John’s early years

In the Stilton Window, in the North Porch, we have a glimpse of the young John learning scripture from his mother.

In the Stilton Window, above the north porch, the subject depicted is St Elizabeth teaching St John the Baptist. St Elizabeth, ‘clothed in robes which shade from purple to clear blue with touches of red, and she looks pensively at the boy who is studying a book which she holds in her hands’.

John would have be told that the prophet Malachi (5th century BC) said “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant.”

This passage predicts the coming of John the Baptist (“My messenger”) and Jesus Christ (“the Messenger of the covenant”).

Isaiah had also foretold the coming of someone who would announce the coming of the Messiah, (Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3).

Later, Jesus taught his disciples that John the Baptist had fulfilled part of Malachi’s prophecy (Matthew 17:10-13).

This window was gifted to the Church by the late Rev. Dr John Stirton of Crathie, Domestic Chaplain to the King, in memory of his mother.