File:St John the Baptist, Coventry. East Window. 1952 - 35711229783.jpg

English: The East window was designed by Margaret Edith Aldrich Rope, erected in 1952 at a cost of £4,082.9s.11d and is the last large commission by this artist.

The East Window: St John’s Coventry from St. John the Baptist Parish Magazine; October 1952

The medieval tradition of the disposition of subjects carved or painted in our churches varied in detail but its main outlines were fixed. The altar, where the sacrifice of our Redemption is offered was the centre of a group of subjects concerned with the act by which we were redeemed. The crucifix on the rood loft above which usually appeared a Christ in glory, led into the sanctuary where round the altar, angels and saints were gathered, including the Patriarchs and Prophets of the old Dispensation. It was all very complete. In this window something of the same scheme is carried out. Its story is, as it were, told against a background of creation which God has seen to be “very good” and which is represented by the angels of the four elements, earth, air, fire and water, in the square panels at the base of the window. Above them, into a good world, evil is introduced by a fallen angel in the form of a serpent. Prompted by his specious argument the human race has cast off the Yoke of God and broken His Law. The justice of God demands their punishment and His judgment being passed, Adam and Eve are seen leaving the security of the earthly paradise to begin the long slow pilgrimage back to God, only sustained by the promise of a Saviour – Him who is to come. Adam, more realistic, sees chiefly the havoc that their sin has brought upon the world; Eve with a flash of insight, sees for a moment the second Eve whose obedience gives to the Saviour His entrance into the world of time and space. The angel, sword in hand, keeps the way to the Tree of Life, the gate to which can be opened only by the passion and death of Christ. On either side of Adam and Eve the story moves on rapidly to Isaiah, one of the prophets by whom God spoke, preparing the world for the Christ; and John the Baptist (patron of St John’s) the forerunner, declared by Christ Himself to be the greatest of those that are born of woman. He it was who announced the Saviour as the Lamb or Victim, of God, the sacrificial Offering and so above his head appears the Infant Christ as a Lamb, undefiled and without blemish, presented to the Temple according to the Jewish Law. Above Isaiah is the Visitation, where Mary, hastening to visit her cousin Elizabeth, is for the first time hailed as the Mother of God. The passing of the centuries is indicated in the four small panels at the base of the upper transom where the theme of the patriarchs and prophets is picked up again with (reading from left to right) Noah’s Ark (called by a very young friend of the artist “The House that Jack Built”) a symbol of our entrance by baptism, into the church, God’s new creation, where all things are made new in Christ, the Sacrifice of Isaac, foretelling Christ’s perfect Sacrifice, David the prophet King, ancestor of Mary and therefore Mary’s Son; and Jonah whose being swallowed by a whale symbolises the Death and Resurrection of Christ and of us in Him. In the centre above the upper transom we come to the figures of the Virgin and the Angel. To Mary comes the greatest test and the greatest glory that can come to a creature of God. She knows the scriptures; she has learnt and understood that the Saviour who is to come is to be a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief. She sees, none better, that sorrow as well as glory must follow her consent to co-operate with God in preparing a Body for the Saviour. But Mary’s will is constant, she does not falter. Be it unto me according to Thy Word. St. John, contemplating this mystery after the Ascension will write “The Word was God…….and the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us”. St. John the Evangelist (on the left of the Virgin) is present partly in compliment to the other John to whom the church is dedicated and partly as the greatest seer into the mystery of the Incarnation of God. Beyond him on the right of the Angel, St. Luke is busily taking down the story of which Our Lady herself is the only possible teller. It is on this account that he writes with so great an authority? Above the seated St. John we are carried back to the beginning of creation, when to the Angels is proposed the fact that God the Son will take to Himself a human nature and as Man will be worshipped by angels as well as by men. The citizens of Heaven do not see eye to eye about this and join in battle, the proud rebellious angels being cast down by St. Michael and his victorious legions with the battle cry who is like unto the Lord our God? Above the angels is the Chalice and Host because in the Blessed Sacrament not only the Divine Glory but also the humanity of Christ is hidden. Over St. Luke on the right, rejoicing angels hear the answer of Mary and above them is the Pelican feeding its young from its own breast, another symbol of the Blessed Sacrament. Next to the rejoicing angels and above the Angel Gabriel, St Anne and St. Joachim (framed in a comfortable niche) look down from the place where they await their final redemption and see their child, upon whom is laid the whole world’s choice and chance of deliverance. Above Our Lady herself is the symbol of the Blessed Trinity from whom the Spirit like a dove descends to accomplish the mystery of the Incarnation. The eight quatre foils show the emblems of the Passion and the tracery shows the Heavenly City, the Sacred Heart, emblem of the Charity of God towards us, the Nativity and a sorrowful Virgin holding in her arms the dead Christ. The layer pieces, at the extreme right and left are the Ascension, whereby His own power and right, Christ mounts up to Heaven and an Assumption of the Virgin, who like the man in the scriptures who “was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom” is carried by triumphant angels up to the throne of her Divine Son M.E.A.R. (Margaret Edith Aldrich Rope)

Upper half of the window representing the Annunciation.

The two stained glass artists named Margaret Rope were first cousins, granddaughters of George Rope of Grove Farm, Blaxhall, Suffolk (1814-1912) and his wife Anne (née Pope) (29/3/1821-1/10/1882). Neither married: both were baptised Anglicans but died Roman Catholics.

The younger Margaret was the 5th child of Arthur Mingay Rope (himself George and Anne's 5th child: 1850-1945) and Agnes Maud (née Aldrich: 1855-1943). She was born on 29th July 1891 and christened Margaret Edith at St Margaret's Church, Leiston, Suffolk on 25th August. She died in March 1988.

Born into a farming family at Leiston on the Suffolk coast, Margaret Edith Rope found herself among artistic relatives at Leiston and Blaxhall, Suffolk: her uncle, George Thomas Rope, landscape painter and Royal Academician; her aunt Ellen Mary, sculptor; sister Dorothy, also a sculptor. In the family, her nickname was "Tor", for tortoise. She was later to use a tortoise to sign some of her windows.

She was first educated by an aunt and later at Wimbledon High School, Chelsea School of Art and LCC Central School of Arts & Crafts (where she specialised in stained glass under Karl Parsons & Alfred J. Drury).