The History of Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Church

        The church was completed in 1908. Much of those early furnishings are still being

used today, the pews, the altars and, of course, 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. At that time, Bishop Janssens had a different idea. He wanted Father Korstenbroek to build a school, which he did—right where the parish hall stands today. This was a period of Catholic schools being built all over the state, and Greenville was actually one of the last towns to have one. Sometime after 1900, both Father Korstenbroek’s parents had died in Holland, as well as his older brother and now Father Korstenbroek inherited the family fortune.

        In order to claim this noble inheritance, he had to go to Holland. It is said, when he returned, he had furnishings from his ancestral home and some $40,000. Now he could build his church and with that inheritance, he did!

Because the Delta soil is close to the soil in Holland, Father 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 blue prints were drawn by a company in Baton Rouge. Construction began in 1907 and was complete in 1908 with the dedication on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, of that year. Gus Heckler, of Greenville, was the contractor. The windows, which were installed when the church was built, were made by the Emil Frei company of Munich, Germany.

        The three windows, in the apse depict the stages in the life of Christ (shepherd boy, 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. Although 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. 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 1980’s, long before ADA requirements. There was another interior painting (teal) during the pastorship of Fr. Patrick Farrell.

        Renovations were made in 2007-2008 with a large legacy from brother and sister, Joe and Katherine Reilly’s 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 repaired, including the rose window, the lighting and sound updated, the pews and floors refinished, and the side altars opened. What we found was termite and water damage.

        What we needed was a roof! We found new leaks with each rain. 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!

        Behold, 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 criteria. Also designated in the Sarullo estate was renovation of the church, which we have just completed. We have new interior paint, new floors, (our old ones could not be sanded any more), updated lights and sound, exterior brick repointing and cleaning, which was partially causing some of the leaking, an addition of a cry room, relocation of the confessional; in the original location of the confessional, as well as many other updates including extending the altar. The sacristy was relocated from the east side of the altar to the west side of the altar. Now the east side holds only the lighting and electrical equipment Incidentally, the designs in paint are stencils, painstaking done!

Mary Lynn Powers 2024

St. Joseph Church Historian

Revised January 2024