Saving Grace: A Community’s Mission to Rescue Stained Glass

Rescue and return with care. That was the mission when nearly 150 sacred stained-glass windows from the former St. Mary’s Seminary on Las Canoas Road faced an uncertain fate.

These weren’t just any windows. Each one, luminous with Biblical imagery and rich with symbolism, once illuminated the chapel of the Vincentian Fathers, spiritual teachers whose quiet legacy shaped generations of faith in Santa Barbara. When the property changed hands and became the Empathy Center, the windows were slated for removal.

Enter Glenn Novack, owner of Moving Miss Daisy and Miss Daisy’s Consignment & Auction House. Contacted to consign the windows, he quickly saw that this was not about commerce. “We handle estates and valuable items all the time,” he told me. “This wasn’t about selling something. This was very different; it was about preserving something sacred.”

Sensing the gravity of the situation, Novack turned to Diane Stewart of Stewart Fine Arts for an evaluation. Her verdict? The windows would be difficult to sell: too large, too specific, too steeped in meaning. That only strengthened Novack’s resolve.

He reached out to his longtime friend David Nygren, a former Vincentian priest who had studied at the seminary. “Those windows were my visual theology,” Nygren said. “They helped shape my spiritual life. The thought of them being lost was heartbreaking.”

Nygren did not waste a minute. Within 24 hours, he had reached out to five religious organizations and secured a commitment from the Vincentian Fathers in St. Louis, the order’s first U.S. home, founded in the early 1800s.

Father Joe Williams, Provincial of the Vincentians, confirmed that the windows were indeed part of their Santa Barbara chapel. Working with Father Kevin Fausz, Provincial Treasurer, the two men began coordinating logistics for the cross-country return. “This was our history,” said Fr. Williams. “It would have been terrible to lose it. The team in Santa Barbara made sure that didn’t happen.”

Meanwhile, Novack and his crew meticulously photographed, catalogued, and mapped the windows, working alongside Bottenfield Construction and Project Engineer Ian Lawler to carefully remove each panel, a process that took weeks. “This was a group effort,” Novack said. “We had the skills and the structure to manage the job, so we stepped up.”

Miss Daisy’s donated all their time to the cause. Shipping was handled by Hazelwood Allied Moving & Storage, led by Owen Foreman and Armando Medina, who provided nonprofit rates for crating and delivery. The Vincentian Fathers covered the costs of removal and transport.

When I asked Novack how it felt to see the project completed, his answer was simple: “It wasn’t about a transaction. It was about doing what felt right, for history, for faith, and for the community.”

And perhaps most beautifully, he added, “In a world so often divided by politics and ideology, the rescue of these windows brought together people of all faiths and political backgrounds, united by a shared belief in legacy and compassion.”

Last week, the stained-glass windows arrived safely in St. Louis, where they are now being evaluated for permanent installation in a sacred space within the Vincentian Province.