History Corner
by Patrick Degens

January 27, 2008
In the 1920’s our church had 5 choirs. Men’s, women’s, mixed voice, children’s, and altar boys'. By the 1930s we were down to three. Men’s, mixed voice and children’s. The Christmas Midnight Mass in the '30s was accompanied by the men’s choir. The repertoire was similar each year. Under the direction of Professor Meurer, the choir began with “Cantibus Organis,” and the Mass followed with Gregorian Chant. Upon the conclusion of the Midnight Mass, a low Mass began at 2:00 a.m. At that Mass, the mixed voice choir would lead the congregation in singing Stille Nacht, Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe, O Selige Nacht, Sei umfangen mit Verlangen, Zu Bethlehem geboren, and other favorite German Christmas hymns. Holy Communion was not distributed at the Midnight Mass. Everyone knew this and those wishing to receive Holy Communion would also plan on attending the Mass at 2:00 a.m. in order to receive. People didn’t leave the church until well into Christmas morning. Low Masses followed at 6:00, 7:30, and the children’s Mass at 9:00, where the children’s choir chanted Christmas carols. The 10:15 Mass was a Solemn High Mass with a festive German sermon, and Gregorian Chant. The noon Mass on Christmas was the usual mid-day low Mass. The same afternoon devotions that were held every Sunday at 2:30 p.m. were also scheduled on Christmas Day. It was a long day of prayer for the priests and people of our church.

September 2, 2007
Early Summer 1823: “For the first time I made an apostolic journey to Green Bay, where I found more than sixty Catholic families. During a period of 7 days, ending on the feast of St. Anne, I performed 126 baptisms, 26 marriages, and heard the confessions of nearly everyone. Among those married were 7 young squaws, whom I baptized. A squaw 72 years old married a white youth of 78. He said to me: I have been here for 60 years, and I nave never seen a priest. The majority of the women are half Indian, and prove to be good wives. They are docile, industrious, and would become good Christians. The people promised to build a chapel that will be ready by next June. When I hear that it is completed, and that a sufficient number have learned the catechism during the winter, I shall feel myself obliged to send a priest to visit them, or go myself.” -- Fr. Gabriel Richard, Pastor of St. Anne de Detroit

August 5 , 2007
Fr. Arnold Schneider arrived at St. Joseph Church as assistant in 1942. He was our pastor from 1946 to 1956. He was ordained in March of 1932 at Innsbruck, Austria. A holy card commemorating the day was given to those in attendance. The front had a picture of Jesus crucified and beneath the cross were brilliant red flowers from the Holy Land that were dried, pressed, and glued to the holy card. The card was embossed and covered in shellac. One of these cards was recently discovered in mint condition in a box of family mementos by Germaine and Rosemary Dorr who are 3rd generation lifetime members of our parish. They have donated the card to our display case in the social hall along with a mother of pearl nail file case with an inscription: “Compliments of Father Schneider, Saint Joseph Church, 1951”. Rosemary Dorr informs us that the nail file case was a gift from Fr. Schneider to those who helped out extensively around the parish. Be sure to see them on your next visit to the Social Hall.

July 1, 2007
Fr. Jean Dilhet arrived in Detroit in 1804 to help Fr. Gabriel Richard in the establishment of a seminary in Detroit. The little seminary began in October 1804 with 9 students and was located in the rectory. It was short-lived. Fr. Dilhet recorded this in his diary just 8 months later when Detroit burned to the ground. “The fire began while I was engaged with Mr. Richard. I was interrupted by a person who came to inform me that three houses had already been burned, and that there was little hope of saving the others. I exhorted all those present to help one another, and I went to say Mass with only one server. It was a low Mass, and when it was over we hardly had time to save the church furniture, the vestments, the household effects and provisions in the presbytery which adjoined the church. The flames spread with great rapidity, and soon enveloped both, though they were located on the outskirts of the town. In three hours (from 9 o’clock to noon) the town was burned to the ground and nothing could be seen but live embers, and chimneys which seemed to rise like pyramids. At the time of the fire there was no wind, the flames and smoke rose to a prodigious height, and the entire town looked like a huge bonfire, It was the most wonderful, and at the same time the most horrible sight I have ever witnessed.” June 11, 1805

June 24, 2007
Ten years after establishing St. Anthony's Parish in 1857 (up Gratiot from St. Joseph's), Bishop Lefevere erected an orphan asylum for boys adjacent to St. Anthony Church and gave the rest of the Church farm to the orphanage. Care of the orphanage was in the hands of the Immaculate Heart of Mary nuns. The sisters kept a record of all orphans who were admitted. The very first entry is as follows: "George, Noble and Willie Hardy, 3 little brothers, were received 25 May 1867. Their mother was buried on that day. Their father, not able to care for his children, gladly consented to their mother's wish that they should be given over to the orphan Asylum. The Sisters were overjoyed when they heard that some of Our Lord's "Little Ones" had arrived and hastened to see them, but their joy was turned into sadness when they beheld the 3 little destitute creatures who became so frightened on seeing the Sisters that they screamed and cried bitterly, calling the while for someone to take them home." During this same period of time, girl orphans were cared for by the Sisters of Notre Dame in the convent at St. Mary's church. At the time that our Social Hall was constructed in 2002 / 2003, St. Mary's convent was demolished and a new Social Hall was built in its place. It is 2 stories high and each level has a kitchen similar to the one in our Social Hall. St. Anthony Church and its high school closed last year 2006. It started as a mission of St. Joseph Church.

June 10, 2007
The St. Joseph German Catholic Liebesbund -- Love League, or Love Alliance, not "Bonds of Love", as was printed in the bulletin -- was founded in 1856, the same year as the parish. It was a fraternal benevolent society that promoted Catholic education, the spiritual enrichment of its members and paid sick and death benefits from its 25 cents per week dues. Celebrating its 80th anniversary in 1936, the Liebesbund had paid out $73,284.00 in sick benefits and $54,150.00 in death benefits. The large banner that is carried in our processions dates from the founding of the Liebesbund in 1856. St. Mary’s Church in Greektown, from which St. Joseph’s was a satellite parish, also had a benevolent society that was established in 1847 under the Patronage of St. Joseph. It was called the St. Joseph Unterstutzung Verein (assistance union). They also had a banner that was carried in procession. It was found in the attic of St. Mary’s about three years ago by their custodian. He brought it here to St. Joseph’s, mistakenly thinking that it belonged to our church. We treasure it and have begun to carry it in our processions. The German Catholic parishes were the first in this country to establish benevolent societies and were all members of the Central German Catholic Verein (union). The Irish soon copied the German idea, the most famous society being the Knights of Columbus, founded by Fr. Michael McGivney in New Haven, Connecticut in 1882. It has outlasted all the older benevolent societies and has gone world wide. Our Liebesbund lives on in our Legion of Mary (Legio Mariae Liebesbund).

May 27, 2007
When our church was dedicated in November of 1873, our tabernacle had ornate wooden doors that were larger in height than the wooden tabernacle doors on our side altars. Through the years the doors on our tabernacle fell into disrepair and were finally taken off completely. One of the two doors apparently fell apart and was discarded. The remaining door, although in poor condition, was preserved in a storage room above the sacristy. It was Fr. Borkowski’s hope that someday our tabernacle could be restored to its original condition. Thanks to a generous donation by Christine Gray in memory of her husband, Gerard, our tabernacle has been restored to the way it looked when the church was dedicated in 1873. Parishioners are encouraged to go up to the altar after Mass and take a closer look at the restoration. There are engravings in the wood of angels along with floral decorations. These engravings are very subtle but imitate the original engravings completely. Our thanks to Christine Gray for this generous gift and to Fr. Borkowski for the inspiration to have the tabernacle restored.

May 13, 2007
The first history of our parish was published in German in the Michigan Volksblaat in 1903, but only fragments of it have survived. Parishioners may be surprised to learn that St. Joseph's School was established five years before the parish and it was located on Orleans next to the old convent. The convent itself was the original rectory but was converted and expanded into a convent when the present rectory was built. The original teachers in our school were all schoolmasters. In 1850 there were 100 students enrolled and the schoolmasters were the Messrs. Hickey, Scherer, Brand, Schrage, Apel, Stolz and Sebastian Mayer. In 1861 the Immaculate Heart of Mary nuns from Monroe came to staff the school. The order was just 16 years old. St. Joseph's school was their first assignment in Detroit. The first to the fourth grades were co-ed, but from the 5th grade on to the 12th, the boys and girls went separately. In 1942, Archbishop Gallagher decided that the boys' high school, known as the Commercial College, should be expanded and asked that our grade school and girls' high school, known as St. Joseph’s Academy, be closed. At that time the Christian Brothers were teaching the boys school, and the IHM nuns bid farewell to St. Joseph’s after teaching here for 81 years. Our high school finally closed in 1964.

March 24, 2007
Penny candy. There were probably 100 varieties in any drug store in the city up through the 1940s. Tootsie rolls were popular; invented before 1900 by an Austrian immigrant, Leo Hirschfield, and named after his 5 year old daughter, Clara, whose nickname was “Tootsie”. Tootsie Rolls went to war in the 1940s. They were included in military rations because they withstood severe weather conditions and gave troops quick energy. Tootsie Rolls played a vital part in 1950 during the Korean war when thousands of U.S. Marines and Army troops were surrounded by Communist Chinese troops at Chosin in subzero weather. As the hungry U.S. troops gathered their belongings in the push toward the sea, they discovered cases of Tootsie Rolls, frozen in the cold. These were issued to the men. The candy satisfied their hunger and helped sustain them through the hard days ahead. Our Knights of Columbus sell Tootsie Rolls at the Eastern Market, at the Saturday Vigil Mass and at the 3 churches in our cluster on Sunday, April 1st. Profits from this sale go to the many charities that are supported by the Knights including help for mentally handicapped children. Remember our troops in prayer and remember to be generous when the Knights approach with a Tootsie Roll in hand, looking for a handout.

March 11, 2007
Fr. Theodore Lindemann was our pastor from 1917 to 1946. His father, Charles Lindemann, was from Thuringia, Germany, and his mother was from Luxembourg. Fr. Ted was born in 1875 and was raised in Old St. Mary’s parish, the first German-speaking parish in Detroit. He attended St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore in the 1890s where he survived typhoid fever. His first Mass was celebrated at old St. Boniface on the near west side, another German-speaking church that is now gone. His first assignment was to St. Augustine’s in Kalamazoo as an assistant. In 1906 he was appointed pastor of Holy Trinity (German-speaking) in Fowler. His parents moved there with him and lived in the rectory. He built a new church for that parish and his parents and aunts and uncles all donated stained glass windows for the new church. In 1917 he was assigned to St. Joseph’s and was the last irremovable pastor in our diocese. Fr. Ted had a great sense of humor. He established our bulletin as a monthly publication in the 1920s and interjected many humorous stories, often using parishioners’ names in these anecdotes. He was well loved and died at his desk in the front office in 1946, with no apparent warning. He was a great match for our parish, which was still German-speaking until the 1930s.

March 4, 2007
Fr. Arnold Schneider came to us in 1942 as an assistant, and was appointed pastor after Fr. Lindemann died. His legacy to the parish included storm windows on the church and rectory, rebuilding of the bell tower, painting the interior of the church, laying the tile under the pews, tiling the floors in the rectory offices and main hall, new furnaces, putting the school in pristine condition, tuck pointing all the mortar in the church walls, building the garage and sandblasting the exterior of the rectory that had turned black from coal dust. He was from Austria, but had no accent when he spoke. He liked cigars and his little dachshund dog. He enjoyed a game of cards or a golf outing with parishioners; but his main concern was the spiritual care of his flock. Rosemary Dorr remembers that when she told Fr. Schneider she was going to learn to ski, he made her a gift of the skis that he had hand made for himself when he was a seminarian in Austria. Our older parishioners remember him as a loving pastor. Just after he completed all of the improvements to our parish, the diocese transferred him to Annunciation parish. A picture in the Social Hall shows him in a meeting with Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus. He is the priest in the middle wearing white socks.

January 28, 2007
The livery stable that was just across Gratiot from our church was mentioned in a previous history corner. It was home to the many horses who pulled vegetable and junk wagons throughout the city. After that article appeared, we learned that one of the parishioners at Sweetest Heart of Mary had worked in that very livery as a teenager. It was owned by his uncle and it survived into the 1950s. One thing that has disappeared from our city streets along with horse drawn wagons are the horse troughs where the horses drank. These weren't the crude wooden troughs that are so familiar in old time western movies where the good guy in the white hat has a knock-down, drag-out fight with an outlaw and the outlaw ends up with a good dunking in the horse trough. No! Detroit's horse troughs were one-of-a-kind works of art, made of cast iron and highly decorated with floral embellishments. Some were one-horse troughs and some were team troughs. Fresh water flowed continuously into them from the city water mains and they never seemed to freeze in the winter. They were about six blocks apart all through the city and ended up as recycled scrap metal.

December 17, 2006
This will take a little imagination. The railroad tracks that run parallel to our property and go under Gratiot were level with our property until the 1920s when the gully was excavated and the tracks were lowered. There was an easement about 60 feet wide between the tracks and our property where horses and carriages could drive and pass one another. If you park in the rectory yard, you will notice the remnants of a cement floor and foundation along our fence line. This was once a shed for horses. Some of our 19th century parishioners used a horse and wagon to earn their livelihood. Their wagon also brought the family to Sunday Mass. Others came from the grand mansions over on McDougal and had horse drawn carriages. The mansions are long gone as well as the sheds that kept the horses out of the wind and snow, but this trace of those grand old days survives. The rest of the folks walked to church, slipping and sliding on the snow and ice. Fr. Friedland who built our stone church, died from injuries he sustained when he fell on the ice returning from visiting a sick parishioner.

December 3, 2006
Detroit wasn’t always flat. Our neighborhood was once intersected by streams and ravines. When the French farms began to be subdivided, large projects were undertaken to level the land and haul wagonloads of dirt into the low areas. Hundreds of teamsters were employed for decades in this development. Our grannies spoke of the wagons being stuck in muddy ruts and the teamsters unmercifully whipping the teams of horses until they freed the heavy wagons that were loaded with fill dirt. If you would like to relive history and see the lay of the land as it was 150 years ago, just five minutes away is a vast undisturbed area inside Elmwood Cemetery. The cemetery entrance is north off Lafayette between Chene and Mt. Elliot. Part of Parent Creek survives as a beautiful ravine . This creek flowed from an area North of Gratiot down to the Detroit River. Most of it is piped in with storm sewer pipes today. The creek was also known as “Bloody Run” because it once flowed with the blood of early settlers when they were massacred during an Indian attack. While visiting the cemetery, visit the Firemen’s lot in the hilly area of the north section. Pray for the Poor Souls!

November 19, 2006
Sts. Peter & Paul Jesuit Church at the corner of E. Jefferson and St. Antoine was dedicated in 1848 as Detroit’s first cathedral and remained so for 29 years. Owned by the Jesuit order, it is the only Catholic Church in Detroit not owned by the archdiocese. Built in the Renaissance Revival style, it is the oldest church building in Detroit. The breathtaking marble altar backdrop is carved from white Italian marble. It portrays the scene of our Lord’s crucifixion. The sculpture is on a par with Michelangelo’s Pieta. The rear of the church building was formerly known as St. Catherine’s Chapel. Up through the 1940s, it was a complete separate church with services for the French speaking community. Today is has been converted to a warming center for the homeless. Open from September to May it provides breakfast, showers, laundry and clean socks and underwear to the less fortunate. Donations of these items along with coffee, sugar, blankets, etc. are always welcome. Besides the Sunday morning Masses, there is a 7:35 Sunday evening Mass. Visitors may park in the lot across from the rear of the church.

November 12, 2006
We hear the 11 bells of Historic Trinity Lutheran, just two blocks down Gratiot, sounding the 1/4 hour and ringing hymns throughout the year. Trinity traces its beginnings to November of 1850 when its members joined the three-year-old Missouri Synod. Today it is the Missouri Synod’s Lutheran Cathedral of Michigan. The present church, Trinity’s third, dates from 1931 when Charles Gauss, a member of Trinity had the Cathedral built at his own expense in thanksgiving for the miraculous healing of his daughter. Today the church is pastored by Dr. David Eberhard and seven assistant pastors. The congregation numbers 1,800 with an average age of 38. Christmas at Trinity is special with a display of 650 angels, 250 Nativity scenes, 50 Christmas trees, animated figures and Dr. Eberhard’s numerous hand-built doll houses which include a haunted house, a light house, a Kentucky plantation, and Santa’s home at the north pole. All are lighted by tiny electric lamps and chandeliers. The Christmas display is open weekdays November 19th to January 5th from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., other times by appointment. Open house is on Saturday, December 16 from 1:00 p.m.to 4:00 p.m. with sing-a-longs, refreshments and a special open house gift to each visitor. Cluster parishioners could attend and then go to the Saturday vigil Mass at Sweetest Heart of Mary at 4:00 p.m.

November 5, 2006
In the 1850s, people from the Pomerania and Poznan sections of Poland began emigrating to Detroit. They made their spiritual home here at St. Joseph Church. They longed to hear sermons in their native language and by 1872 were able to build a frame church dedicated to their Polish patron, Saint Wojciech, translated into English as Albertus. By 1885, they built the beautiful brick church at the corner of St. Aubin and Canfield. It was the largest church in Michigan with seating for 2,500 and the first Polish-speaking church in the diocese. The surrounding neighborhood was known as “Wojciechowo,” or “the district of St. Albertus.” Others called it Poletown. Their original frame church was purchased by the members of St. Josaphat and moved 3/4 of a mile down Canfield. The stained glass windows in the new church were ordered from the same firms that had provided the windows at St. Joseph’s, Meyer of Munich Germany and Charles Friedericks’ and Peter Staffin’s, stained glass window firm in Detroit. One of the windows portrays the death of St. Joseph. St. Albertus closed in 1990. It is owned by a group of former parishioners and has a monthly Mass and summertime fundraising activities.

October 29, 2006
Meet our neighbors! Just two blocks down, at the southeast corner of Gratiot and Russell, is Old St. John’s—St. Luke Evangelical Church founded in 1833. The present building was dedicated in 1874, just one year after our stone church was dedicated. It too, was a German speaking church and its school building which is still standing behind the church was a German speaking school as was St. Joseph’s. Around 1900 the congregation there numbered 2,500 and had 30 millionaires as members. The stained glass window company that made and installed our geometric windows as well as our Good Shepherd window was that of Charles Friedericks and Peter Staffin who were members of St. Joseph Church. They were also responsible for the magnificent stained glass windows at Old St. John’s—St. Luke. A later addition at that church is the central window in the upper gallery, the Judaeo-Christian Memorial Window, dedicated in 1947 to the spirit of the National Council of Christians and Jews. It features the Star of David with the figures of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and has won a national citation.

October 22, 2006
In the 1920s the area around Mack and Gratiot was home to an amazing number of German halls and clubhouses. Among them were Germania Hall, Saxon Heim, Deutsches Haus, Fortschrittsbund, Concordia Hall, Siebenburger Sachsen, Burgerbund, and Carpathia to name only a few. All of these establishments thrived because of the large German population and were largely independent of one another. Carpathia was home to the Carpathia Singing Society. The three-story hall was on Elmwood between Gratiot and Vernor. Their fundraising events included weekly Tuesday night wrestling matches. A favorite wrestler was an Ostschwabe, Adam Weissmuller, brother of Johnny Weissmuller, the Olympic swimmer who portrayed Tarzan in the movies. Adam hurt his back in a match at the Carpathia and never wrestled again. Carpathia survives today in a beautiful hall on Utica Rd. near 17 Mile. The others have mostly faded into history. Carpathia singers accompany our German Masses here at St. Joseph and as members of our parish support our many activities. Wilfried (Bill) Mozer has organized today’s Oktober Choir Fest. Thanks to Bill and Carpathia for a job well done.

October 15, 2006
The neighborhood around our church was once home to many breweries. Directly across from the church on Adelade St. was Rickel’s Malt that supplied the breweries nearby. This ancient building stood 10 stories high of poured concrete. It was demolished on a Sunday about seven years ago. The explosion jolted our church and plaster cracks appeared in our front wall. Schmidt’s Beer advertised in our Bulletin for over 20 years. This ad was from 1941. “Schmidt’s Beer! Anytime is time for Schmidt’s. Before meals. With meals. After meals. Brewed to be low in calories.” Another was “DETROIT’S OLDBRU”. Their ad for 1936 pictured a full-sized 12-oz. bottle of their beer on the bulletin’s last page. Stroh’s advertised their ice cream. Other breweries close by were Goebel and Pfeiffer’s. Some of our parishioners found lifelong employment at these establishments but one by one they faded into history.

October 8, 2006
Here is an excerpt from July 3, 1956, the Centennial of our parish. “It is amazing today to realize that the first St. Joseph’s frame church and property together cost less than $12,000. After the first fourteen years, however, those faithful early parishioners saw the need for a more permanent edifice. Consequently they undertook a mammoth task, the building of a beautiful new cathedral-type church which would accommodate generations of future worshippers. Under the direction of their pastor, Rev. John Friedland, they modeled their church on the famous Cologne Cathedral, substituting one graceful spire for the two towers of the European structure. The cornerstone was laid October 23, 1870, and the church completed in 1873. The cost of the building was $250,000, a stupendous sum for the era when expert craftsmen received only $1.00 as a daily wage.”

October 1, 2006
Back in 1972, our pipe organ hadn’t worked for over two years. We had an electronic organ in the choir loft filling in. In preparation for the 100th anniversary of our stone church in 1973, our music director, took upon himself the formidable task of rebuilding our organ. When it was finished, it was officially named “The Joseph A. Schulte Centennial Organ.” Joseph Schulte arrived at our parish in 1878 at the age of four. He and his parents had emigrated from Germany. Besides working as a bookkeeper at Cadillac Motors, he also operated a men’s wear store and was a partner in the Beaver Realty Company that was located in the historic Moross house on Jefferson. The Moross house is the oldest brick house still standing in Detroit. He retired from our choir in 1947 after being a member for over 60 years. He had joined the choir at age 13 while attending St. Joseph Grade School. When he died in 1960 at the age of 86, besides leaving sizable amounts to neighboring parishes and Catholic institutions, he left $250,000 to St. Joseph Church. This bequest sustained projects at our church for many years and paid for the restoration of our organ. Guest organists marvel at its condition.

September 24, 2006
Folks who have been around here for more than 50 years will remember when the pastor’s confessional was located under the Good Shepherd window. The penitent doors opened right on the side aisle. You waited for confession in the pews just behind the pulpit and directly across from the confessional. There was no velvet curtain on the left penitent door. A speaking tube telephone was located there for the hard of hearing. There was a large bare light bulb hanging over the phone so that those who were hard of hearing could see into the confessional to know which side had the “hearing aid”. It seemed that every youngster who went to confession always ended up on that side of the confessional. It was like being in the interrogation room of the police station with that big light bulb hanging just over your head. Without any curtain on the door grill, you just knew that everyone waiting for confession could hear all of your sins.

September 3, 2006
Labor Day has been celebrated in our country for over 100 years. The Labor Movement dates to the 1820s when guilds were established to protect skilled tradesmen. Organization of unskilled labor however, was often met with deadly force by factory owners. Mineworkers who tried to organize unions were often arrested and even hanged. Workers who went on strike were shot if they attempted to prevent scab labor from taking their jobs. This has happened up through the 1960s. As late as 1977, during a 105 degree heat spell here in Detroit, 44 workers, in an east side factory owned by one of the Big 3, walked off the job when temperatures in their work area reached 126 degrees and they were denied heat passes. All 44 were fired but two were singled out as instigators and had to serve 15 days in jail for disrupting production. All were U.A.W. members. That same day, a 26-year-old worker in one of the Big 3’s west side factories was denied a heat pass. He dropped dead on the way to his car after his shift was over. Heatstroke! As the nation pauses to observe Labor Day, many will give thanks for the 8 hour work day, 40 hour week and safety regulations. Benefits that were won at a great cost by those who went before us.

August 27, 2006
The Holy Land includes many holy places, but some say, none so venerable as the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. There are many favorite chapels in the Basilica among them the “Chapel of Adam”. The place of Our Lord’s crucifixion was called Golgotha in Greek, Calvary in Latin. Both are translations of the Hebrew word for “skull”. Saint Jerome and other ancient historians have related the tradition that Our Lord was crucified on the very spot where Adam was buried, so that the blood of Jesus would have poured down its redemptive stream upon mankind’s first guilty head. The skull and crossbones that are attached occasionally at the base of a crucifix or in paintings of the crucifixion are a remnant of this tradition. They depict Adam’s bones.

August 20, 2006
Our stone church was built before Alexander Graham Bell invented his telephone. In those days, speaking tube telephones were common in multi-storied buildings and on ships. The ends of the tubes often had a cover with a whistle built in so that if someone on one end of the pipeline blew into it, the whistle would sound on the opposite end and the person there would answer the call. Our church had a speaking tube telephone up until the 1950s. Older parishioners might recall its location. Younger parishioners will have to do some looking. It was in the pastor’s confessional for the hard of hearing.

August 13, 2006
In last week’s history corner we met Robert Elliot, Thomas Gallagher and Daniel Corby. Corby’s son, William, became famous as a 28-year-old chaplain in the Civil War. He was the first priest to administer General Absolution on an American battlefield. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Fr. Corby gave absolution to both the Northern and the Southern armies, to all who were susceptible of it. A statue was erected on the battlefield in the early 1900s to commemorate his action. In his book, “Memoirs of Chaplain Life”, he described the thousands of men and horses who died of heat stroke in the “war to free the Negro.” Of the 500,000 men who died in the Civil War, more died of disease and heatstroke than from wounds. This is hard to imagine since some casualties in that war amounted to 17,000 in one battle alone. Two of Fr. Corby’s fellow priests, also in their 20s, died of diseases they contracted during that war. They were brothers; Frs. James and Patrick Dillon. All three were assigned as chaplains to the Irish Brigade. On doughnut Sunday, August 20, we will display a photograph of these three priests in the Social Hall. It was taken during a lull in the fighting during the Civil War.

August 6, 2006
Dateline 1841. The cornerstone for Saint Mary Church (Greektown) is laid on June 19, 1841, the Feast of Corpus Christi. It is the first German speaking church within the city. That same year, St. Mary’s architect, Robert Elliot, along with Thomas Gallagher and Daniel Corby, members of Most Holy Trinity Church, purchase the land for a cemetery to serve the Catholic community, because St. Anne’s cemetery is filling up. Trinity’s pastor, Fr. Badin, decides that because of the generosity of these three men, the cemetery should be named for whichever of their families is the first to have a loved one buried there. Robert Elliot, while overseeing the construction of St. Mary’s, is accidentally killed that same year on September 10, 1841. He was 45 years old. His was the first internment in the new cemetery. It was subsequently named Mount Elliot. Just 14 years later in 1855, St. Mary’s becomes so overcrowded, that Bishop Rese appoints St. Mary’s assistant, Fr. Edward Franz van Campenhout, as pastor of a new church to relieve St. Mary’s overcrowding. It will be located at Orleans and Gratiot with Saint Joseph named as its patron. The first recorded function for the new parish is a baptism in January of 1856. Daniel Corby, one of the three men who donated the land for Mount Elliot cemetery became known as the Agent of St. Joseph, because of the overwhelming financial support he gave to the new parish. Some of his 12 children became parishioners then and some of his descendants are still members of St. Joseph Church today.

July 30, 2006
Fr. Theodore Lindemann was our pastor from 1917 to 1946. He established our church bulletin in 1927 as a monthly. He had the girls from our high school publish a mid-monthly Journal with news from the school. Fr. Lindemann loved to put humorous stories about parishioners into the bulletin, and he encouraged the high school girls to do the same in their journal. Here is a sample from 1927.

Sister (in Literature class): “What difference is there between Literature of the Sixteenth and that of the Seventeenth Century?”
Dorothy Aber: “About 100 years Sister.”

Here’s another.

Physics Student (to prostrate professor who has stumbled over the curb): Did you fall?
Professor: How utterly imbecilic. Of course not! My body was in motion and produced an impact with a stationary solid substance, which by the law of inertia, resisted the force applied to it and destroyed my equilibrium. So not being able to defy or break the law of gravitation, I succumbed to the inevitable and assumed this horizontal position.

July 23, 2006
Zion! In Genesis 14:18 we read about Melchizedeck, the king of “Salem”. This is the first Biblical reference to the Jebusite city that became Jerusalem. When it was captured by David, it was named the Citadel of David (2 Sam 5:7) and assumed a sacred character when he brought the Ark of the Covenant to it. After the Temple was built by Solomon on the northeastern hill which was called Mt. Moriah, the term Zion or Sion was applied to the hill. Gradually the name, Zion, came to be applied to all of Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:21; Ps 125; 126), ultimately even to the Holy Land in general and finally to the Jewish faith itself. Thus the modern movement to make Palestine the Jewish homeland is called “Zionism”.

July 16, 2006
Fr. Arnold Schneider became our pastor in 1946. He was born in Germany but those of us who remember him never detected a German accent when he spoke. In January of 1947 he published a financial statement in the Sunday Bulletin. Our total income that year was $40,256.01. Coca Cola was 5 cents at a soda fountain. Today it is 99 cents or 20 times as much. A phone call was a nickel, today it is 50 cents.Ten times as much. Our total for heat, electricity, and water for the whole year of 1946 was $1,658.04. Today, our winter gas bills are $3,000 for one month. If we multiply our income from 1946 by just ten to see if we are keeping up with inflation, we get $402,560.10. If you read page two of our weekly bulletin, and notice the amounts of the weekly collections, it is easy to see that St. Joseph Church in 2006 is trying to survive on an income of less than $100,000 per year. Whew!

July 9, 2006
In 1876, the United States celebrated the Centennial in Philadelphia with a display of replica Liberty Bells from each state. Pennsylvania’s display bell was made out of sugar. The Liberty Bell weighs 2,080 pounds. The yoke weighs about 100 pounds. Compare that to the six bells in our St. Joseph belfry. Our smallest bell is larger than the Liberty Bell. The largest of our six bells weighs 5,000 pounds. The yoke and cradle that support it weigh 2,000 pounds. The total weight or our bells and their cradles is equal to at least 9 automobiles.

July 2, 2006
Dateline 1776. No place to buy a prayer book. If you wanted one, you purchased a book with blank pages and wrote the prayers yourself. George Washington composed morning and night prayers for each day of the week in his personal handwritten prayer book. Here is an excerpt from his morning prayer for Mondays. “O eternal & everlasting God, I presume to present myself this morning before Thy Divine Majesty, beseeching Thee to accept my humble and hearty thanks...direct my thoughts, words, and work, wash away my sins in the immaculate Blood of the Lamb, and purge my heart by the Holy Spirit...Daily frame me more and more into the likeness of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, that living in Thy fear, and dying in Thy favor, I may in the appointed time attain the resurrection of the just, unto eternal life. Bless my family, friends and kindred and unite us all in praising and glorifying Thee in all our works. Our Father who art...."

June 25, 2006
Dateline 284 AD. Paintings of the martyr St. Sebastian can be found in museums throughout the world. He is mostly shown tied to a tree, almost naked, and shot full of arrows. He was Captain of the Imperial Guard and a favorite of the Emperors Maximian and Diocletian. A devout Christian, he made many converts and cured many of the sick and handicapped. When it was discovered that he was a Christian, Diocletian condemned him to death by archery. But as Paul Harvey would say, “Now for the rest of the story.” Sebastian didn’t die from his many arrow wounds. He was found alive by St. Irene, the widow of St. Castulus, and nursed back to health. He later entered the imperial palace and condemned Diocletian for his persecution of Christians. The Emperor was stunned to see him alive, but immediately ordered him beaten to death. His body was thrown into a sewer but was recovered by Lucina, a Christian lady, and buried in a catacomb. His basilica stands above the spot today.

June 18, 2006
Few people look up in the church vestibule. They miss our most beautiful electric light fixture. It was made early in the 19th century for a church in Toledo Spain and was lit by candles. It was removed during renovations and somehow made its way to an antique shop in Cincinnati. Our music director at the time was also chairman of the Centennial Committee in 1973 when our stone church celebrated its 100th birthday. He was told about this unusual light fixture and thought it would be a perfect addition to the vestibule. George and Sophia Dorr, the parents of Fr. Richard Dorr and his sisters Germaine and Rosemary offered to purchase it and have it electrified, polished and hung. It is embellished with real enamel plaques and glass jewels and is described as an exceptional example of Gothic Revival decorative art.

June 11, 2006
When the Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire (313 A.D.), he also directed the building of the first Cathedral. It was constructed on property that had belonged to the Laterani family. This property also included a large home that Constantine gave to the Pope. It was the Pope’s official residence until the 15th century. This first cathedral was consecrated by Pope Sylvester I in 324. It was dedicated to Christ the Savior by will of the Emperor. Later popes added the names of St. John Baptist and St. John the Evangelist to the name of the church. Thus it became known as St. John Lateran. The beautiful altar contains a wooden altar where the earliest popes from St. Peter to St. Sylvester celebrated Mass. There are also silver busts that contain the remains of the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul.

June 4, 2006
The Holy Name Society was founded as a confraternity of men at the Ecumenical Council of Lyons in 1274 and dedicated to promoting love and reverence for the name of God and of Jesus and discouraging profanity, blasphemy, perjury and all improper language. The second Sunday of every month was the confraternity’s special Sunday. Men and boys would process to the front with the Holy Name banner and pray the Holy Name Pledge after Mass and Communion. Holy Name men became an army of Christ, imbued with Christ’s own zeal for souls. By reverencing the Holy Name, they besought Our Lord to fix deep in their souls such a personal love for Him that they might act always for the salvation of other souls. During the Holy Year of 1950, 75,000 Holy Name men and boys, bearing candles, gathered at dark, here in Briggs Stadium, for a Eucharistic Holy hour. That Holy Year candlelight service was repeated in sports stadiums throughout the U.S. and the world. Every parish had a Holy Name Society. Today only 2 parishes in our archdiocese still maintain a Holy Name Society. St. Joseph’s and one other. In the Old Testament, God’s Holy Name was held in such high reverence, that no one was allowed to speak the name of God except the high priest, and then only once a year. When every parish in our country had an active Holy Name Society, Hollywood never dared to market films that might dishonor the Holy Name of Jesus such as “The Last Temptation of Christ” or “The Da Vinci Code” Our Holy Name Society welcomes new members every 2nd Sunday after the 10:30 Mass.

May 21, 2006
Mt. Elliot Cemetery and Elmwood Cemetery border one another. Each has a section for deceased firemen with an impressive monument of a 19th century fireman holding his helmet and speaking horn. Every year on Memorial Day there is a service for the firemen who have died in the past year. The firemen’s band plays and the bell of an engine is tolled as each name is being read. The family members of the deceased firemen are given a rose. This ceremony has taken place annually for over 100 years and alternates between Mt. Elliot and Elmwood cemeteries. This year’s service will be at Mt. Elliot at 9:00 a.m. Come early to see the firemen’s band march up from the firehouse on Lafayette. A 10:30 Mass under canopy follows. At 11:00 a.m. descendants of Civil War Union soldiers dressed in the uniform and bearing the arms of their ancestor will hold their annual memorial service in Elmwood Cemetery. They can be seen from where the Mass will be celebrated at Mt. Elliot. Pray for our beloved dead and public servants by attending the annual Masses that are celebrated in all Catholic cemeteries in our diocese on Memorial Day.

May 14, 2006
"The best, surest and the most effective way of establishing peace on the face of the earth is through the great power of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.” -- Pope John Paul II

Perpetual Adoration dates to the earliest days of the church when the newly baptized adored Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament for a period of eight days. The Cathedral of Lugo Spain has had Perpetual Adoration for over 1,000 years. It originally began as an offering of expiation of the Priscillian heresy. Perpetual adoration began in France on Sept. 11, 1226, in compliance with the wishes of Louis VII as an act of thanksgiving for victory over invading armies. This adoration was interrupted during the French Revolution in 1792 but began again in 1829 through the efforts of the “Confraternity of Penitents-Gris”. The first Perpetual Adoration in Detroit was established by Fr. Gabriel Richard on Sept. 8, 1805, not long after the city burned to the ground and Mass was being celebrated in a warehouse that hadn’t burned. Among the adorers were Archange McDougall and Peter Beaubien, both age 12. Fr. Richard’s hour of adoration was from one to two in the morning.

May 7, 2006
Ancient names for Iraq include Babylon, Mesopotamia and Babel. The tower of Babel was in Iraq. Abraham was from Ur in southern Iraq. Isaac’s wife Rebecca was from Nahor in Iraq. Jacob met Rachel in Iraq. Jonah preached in Nineveh in Iraq. Amos cried out in Iraq, and Daniel was in the lion’s den in Iraq. The three Hebrew children were in the fire in Iraq and Jesus had been in Iraq as the 4th person in the fiery furnace. Belshazzar, the King of Babylon, saw the writing on the wall in Iraq and Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried the Jews into captivity in Iraq. Peter preached in Iraq. Today, the Catholic Chaldeans in Iraq speak the Aramaic language which is the language that Our Lord and the Apostles spoke. Since the “liberation” of Iraq three years ago by the U.S., the Catholic churches in Iraq are experiencing systematic bombings. Some Iraqi Christians are afraid of wearing a crucifix in public for fear of harassment or worse. The death of citizens in Iraq has surpassed 22,000 along with 2,300 U.S. military dead and 17,000 injured. May is the month of the Blessed Mother. Her historic plan at Fatima for world peace includes daily praying of the Rosary. When all seems hopeless, do we listen to our Mother?

April 30, 2006
It was a Catholic thing! Years ago in this neighborhood when we went out begging on Halloween, we cried “HELP THE POOR”. It was a carryover from ages past when the poor went out in disguises on All Hallows Eve and begged for food. They were given doughnuts, a sign of eternity (a circle has no beginning or end) and they were given names of the deceased for whom they promised to pray . Now the cry is “TRICK OR TREAT”. Its not a Catholic thing anymore. We didn’t have an Easter Bunny either. Instead the Easter Bird came and laid beautifully colored eggs in your Easter basket. It was a Catholic thing! The egg is a sign of the Resurrection of Our Lord. Just as the little peep bursts forth from its egg into new life, so Our Lord Jesus came forth from the tomb as the stone rolled back.

April 23, 2006
Ever wonder where the Holy Oil comes from that the Church uses in the liturgy and the sacraments? Since the 4th century, a service of great solemnity and beauty takes place in every cathedral church on Holy Thursday of each year. It is called the Blessing of the Oils. It requires the presence of a large number of the clergy, because the sacred oils are considered by the Church to be of such importance as to call for extraordinary pomp and imposing ceremony. Few inanimate things receive more homage and honor than the oils which are used throughout the year in the imparting of God’s grace through Sacraments and solemn blessings. The blessing of the Oils also includes an exorcism to banish all influences of the Evil One. Three separate oils are blessed. Holy Chrism mixed with balm for Sacraments and blessings. Oil of the Catechumens, and Oil of the Sick for anointings. Oils left over from the year before are poured into the Sanctuary Lamp. Holy Oils are housed in an ambry, which looks like a small wooden house that is mounted on the left wall or our Sanctuary. The word ambry is derived from the French word armoire meaning a safe or arms chest.

April 16, 2006
Many Catholic churches including the three churches in our cluster have architecture reminiscent of the Middle Ages. Each of our cluster churches has a cupola in the roof almost above the Sanctuary. In the Middle Ages people had become lax in their faith and would stay outside the church gossiping, even though the Mass had begun. In that period of history, the cupola housed a bell called the Sanctus Bell. The altar server would ring that bell at the Sanctus and the people would enter the church so that they would be present for the Consecration. In their minds, that fulfilled their Sunday obligation to attend Mass. After the consecration they would go back outside and continuing gossiping. Today, some places in Europe continue to be just as lax. The men accompany the women to church but stay outside and gossip while the women and children attend Mass.

April 9, 2006
Writings that date from the 2nd century tell the story of Veronica wiping the face of Jesus as He made His way to Calvary. In Greek writings her name was Bernice. The name Veronica is a Latin name combining two words: verum (true) and ikon (image). In the Greek writings, Bernice was described as the woman that Jesus cured of a blood disorder (Matt: 9, 20-22) and it is recorded that she testified before Pilate as to Jesus’ innocence. As early as the 8th century a healing relic impressed with the image of Jesus’ face and known as “Veronica’s Veil” was venerated in the first St. Peter’s Church in Rome.

April 2, 2006
For many years our parish had no boundaries. It was classified as a National Church. Our parishioners were scattered all over the area of metropolitan Detroit, much as they are today. However between 1900 and the 1950s a good many parishioners arrived here by streetcar or bus. Up through the Second World War the fare was a nickel, but after the war it was raised to a dime. Vernor was a two-way street, as was Charlevoix. Charlevoix had a streetcar line that joined the Gratiot streetcar line. Vernor had a bus line. All of this public transportation went by the front of our church with streetcars and buses running about every 10 minutes. Our only parking lot was the one next to the rectory.

March 26, 2006
When the cornerstone was laid for our stone church in 1870, there were only 6 priests in the diocese of Detroit who had been born in America. Of the 88 priests in the diocese at that time 39 were from Belgium, 21 from Germany, 9 from Ireland, 6 from the Netherlands, 5 from France and 2 from Poland. An American seminary had been established in 1857 at Louvain, Belgium, by Bishop Peter Paul Lefevre of Detroit and Bishop Martin J. Spalding of Louisville, Kentucky, to prepare European men for the priesthood in the missionary church in America. Fr. Johann Ferdinand Friedland who spearheaded the building of our stone church was ordained from that seminary.

March 19, 2006
The following was recorded in January of 1834 by a parishioner of St. Anthony Church near Monroe. “One gloomy afternoon when it was too cold to snow, Fr. Carabin called at Mr. Scanlan’s comfortable home; he was returning from a sick call eight miles out on the prairie; he had walked there and back; his patched boots were very thin and his flimsy suit coat was drawn together here and there with black thread by his own unskillful fingers; one of these “darns” had given way. This coat was buttoned up to his chin and Mrs. Scanlan could see no wristbands; evidently he wore no shirt; he wore no overcoat. He was smiling cordially, but Mrs. Scanlan saw that he looked ready to faint. She brought her husband’s wrapper and asked the exhausted priest to put it on while she repaired the rent in his coat…When Mr. Scanlan came home in the evening he was informed that the pastor was starving and freezing. Without waiting for his supper Mr. Scanlan, taking with him a parcel containing all sorts of necessities, including bed-clothing, which his wife had ready for him, drove quickly in his double sleigh across the river. Fr. Carabin sat in his desolate room, without fire, or food; wrapped in his one poor blanket, he was reading his office by the light of a short bit of candle.”

March 12, 2006
From the 1890s through the 1930s, Detroit was known as the Paris of the West. Waterworks Park on East Jefferson was world renowned for its floral clock and magnificent formal gardens. A ferry boat continuously crossed the river from there to Belle Isle for a fare of just 10 cents. Band concerts were performed every Sunday afternoon, but over on Belle Isle they were performed nightly. Once every summer the band on Belle Isle hosted a living Rosary and played Catholic hymns. The band leader was the famous trumpeter, Leonard Smith. That once glorious city no longer exists. Gone with the Wind, as if hurricane Katrina had taken it away. However tiny fragments of that Golden Age still exist. One is here in our neighborhood just two blocks up Gratiot. The old Hunt Street Station dating from the 19th century, was probably the most beautiful police station in America. Today it survives as a business. A 10-minute walk away or a 2-minute ride at Hunt Street and Gratiot, across from the Burger King. A Lenten penance. Walk up there while praying the Rosary for the Poor Souls in Purgatory. No band accompaniment!

March 5, 2006
From 1806 to 1821, Fr. Gabriel Richard was the only priest in the Michigan Territory. He had to travel by canoe throughout the lakes bordering Michigan and Canada and on horseback inland to minister to his people. In 1824, Fr. Pierre Le Jean joined him and was appointed pastor of a log chapel on the Clinton River near Mt. Clemens. He described his first visit to his parishioners at Fort Gratiot (Port Huron) who had only seen a priest twice before. "I held public prayer in the evening. After the prayer I said a few words to urge the proper fulfillment of their religious duties. At the end of my talk I showed them a crucifix. The sight of it produced a deep impression; I could hear deep sighs and weeping on all sides. Among the Catholics, there were several Protestants and a few Indians. At 6 o’clock in the evening I began my teaching of the sacred truths which lasted until 2 hours after midnight. I heard the confessions of 27 persons. After Mass on the following day, about the same number came to me. I celebrated the holy mysteries in the shabby vestments I brought from France."

February 26, 2006
Old time parishioners will remember in the early 1940s when our church bells had been working well for about 60 years with enough bell ringers pulling on the ropes every Sunday. Then, just after the Second World War, someone decided to “electrify” our bells with motorized mechanisms so that if only one bell ringer showed up for Mass, all six bells could be rung from the sacristy by simply pushing a button. The motors were installed but after one winter with snow blowing into the louvers of the belfry, the motors quit on 5 of the bells. The motor for our largest bell was down a flight of stairs from the belfry and connected to a hammer by a system of metal rods. This old motor still works and sounds the Angelus. The rest of the bells were silent for almost 60 years until Mr. and Mrs. Van Antwerp decided to restore the original hardware for the ropes that once made the bells ring. This couple carried welding cable up the 12 stories of the bell tower and worked for weeks to put everything back to original order. The bells haven’t stopped ringing since. Our largest bell weighs 5,000 lbs and is the largest swinging bell in North America. The Liberty Bell might measure up to that but it isn’t a swinger anymore!

February 19, 2006
In search of the Holy Grail: Tradition tells us that St. Peter took the cup of the Last Supper to Rome and from that time until the year 268, it was the cup used by the popes when celebrating Mass. In 258, Pope Sixtus II was arrested and martyred. He and his deacon, the Spaniard St. Lawrence, upon hearing of their impending arrest, arranged for the holy cup to be sent to Spain for safe keeping. This fact was painted in a fresco in the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Rome which was destroyed by the bombardments of the Allies in World War II. The Grail was kept in Huesca, Spain, until 711 when Muslims invaded the country. It was then moved to the southern Pyrenees and hidden in the Chapel of St. Pedro de Siresa. A century later it was moved to the Cathedral of Jaca and finally in 1063 it was transferred to an inaccessible cave at St. Juan de la Pena Monastery. Knights Templar kept guard over it there. In 1399, King Martin V moved it to the chapel of the Royal Palace in Zaragova. Alfonso V brought it to the Royal Palace in Valencia in 1424. His brother, Don Juan, King of Navarre, placed it in the Valencia Cathedral in 1437 where it remains today. At various times of national unrest it was temporarily moved into hiding. In 1982, His Holiness Pope John Paul II came to Valencia and celebrated Mass with this cup. It had been 1,724 years since a Pope had celebrated Mass with this cup which first held our Lord’s blood at the Last Supper.

February 12, 2006
Long time parishioners will remember Richard Langrell who served faithfully at the altar for many years, even when his health deteriorated to the point that he needed an oxygen tank under his cassock and surplice. He trained many young men to be altar servers. His wife, Mary, passed away a few years before Richard did. At Mary’s funeral, many young men were in attendance who had been trained by Richard. One of the mourners, however, was an older man, probably the oldest of all the mourners. It turned out that he was the grandson of the man who had laid the mosaic tile floor in Saint Joseph’s Church back around 1899. Perhaps this grandson has now gone on to his eternal reward, but the name of his grandfather who did all this fantastic mosaic tile work in our church has never been recorded in our archives. Are there any historians out there who know who he was, or is he lost to history and the history corner forever?

February 5, 2006
If you read the history corner for November, you were invited to view the last original door and lock on our church. It is on the Orleans side at the rear of the church. The door handle is a unique one-of-a-kind antique. But what happened to those other doors and locks that disappeared from the church? Answer: Back in the 1940s the city of Detroit passed new safety and fire laws for public buildings. Doors were required to open outward and have safety bar door releases. Our church doors opened inward at that time. They had to be reversed and new locks installed with the safety bars. The whereabouts of the old handles, locks and doors are one of history’s mysteries. If you journey to the rear of the church to view the last remaining original lock, pray for the poor souls on the way. Ten each: Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.

January 29, 2006
Washed Pocahontas, Genuine Semet-Solvay Egg or Chestnut, Kentucky Lump or Egg, Old Virginia Red Ash, Peacock Egg or Ford Coke. Confused? These were the brands of coal supplied by the Wagner and Grewe Coal Co. from their coal yard on Bellevue to St. Joseph Church from the late 1880s to January of 1947 when our 60-year-old boiler finally gave out and was replaced with a new oil fired boiler. The new boiler was supplied with fuel oil from a 6,000-gallon tank that was placed underground behind the sacristy. It is still there and in perilous times might be used as a bomb shelter. Our oil fired boiler was later converted to gas but it only lasted half as long as the original boiler. Our older parishioners will remember when it gave out while Fr. Tom Bresnahan was pastor and that it was replaced with the one we have now.

January 22, 2006
The Sunday comics of almost every daily newspaper, once had a feature called Ripley’s Believe it or Not. This article that appeared in the St. Joseph Bulletin of March 9, 1941 should have been in Ripley’s.

“It was suggested last Sunday that some of the parishioners adopt or sponsor a saint and fit him out with a new robe. The cost of painting a statue is $10, but if you couldn’t pay the whole bill we would be glad to receive whatever offering is available. Because of the generous response of our parishioners, we have decided to have all the statues decorated and also to have the Bl. Virgin and St. Joseph altars touched up wherever necessary. After all, Our Lord and the Apostles have worn these same garments for seventeen years, it is only reasonable to say that they deserve a new outfit.”

Try to have a statue painted today for $10.”

January 15, 2006
November 15, 1942, Fr. Schneider wrote this in the Sunday bulletin: “BAD NEWS. Because of the continuous thefts and vandalism in your church, we have been compelled to take drastic steps to curb these practices. We are not going to lock the church but we are contemplating of putting an iron gate at the two large doors entering the church from the main vestibule. We will have a kneeling bench in the vestibule and you will be able to make your visits to the Blessed Sacrament as usual during the day. We do not like to do this, but conditions have made it necessary.” Our older parishioners all remember when this took place. As the old saying goes, “The more things change, the more they remain the same.”

January 8, 2006
The history corner is somewhat different this week because of continuing crises that occurred that your bulletin editor was called upon to solve. One of these crises involved Leonard Gabriel who attends the 10:30 Mass on Sundays. He is the 91-year-old man who sits near the front of the church and needs the help of a walker. About 30 years ago (the history part) Leonard was making a bank deposit for his employer when two thieves waited for him at the bank. They shot him in the face and in the back. He lay in a coma for a month before regaining consciousness. Lasting effects from that have left Leonard with paralysis on one side of his face and difficulty in walking. He fell at home on Tuesday, December 27 and was found by the man who delivers meals on wheels the next day. The police broke down his door and transported Leonard to the hospital. At the time of this writing (December 30) he is in St. John’s Hospital on 7 Mile Rd. Keep him in prayer!

January 1, 2006
The 1600s and 1700s. Wherever the French settled, they plotted their farms in long narrow strips perpendicular to rivers so that they were never far from their neighbors. This was a matter of necessity for protection. When Detroit was first settled, it was periodically under attack from unfriendly tribes of Native Americans and also from the English. The farms in this area were aligned along the Detroit River. The residents traveled by canoe. There were no roads in the early days. A typical farm was 960 feet wide and 3 miles deep. The property where our church is located was originally part of a French strip farm owned by the DeQuindre Family.

December 25, 2005
In the Middle Ages, the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe began to be built with large circular stained glass windows that resembled a rose in full bloom. These windows were traditionally located above the organ loft or in the transept of the church and began to be called rose windows. The architecture of St. Joseph Church is purely Gothic and would not have been complete without a rose window. Ours is located in the transept of the church and has Angels carrying Latin banners of the Seven Sacraments. These Angels are among 67 Angels that are located throughout the church as paintings, stained glass and statuary.

December 18, 2005
Fr. Gabriel Richard, served at Ste. Anne de Detroit from 1798 until he died from cholera in 1832. He was accustomed to hardships and found no problem traveling by canoe up through Lake Huron and throughout Lakes Superior and Michigan to minister to all the people in those far regions that were assigned to him. As the years progressed, younger missionary priests came from France and enabled him to establish more parishes about the state. One of these younger priests once asked Fr. Richard about the scar on his cheek. This was his response. “I was a priest in France at the time of the Revolution directed by Robespierre. I saw some of the soldiers near my house one day, and heard them asking for me. I knew what they meant, and I jumped out of a rear window. As I landed on the ground a woman in an adjoining house threw a teapot at me. It broke on my cheek inflicting a deep wound. I ran out on the street until I was exhausted. Seeing some men digging a ditch, I jumped into it. They were friends and covered up my priest’s garb with their coats and vests. I was not seen, and my pursuers passed by. I worked in that ditch until I got a chance to leave for America in a vessel.”

December 11, 2005
June 11, 1805, the entire city of Detroit burned to the ground. One warehouse by the river survived and Fr. Gabriel Richard rented it for Mass. General Hull, the territorial governor arrived and appointed Augustus Woodward as judge of the district. Woodward decided the city should be rebuilt on a grid like Washington D.C.. Jefferson Avenue would swallow up the cemetery and property of St. Anne’s church. The parishioners revolted. Some of them constructed a chapel on a farm where the present day Fr. Gabriel Richard park is located next to the Belle Isle Bridge. Fr. Richard purchased a barn near Fort Wayne and converted it to a chapel and school. Controversy raged for 13 years as to where the new St. Anne’s should be built. Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget came up from Bardstown Kentucky in 1818 and decided the church should be rebuilt on land that Judge Woodward had designated. He retained the chapel opposite Belle Isle and named it as Saint Joseph’s Church. It took 10 years to build the new St. Anne’s and move the cemetery to its new site bounded by Broadway, Madison, Witherell & John R.. The first Mass was Christmas Day, 1828.

December 4, 2005
Our holy Patron, Saint Joseph often intercedes in our behalf in astounding ways. Here is a letter from December 15, 1943, in the midst of World War II.

Rev. Dear Father,
I made the St. Joseph novena of 9 Wednesdays. Finished a couple of weeks ago, not a little discouraged, no answer to my prayers, I thought. I had a vigil light burned for my intentions; mainly success in a law suit being brought against us for an unjust debt. It was to come up in court last week. Before court opened, the attorney for the other side told us to “Forget it.” Truly a miracle. Thanks!
Mrs. F. Frederick
6203 12th. St.
Detroit
Enclosed please find $2.00 for vigil lights in thanksgiving. Will give a donation on January 5th.

November 27, 2005
Our younger people may not be aware of the rules that existed before the Second Vatican Council regarding the reception of Holy Communion. People had to fast from all food and drink including water from midnight the night before they were to receive Communion. For that reason the daily Masses at our churches were scheduled early in the morning so that people who worked the day shift could come to Mass and Communion before they started work and then eat their lunch at noon time. Here at St. Joseph’s our weekday Mass schedule was 6:45, 7:15 and 8:00 a.m. These Masses only lasted about 25 minutes. Somehow the celebrant priest could even preach a small sermon at these morning Masses. And remember, all Masses in those days were Tridentine Latin. The only noonday Mass we had was on Wednesday at 12:15 followed by the St. Joseph Novena. A collection was always taken up at the Novena Mass and if an usher failed to show up for that Mass, then the altar server would take up the collection. This tradition of a collection at the Novena Mass continues even now at our church. It is based on same belief as lighting a candle for a prayer request or anointing yourself with St. Joseph oil. These are all outward signs that fortify our faith and belief that God will answer our prayer, especially if some sacrifice on our part is involved.

November 20, 2005
Our parish archives are filled with testimonials in THANKSGIVING for answered prayers. Here is a sampling of a two-week period in 1948:

Dear Fr. Schneider:
Enclosed find offering for the poor in thanksgiving to St. Joseph for favor received $4.00 enclosed.

Dear Father:
Thanks for favors received from the St. Joseph Novena.
Mrs. M. Page, 2528 Newport.

Offering enclosed. $50 Gift in honor of St. Joseph in Thanksgiving for favor received.
A friend.

Dear Fr. Schneider:
Please say a High Mass in thanksgiving to St. Joseph for a favor received.
Elizabeth Jacob D.S.C.

Three High Masses in thanksgiving for a special favor received in honor of the Miraculous Infant Jesus of Prague, the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph. By Joe E.R.

A Mass for the Poor Souls in thanksgiving for favors received.
Alex. G. Dupont

Dear Fr. Schneider: This is an offering for a Mass for the Poor Souls in thanksgiving to St. Joseph for a special request he obtained for us.
Mrs. John R. Smith, 2740 Waterloo

November 13, 2005
When our Blessed Mother appeared at Fatima, the children asked her about a teenaged girl in who had recently died in their town. Our lady related that the teenager was detained in Purgatory until the end of time. Want to make a brief historic walkathon for the Holy Souls? Go down Orleans street. Walk through the iron gate that leads to the Sacristy door where the altar boys used to enter the church. Climb the stairs. Notice the door handle. Examine the shutter that keeps out cold draughts over the key hole . The door handle may be one of the most unique and historic in all of North America. As you take this short walkathon, pray at least 6 Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory be to the Fathers for all the suffering souls especially the teenager from Fatima, that her sufferings may be lessened as she waits for the end of time. Her name was Amelia.

November 6, 2005
Back in 1934, Eileen A. Schmidt delivered a valedictory address to those attending the graduation ceremonies of her class here at Saint Joseph's. It seems appropriate today to quote part of that speech: "Dear Rev. Fathers: As our days of school life are being brought to a close, our hearts turn to you, overflowing with love and gratitude. For your fatherly advice and tender care, we can find no adequate words to express our thanks to you. As a good Shepherd, you have ever guided us, pointing out the way for our inexperienced feet to follow. The last favor we ask of you, dear Fathers, is a kind remembrance in your prayers, so that we who are gathered here tonight may prove faithful to your teachings and true to the ideals that you have given us...Our hearts are heavy and our eyes glisten with tears, as we realize tonight, that some of us may never meet again. How will we say farewell? We have always been firmly bound together during our years of school life, sharing each other's joys and sorrows, close in the ties of friendship and loyalty. In memory, we shall be ever united, and the recollections of our happy school days, shall be as precious jewels, that no one can take from us. God be with everyone; and if our next meeting be in the great Hereafter, may an unclouded path of glorious labor, toil and triumph lead back and back, amid the scenes of Time’s life, to this time and this spot where we now say 'Farewell.'"

October 30, 2005
Finances at St. Joseph Church have always been tight. Every conceivable type of fund raising activity and countless special collections over the years have helped us to survive. Our pastors have always had to pinch pennies. Looking back to 1946, here are some excerpts from the financial report. Annual salaries: Pastor $1,200. Assistants (2) $595 ea. Organist and choir $1,150. Janitor and Sextons $2,149.85. Clerical and housekeeper $1,840.55. It is easy to see that anybody who drew their wages at our church would have had a hard time living above the poverty level. Some Detroit school principals made $4,000 a year in those days.

October 23, 2005
The Wednesday novena here at Saint Joseph Church is now spanning three centuries. In the 1940s and '50s, prayers to the Infant of Prague were included in the weekly novena to St. Joseph. Our parish archives are filled with testimonials of answered prayer during the past 150 years. Here is a sample from January 19, 1947:

Dear Father: I wish to publicly express my thanks to the Miraculous Infant Jesus of Prague for all the favors received during the year of 1946. One of the two very important ones is—last February I was advised by my physician that it might be necessary to have my foot amputated, and I publicly implored the Miraculous Infant to save my foot. This request was granted. The week before Easter I left the hospital on crutches, and it was only a matter of six weeks after that, that I threw my crutches aside, and I have been doing my own housework ever since. Many thanks to the dear little infant, and his blessed Mother and St. Joseph. A permanent client of the Miraculous Infant Jesus of Prague, Edith Arossa, 9609 Dobson

October 16, 2005
After establishing the St. Joseph bulletin in 1927, Fr. Theodore Lindeman, pastor of St. Joseph’s from 1917 to 1940, continued to write humorous anecdotes into each of his issues year after year. Here is one from April 1931, when the monthly bulletin was four years old. He entitled it: “Facing the Facts”. “Yep, I had a beard like yours once, and when I realized how it made me look, I cut it off.” “Well I had a face like yours once, and when I realized that I couldn’t cut it off, I grew this beard.”

October 9, 2005
Dateline: January 1927. Our parish was 72 years old when Fr. Theodore Lindemann, pastor of St. Joseph’s from 1917 to 1940, decided it was time for our church to have a bulletin. He published it once a month and mailed it out to all the parishioners. Fr. Lindemann was known for his great sense of humor and he tried to write humorous anecdotes into each of his issues. Some were written about certain parishioners. This one came from his very first bulletin. Norbert Weisso (on California bound train): “This seems a long tunnel we are going through.” Porter: “This ain’t no tunnel. Its midnight.”

October 2, 2005
Some of the folks who came to our parish picnic on August 7th, purchased ice cream in the rectory yard and said that it was so cold that it stuck to their lips. It was packed in dry ice that hovers at 109 degrees below zero. If you lived in this neighborhood 60 years ago, the only place you could buy ice cream was at a drug store with a soda fountain. Frozen food hadn’t been invented. Grocery stores didn’t have freezers. Take-out ice cream was sold by the pint. If your folks had company for supper, your mother would send you up to Sweier and Stockman’s drug store at Riopelle and Gratiot to buy a pint of ice cream for the dessert. Ice cream pints were a little smaller than a pound of butter. They were packed in dry ice at the druggist's. By the time you walked home it would be just soft enough to cut with a sharp knife and the slices would be put on cake or pie. It would still be so cold that tiny ice crystals were all through it. It was soooo good!

September 25, 2005
When our grade school and girls' high school closed in the mid 1940s, the IHM nuns left, and the Christian Brothers who taught the boys’ high school, moved from their house on Jay St. that was across from the rectory, over to the nuns' vacant convent on Orleans. The convent had a chapel. The convent is still standing, converted into apartments and the Blessed Sacrament window from the chapel is in our Social Hall. The 1940s were lean times for many people in Detroit. After the Brothers moved into the convent, people who were really down on their luck and had been evicted from where they were renting, were allowed to move into the Brothers’ old house until they got back on their feet. Our older parishioners may remember a little blond-haired girl who lived there for a while with her folks and others. Much like the victims of hurricane Katrina, they found a solace from the storms of life.

September 18, 2005
Assumption Grotto Church is the second-oldest church in the archdiocese and was established by German-speaking immigrants who were quarantined outside the city because of a cholera epidemic that was raging when they arrived at Detroit. They were taken by boat up Conner Creek to a settlement that was near the Gratiot Avenue. They built a log church that was the forerunner of the beautiful church that stands there today. The second German-speaking church in the diocese was Old St. Mary’s in Greektown. It became so crowded in 1855, that our own St. Joseph Church was established as a satellite to alleviate the crowding at St. Mary’s. This fall we will begin a year-long celebration to mark our 150th anniversary. Cardinal Maida will celebrate a solemn orchestral Mass on Saturday, October 29 at 4:00 p.m. to begin the celebration of our Sesquitennial. Our parish was founded in November 1855.

September 11, 2005
The Black Bottom Dollar Store is just a few blocks up Gratiot. It has a historic name. Since the early settlers first dug wells in this area and discovered that the black top soil seemed bottomless, our neighborhood has been known as “The Black Bottom”. French missionaries in the 1600s described this area as a Garden of Eden and noted that so many apple trees were seen that one would think an orchard man had planted them. Offspring from those ancient trees grow along the railroad track beside the rectory clear down to Lafayette. Three Mimosa trees are in full bloom along the track in the yard at St. Mary’s Residence behind our church and can be seen from the back fence of our property. These trees normally thrive only south of the Ohio River. Other trees in the railroad right-of-way have never been classified. They are unique to this area alone. Spring and early summer produce a color kaleidoscope of blossoms along the railroad right-of-way from Gratiot to Lafayette, where this historic growth has flourished undisturbed. The railroad says it will thin it all out soon.

Editor's note: Recent news has come to us that the railroad bed will be turned into part of a bike trail. People working on the project have visited St. Joseph's and said that, as part of the project, botanists will come through and identify unique vegetation so that it can be preserved and cared for as a valuable part of the area's scenery.

September 4, 2005
The monthly Journal published by St. Joseph high school girls in the 1920s, '30s and '40s is a virtual literary treasury. Most articles are too long for our tiny bulletin but many fit just right. Here is one from January 1928:

He smoked cigars three times a day, ten centers too at that;
then gave a nickel to the church when the deacon passed the hat.
She gave one cent for mission work, then spent ten cents for gum;
then really bowed her head in prayer: “Oh, Lord, Thy kingdom come.”
They sat at home and wondered why the church did not succeed;
she chewed her gum and couldn’t tell; he, puzzled, smoked his weed.

-- Alyce Arras, class of 1930

August 28, 2005
When St. Elizabeth of Hungary (+1231) was a child, playing in the palace courtyard with her small companions, she would slip away unnoticed, every now and then, to kiss the lock on the chapel door saying, "My Jesus! I am playing, but I am not forgetting You! Bless me and my friends. I will see you again!" See her statue on the left side of the Blessed Mother’s altar.

*********

In the 1930s and early '40s our girls high school was called St. Joseph’s Academy, and our boys high school was known as St. Joseph Commercial College. The Academy published a monthly journal for the parish. This article was submitted by Eileen Schmid in the January issue of 1934.

Not so many days ago I read about a habit of Stonewall Jackson. Would you like to have me relate it to you? He once said: “I have so fixed the habit of prayer in my mind, that I never raise a glass of water to my lips without a moment’s asking of God’s blessing. I never seal a letter without putting a word of prayer under the seal. I never take a letter from the post without a brief sending of my thoughts Heavenward. I never change my classes in the section room without a minute’s petition on the cadets who go out and those who come in.”

“And don’t you sometimes forget this?” he was asked. “I think I can say that I scarcely do,” he replied. “The habit has become almost as fixed as breathing.”

August 21, 2005
In the 1920s and '30s the St. Joseph Bulletin was published only once a month. In between, the girls in our high school published a monthly journal of news from the school with articles and poems written by the girls. Here is a sample of those poems:

Sweet Virgin Mary,
help me pray,
inspire my heart,
O Queen of the May,
so that inflamed with Thy pure love,
my prayer will rise to God above.
O help me bear my cross in strife,
and all that’s planned for me in life.
Pray, help me mold this heart of mine
to be a counterpart of Thine.
That when at last God calls me home,
I need not long in darkness roam,
and may my heavenseeking soul,
through thee, Saint Mary, reach its goal.
( M. Felgentrager, ’34 )

August 14, 2005
The hottest room in the St. Joseph rectory is probably the kitchen, even when no cooking is going on. Imagine what it was like in 1896 when the rectory was new and the cooking was all done on a coal stove. The poor housekeeper back then lived in a virtual hell on earth cooking meals over that fire breathing monster and at night retiring to her hot bedroom that was directly over the hot kitchen. Very few parishioners are aware that underneath the old scuffed and holey linoleum in the kitchen, there is a brick floor that absorbed the heat from the old coal stove and prevented fires.

August 7, 2005
The Eastern Market across from our church was once a cemetery. Around the end of the nineteenth century the city of Detroit decided to turn it into a farmers market. There was an indignant outcry from the citizens, but to no avail. The mortal remains of all the deceased lying peacefully in their graves were dug up and moved to other cemeteries. A great many ended up in a mass grave at Mt. Elliot Cemetery. Their headstones were lost to history.

July 31, 2005
In the late 1940s and early ‘50s, St. Joseph pastor, Fr. Arnold Schneider offered classes on Thursday nights at 7:30 for prospective converts and for Catholics who wanted to increase their knowledge of the faith. Although dozens of African Americans passed by the church every day as they crossed the old footbridge on Jay Street that went over the railroad track, none seemed interested in the classes. Fr. Schneider then had a huge billboard erected in front of the church inviting black people to their own classes on Tuesday evenings at 7:30. Many African American Catholics can trace their Catholic roots to that billboard. The old footbridge is gone and so is the billboard, but the seed that was planted from them grew and bore fruit in good ground as the Gospel says it will.

July 24, 2005
There is only one exterior door in our church that is original to 1873. It is at the rear of the altar servers' sacristy behind the St. Joseph altar. It can be seen from Orleans street as you look at the rear of the church. The lock has a large iron key. There will be a tour of the church during our picnic on August 7th. Some folks may want to see this original door and lock. They sure don’t make ‘em like this anymore!

July 17, 2005
The wooden processional cross being used now at Mass dates from the first St. Joseph Church built in 1855-56. Our metal processional cross dates from the dedication of the stone church in 1873. It was badly damaged over the years and possibly dropped, which caused several areas to be broken off. Fr. Mark consulted with a church supply company a few months back as to the value of the metal cross. The opinion was that nothing of that quality could be purchased today and that the price of having it restored would be considerably less than a modern day replacement. At the present time it has been sent out for restoration. It is not a costly project but donations toward any endeavor for the Glory of God are always appreciated.

July 10, 2005
When the church, rectory, school, convent, brothers’ house and sexton’s house were heated with coal, we had a “coal collection” that began every October and continued throughout the winter. Parishioners who donated were listed in the bulletin along with the dollar amount of their contributions. The nuns, brothers, priests and sexton had to keep fires burning from morning till night . At bedtime the fires were banked so as not to go out before morning. Ashes had to be hauled daily from the basements in steel bushel baskets and dumped in the alley for the ash men to collect. After last January’s gas bill totaled $3,000 for our several buildings, maybe we should reinstate the old coal collection.

July 3, 2005
Hidden Beauty! The fixtures holding the vigil lights behind the angels atop the high altar are probably the most beautiful in the church. They are gold plated and decorated with grape clusters and grape leaves. Father Mark places them on stands in the sanctuary periodically so that their artistry can enhance the celebration of the Mass and give glory to God as was the intent of the donor. These fixtures along with the gold plated Crucifix atop the high altar were gifts given in honor of Saint Joseph by Mrs. Madeline Clemente in January of 1934.

June 26, 2005
An horrendous storm in the 1930s blew out the chancel windows above our high altar, requiring extensive repairs. A short time later a storm took out portions of the Death of St. Joseph Window. Pastors knew for years that we desperately needed storm windows on the church. Finally in the middle of World War II the parish was financially able to afford them. Then, because of rationing during the war, glass was unavailable. It wasn’t until 1946 that our church finally installed storm windows to protect our stained glass, 73 years after the church was built.

June 19, 2005
About 60 years ago our parishioners faced a formidable problem with our roof. Slates began falling to the ground in an alarming number. The nail heads holding the slates had rusted away and every slate on the roof had to be removed and the old nails replaced with new ones, besides replacing all of the slates that had crashed to the ground. If Chicken Licken had been around he would have thought the sky was falling.

June 12, 2005
A stash of commemorative books from the 1973 Centennial of our stone church has been available in the pamphlet racks for some time. The Christian Brother’s house that was directly across from the rectory is pictured in that book. When the grade school closed in the mid 1940’s the nuns left their convent on Orleans Street. The brothers then moved into the old convent which is still standing across from our parking lot. A few years ago the convent was sold to an investor who converted it into a six-unit apartment house. The money realized from the sale helped to pay for the social hall, and the Blessed Sacrament window from the convent is now mounted in the social hall.

From 1673 to 1675, the Sacred Heart of Jesus appeared 40 times to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque expressing His great desire to be loved by men. “The constant plea of God is for the love of His people. This is the message of the prophets and holy men of the Old Testament, and of Christ and His Apostles in the New Testament. It should not surprise anyone, therefore, that the message of Jesus Christ to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque at Paray-le-Monial, France some three hundred years ago was an earnest request for what God always seeks: the love of His creatures. The fact that Christ mentioned the coldness, indifference, and contempt of so many towards Him only underscored this age-old appeal.” -- Rev. Walter Kern

June 5, 2005
The largest church in Germany is the Cathedral at Cologne. It is the number-one tourist attraction in the entire country. The remains of the three Magi were brought there from the Middle East during the time of the Crusades. Work on the Cathedral began in 1248 and continued until 1880. The chancel windows behind our high altar here at Saint Joseph Church are modeled after the chancel windows in the Cathedral of Cologne. The combination of figures in a mostly geometric patterned window was common in the Middle Ages but was not popular at the time that our stone church was built. They lend an air of authenticity and age to our Gothic architecture.

May 29, 2005
On May 2nd, we celebrated our first anniversary of becoming part of a three-parish cluster. The churches of our cluster each have rich traditions and histories. As we share various liturgies, our parishioners are learning to treasure our Sister Churches as much as we treasure Saint Joseph's. If you haven’t yet visited Sweetest Heart of Mary Church, you may be inspired to make the effort just to see the spectacular stained glass windows that are the second largest in North America. Sweetest Heart is open for visits week days from 8:00 to 4:00 and 1/2 hour before weekend Masses. Access is from the side door facing the rectory.

May 22, 2005
After our stone church was dedicated on November 16, 1873, work continued inside and out for 37 years. The St. Joseph altar was made by Charles Van Depoele in 1875. He hand carved the date in Roman numerals on the door of the tabernacle, MDCCCLXXV. We know that the Blessed Mother's altar is a replacement of the first altar dedicated to Our Lady that stood in the same place. The craftsmen who made the "Mary" altars and the dates of their origin are lost to history.

May 15, 2005
A "fixed altar", such as we find in consecrated churches, has its entire top formed of a large altar-stone, resting upon stone sides or columns, the whole being built up from the ground on stone or brick foundations. -- Rev. John F. Sullivan (The Externals of the Catholic Church)

Our high altar is a "fixed altar". The walnut front hides the massive stone and brick foundation that can be seen from the rear of the altar. Parishioners are welcome to walk behind the altar to view its construction. The upper portion of our altar is walnut and resembled the side altars when it was installed. Many years later is was covered with gilding.

May 8, 2005
Our present stone church that replaced the original wooden church took 37 years to complete. When it was dedicated in 1873 it barely resembled the church as we see it today. The twin stairways leading to the choir loft were nonexistent. The only way a to reach the loft was by the spiral stone staircase that leads to the belfry and is accessible from a door in the vestibule.

May 1, 2005
There were 219 households who responded to the parish census last fall. Surprisingly for a parish this size, we have two choirs, a mixed-voice choir and a men’s choir whose ranks are filled by parishioners and friends of St. Joseph Church. Some 70 years ago our parish had many more households and boasted five choirs which included a mixed-voice choir, a men’s choir, a women’s choir, an altar boy’s choir and a children’s choir. At that time the parish had two organists. Some of our long-time parishioners will remember the names of Hilda Wiehr and Emma Wendland as organists/soloists and choir directresses.

April 24, 2005
Most of the statues in our church are hand-carved wood and were shipped from Germany when the church was built in 1870-73. A few of our later statues are plaster or fiberglass but only one statue in the church is made of cast metal. Apparently this statue was purchased at a cut-rate price because when it was cast, the sand in the mold collapsed at the end of a sleeve, producing a noticeable flaw. Take a tour of the many statues in the church. Some of the Apostles are depicted with the instruments of their tortured martyrdoms. If we are good detectives, the cast metal statue will be easy to find with its flawed sleeve.

April 17, 2005
The Saint Joseph Liebesbund was a Catholic men's fraternal society founded in the parish in December, 1856. It promoted Catholic education and thought and was also a benevolent society paying out sick and death benefits. Initiation fees were $1.00 and annual dues were $9.00. Funds were invested by the elected officers and quarterly meetings were held. When the Liebesbund celebrated its 80th anniversary in 1936 it had a wonderful history of charity within the parish. Death benefits for members initially were $175.00; for a members wife, $50.00 and sick benefits were $6.00 a week. Besides the support it gave to widows and orphans of parishioners, in its first 80 years it had paid out $73,284.00 in sick benefits and $54,150.00 in death benefits. It was the largest and most prominent Catholic men's society in Michigan.

April 10, 2005
Horses! Only 50 years ago they pulled milk wagons, fruit and vegetable wagons, and junk wagons all over this neighborhood. They ate their lunches while they worked. Oats in a feed bag. In cold weather they all wore blankets. Woe to any driver who forgot to blanket his horse in cold weather. The phone would ring off the hook at the Humane Society and an officer would soon be out with a citation. The old wooden foot bridge over the railroad tracks next to the rectory once had a gate to keep horse-drawn wagons off the bridge. Horse droppings on the bridge were getting to be a problem. Older parishioners will remember the ancient livery stable just across Gratiot. Its weathered exterior had traces of dark green paint. It was home to many work horses in the neighborhood. Anyone who grew up around here will remember feeding grass to these oat and hay burners. It was a treat these horses seldom had.

April 3, 2005
For generations the unlabeled statue on the right side of the Saint Joseph altar was assumed to be Saint Gertrude because of her profound devotion to Saint Joseph. A recent discovery in the parish archives tells us that it is Saint Catherine of Sienna, who, with Saint Francis of Assisi is c