Seven months of renovation work at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Greenville is complete and the result is a recreation of the space of a 115-year-old church building.
Replacing what was once a white vaulted ceiling are those same vaults covered in gold stars on a blue field reminiscent of European Catholic Cathedrals.
The renovations of the church were made possible by the donation of the estate of Salvador Sarullo after his death.
The entire floor of the church was replaced with recycled flooring from old homes that matched the older floor. The brick exterior was repointed. The interior, including the ceiling, was repainted in the color scheme of St. Joseph, the saint. The roof was replaced earlier.
The first mass back in the building was on Dec. 10th and included a re-dedication of the church by Mississippi Diocese Bishop Joseph Kopacz.
Though the church has been in use since 1908, the renovation didn’t reveal any hidden tunnels or other items under the floors.
This is not the first church Father José de Jesús Sánchez has shepherded through a renovation. He was at the church in Greenwood when it was attacked and vandalized. That church had to be re-consecrated.
The mass was held at St. Joseph Catholic School while renovations were underway.
“One thing I will miss from the school is the closeness we had,” Sánchez said. “But we are glad to have the whole thing done.”
The renovations stand as a testament to one parishioner’s belief in the church.
“My hope is more people will consider being generous to the church,” Sánchez said. “The donation from Sarullo will encourage other people to be generous. He still believed in the church and its institutions.”
The renovations also create a space that echoes the church’s mission.
“Spiritually, people really think it looks like heaven,” Sánchez said. “It looks like a holy place. The Eucharist is the whole thing. That bread is the real presence of Jesus.”
During the process of construction, the contractor for the project died. The church rallied around the project, especially Phillip and Kirby Morlino, to keep things on track, according to Sanchez.
The church has a long history in Greenville and is one of the oldest continually occupied buildings in town.
The church was completed in 1908. Much of those early furnishings are still being used today. The pews, the altars and the windows.
The church was built by Canon Paul Korstenbroek, who was a Dutch nobleman and who had studied architecture before he was called into the priesthood. He came to Greenville in 1886 and remained for 33 years, with a dream to build a church. Bishop Janssens had a different idea. He wanted Korstenbroek to build a school, which he did - right where the parish hall stands today. This was a period of Catholic school construction throughout the state, and Greenville was one of the last towns to have one. Sometime after 1900, both of Korstenbroek's parents died in Holland, as well as his older brother and Korstenbroek inherited the family fortune.
To claim this noble inheritance, he had to go to Holland. When he returned, he had furnishings from his ancestral home and about $40,000.
Now he could build his church, and he did, with that inheritance.
Because the Delta soil is close to the soil in Holland, Fr. Korstenbroek let the site rest and settle for a whole year before work began.
In the meantime, with his background in architecture, he designed the building in true Dutch Gothic style. The actual blueprints were drawn by a company in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Construction began in 1907 and was completed in 1908, with the dedication on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23, 1908. Gus Heckler, of Greenville, was the contractor.
The windows, which were installed when the church was built, were made by the Emil Frei company in Munich, Germany.
The three windows in the apse depict the stages in the life of Christ: shepherd boy, to shepherd of men, young man preaching in the temple and the crucifixion. The other 16 windows depict many saints and holy scenes. The altars were hand-carved in Europe. Today, the main back altar is smaller, because the sides were removed during the Vatican II period, and the two side altars were enclosed with a wall during this same time.
Near the East door is a Carrara marble relief of "Our Lady Queen of Apostles", which was purchased in Italy by Mr. William Alexander Percy and given in memory of his mother, Mrs. LeRoy (Camille) Percy.
The stained glass (rose) window over the front entrance was formerly in the old frame church which was razed to build this church. This window was completely removed during the 2008 restoration to be repaired.
You must stand on the outside sidewalk to view this window from the 1874 church. The organ pipes hide the window from the inside. The original Stations of the Cross were removed and replaced after Vatican II, and again replaced in 2008. The present ones were hand-carved in Italy and cost ($40,000) nearly as much as this original church did in 1908.
The ramp on the East side was designed by Mitch Abide and installed during the pastorship of Father Frank Corcoran in the early 1980s, long before ADA requirements.
There was another interior painting (teal) during the pastorship of Fr. Patrick Farrell.
Renovations were made in 1907-1908 with a large legacy from the Joe and Katherine Reilly estate. It was, however, designated for only the interior. At that time the current Stations were installed, the stairs to the balcony were revamped to open into the sacristy, instead of the narthex, the interior was painted (yellow), the windows were repaired, including the rose window, the lighting and sound updated, the pews and floors refinished, and the side altars opened.
About 2015, a committee was formed to raise funds to replace the slate roof. After many fundraisers and much begging, the committee reached a plateau in 2018 at $400,000. It was going to take another one million dollars to replace the roof. Salvadore Sarullo died and bequeathed many millions of dollars to St. Joseph Parish. Immediately the roof was replaced with the proper slate to also comply with the historical society's.
(Historical information provided by St. Joseph Catholic Church.)
