The Evie Hone window, Ardara R C Church

Evie Hone window, Ardara

Stained glass window by Evie Hone with image of Ardara R C church superimposed

Donegal County Library

Evie Hone window, Ardara
Donegal County Library

Evie Hone window, Ardara

Stained glass window by Evie Hone with image of Ardara R C church superimposed

Donegal County Library

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Ardara's Holy Family Church was built on land obtained from General Tredennick of Woodhill House, and was officially opened in November 1903. The outstanding feature of the church is the stained-glass window by the renowned artist Evie Hone (1984-1955). Local man, Patrick Sweeney, living in New York, commissioned the Rose Window. Christ is shown at the centre, his arms raised in exhortation and a scroll on his knees. Above him is king David with his harp, and, below, Moses with the two tablets of the Decalogue. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John fill the remaining four panels; they are shown in symbolic form as living creatures with wings – lion, man, eagle and ox.

The interpretation of the window is that the whole work represents the word of God. The old and new testaments are arranged symbolically in the six panels, placed literally about the young Christ. Derek Hill painted the ox symbol of St Luke, and Evie Hone did the rest of the work. She has stated, in reference to the Ardara commission, that she was happier working on a window for a mountain church than doing either the Eton College or Washington cathedral windows. She said that the colours of rich green, dark blue, browns and tawny earths that she had used were inspired by the mosaics that she and Hill had seen together in Ravenna in the spring of 1948. They were colours that suited the grandeur of the northern Celtic landscape where the glass was to be installed. Derek Hill wrote that he found it her most beautiful window.