Stained Glass - Made in Heaven

Photo from Wikipedia - Mary Magdalene

This morning has brought an amazing transformation in the story I have been calling Stained Glass, all stemming from my reading about Mary Magdalene and the various interpretations of her place among the Christian denominations. I had no idea she was such a controversial figure, or how uniquely she foreshadowed the emergence of feminisim within the Christian faith. I am astounded by her story! The Anglican Church accords her a place of honour in their calendar, as does the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Catholic Church also honours her, but in a more vague and qualified manner it seems to me.

Mary Magdalene was an 'apostle to the apostles' according to some, and favoured by Christ. Some believe she may have been Christ's companion and that her relationship may have been more intimate than that of a disciple to her master. Others go so far as to claim Mary Magdalene bore a child by Jesus. Without delving into those contentious issues, I think it safe to say most Christians see Mary Magdalene as a devoted and seminal figure in the early church.

As I got to know more about her, I could not help juxtaposing Mary Magdalene's persona onto Anna Armstrong. In fact, I see Anna as a manifestation of Mary's spirit 1,870 years after biblical times in the boisterous gold rush town of Barkerville. She has arrived there with a missionary zeal to serve the 'fallen women' who have been caught up in the sex trade, and in order to do so effectively she has taken on the guise of a prostitute herself. She is the one who encourages Madame Blavinsky to fund the installation of a stained glass window in St. Saviour's, and she suggests the image of Mary Magdalene as the subject of the glass. It ties in with her mission, and Madame Blavinsky is easily persuaded because she likes Anna and sees her as a 'special girl'.

Anna's own background as the daughter of an evangelical minister in Kingston, Ontario has influenced her choices deeply. She could not abide her father's bigotry against women, which borders on misogyny. But neither can she abandon her Christian roots, which are central to her beliefs. Mary Magdalene chrystalizes this contradiction in Anna's life, and she adopts Mary as her patron saint, a point of view which - even though it is not explicitly stated - further inflames her father's anger. She leaves on her mission to the West followed by her own father's curse, an episode that both shatters her and drives her into a deeper and more reckless resolve to help the prostitutes in the frontier towns.

This spiritual aspect of Anna emerges for Reverend Christopher Dryden as he gets to know her. He is the one who can absolve her of her father's anger. That spiritual purity and conviction can survive the kind of life she has been leading awes him. He not only falls deeply in love with her, he is forced to come to terms with his own prejudices in her presence. Their struggle to overcome the moral and sexual taboos of the Victorian era is the heart and soul of the novel. It will be the engine that drives the surrounding action. Anna is a feminist, a Christian and a Romantic all at once, and this mystifying combination of natures drives Christopher to the brink of madness because he loves everything about her, and denies most of what she represents at the same time.

That is the story. And rather than calling it Stained Glass - a worthy working title which I give up sadly - I think I am going to call it Made In Heaven, the connotations of which are still working themselves out.

For more details on characters and story development in Stained Glass (AKA Made In Heaven) go to the Stained Glass web site, which as of now becomes a static repository of past but still highly relevant thoughts.