excited they are, that’s an awesome moment,” Grigsby said.
Beyer is anticipating the diocesan faithful experiencing their renovated mother church for the first time.
“I think there’s enough fascination for everyone who visits the cathedral to find their favorite window, their favorite scene, their favorite color that people can enjoy for generations to come long after I’m gone,” he said.
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To learn how stained glass is made, go to bit.ly/WindowsOfWonder.
