- Feb 5, 2002
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Visit the parish in Westphalia, Missouri.
Renovation of this church, dedicated to St. Joseph, highlights the architecture of the early 19th century. A vast relics collection is a devotional highlight. (photo: Courtesy of Norb Plassmeyer; David and Vickie Patterson)
Since 1848, St. Joseph Catholic Church has been the treasure of Catholics in Westphalia, Missouri, a town that lies between St. Louis, 120 miles to the east, and Kansas City, 170 miles to the west. Early-19th-century immigrants who arrived in the Show Me State from their native western Germany dedicated their church to the Husband of Mary and Foster Father of Jesus.
Recent restorations and judicious renovations to this edifice were completed a year ago. Once again, the saintly depictions in the exquisite windows — more than 20 lining the nave and clerestory — appear as when they first graced these panes, thanks to their renewal. Because of the protective layers added over years to “shelter” them, they were prevented from being seen in their full hues. The work of Emil Frei, these windows graced the church around the turn of the century, when Frei, a Bavarian native, emigrated and eventually arrived in St. Louis to continue making these pictorial windows of saints and biblical scenes in the Munich style that he mastered. (Frei glassworks is still active in St. Louis.) With their names displayed in German, among those saints’ images are familiar and unfamiliar holy lives, such as George of Cappadocia (one of the 14 Holy Helpers), Clare, Martin of Tours, Herman Joseph, Conrad of Constance, Ludger, Boniface, Charles Borromeo, Theodore of Heraclea, Gerhard, Catherine of Alexandria, Hubert, Helena, Margaret of Antioch, and Cecilia.
Continued below.
Restored for the Carpenter: St. Joseph Church Returned to Original Beauty
Renovation of this church, dedicated to St. Joseph, highlights the architecture of the early 19th century. A vast relics collection is a devotional highlight. (photo: Courtesy of Norb Plassmeyer; David and Vickie Patterson)
Since 1848, St. Joseph Catholic Church has been the treasure of Catholics in Westphalia, Missouri, a town that lies between St. Louis, 120 miles to the east, and Kansas City, 170 miles to the west. Early-19th-century immigrants who arrived in the Show Me State from their native western Germany dedicated their church to the Husband of Mary and Foster Father of Jesus.
Recent restorations and judicious renovations to this edifice were completed a year ago. Once again, the saintly depictions in the exquisite windows — more than 20 lining the nave and clerestory — appear as when they first graced these panes, thanks to their renewal. Because of the protective layers added over years to “shelter” them, they were prevented from being seen in their full hues. The work of Emil Frei, these windows graced the church around the turn of the century, when Frei, a Bavarian native, emigrated and eventually arrived in St. Louis to continue making these pictorial windows of saints and biblical scenes in the Munich style that he mastered. (Frei glassworks is still active in St. Louis.) With their names displayed in German, among those saints’ images are familiar and unfamiliar holy lives, such as George of Cappadocia (one of the 14 Holy Helpers), Clare, Martin of Tours, Herman Joseph, Conrad of Constance, Ludger, Boniface, Charles Borromeo, Theodore of Heraclea, Gerhard, Catherine of Alexandria, Hubert, Helena, Margaret of Antioch, and Cecilia.
Continued below.
Restored for the Carpenter: St. Joseph Church Returned to Original Beauty
