Sunday, January 15, 2012

St. Josaphat's Catholic Church

Everytime I head down to Belle Isle, I pass by this church.  I kind of like the looks of it, so I've been meaning to take pictures of it.  I had a little time until one of the ships I was waiting for would pass Belle Isle, so I decided to stop and take pictures.

The Church is called St. Josaphat's Catholic Church and it is named after St. Josaphat Kuntsevych who was a Greek Catholic Priest that was appointed Archbishop of Polotsk, Poland in 1617.  He was martyred 6 years later and canonized in 1867.

I think this is a picture of the rectory which is where the Priest lives.
The Parish was founded in 1889 and the first building was completed in 1890.  Over the next 10 years, the parish found itself growing considerably and in 1901, the current church was constructed.
The Church was added to the national Register of Historic Places in 1982 and was designated a Michigan Historic Place 3 years later.
The tallest spire on the Church stands at 200 feet tall.
This is the main altar of five altars.  The painting is of St. Josaphat himself.
There are a few stained glass windows on the side.  All of which were built Detroit Stained Glass Works.
I'm not sure who they are depicting though.
The Church itself is of Victorian Romanesque style and was designed by Joseph Kastler and William Hunter.  It was built by Jermolowicz Brothers and local carpenters.
I can imagine that in its day, it looked pretty good but has seen declining membership since many of its families have moved to the suburbs.
The Church is one of the few that still has a mass in Latin.

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