St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church stands as testament to religion, history and artwork

GRAND COTEAU -- The magnitude of its beauty engulfs the eyes, heart and in some cases, the soul, of those who are fortunate enough to walk through its nearly 140-year-old threshold.
The historic structure stands as a sanctuary for the area’s devout and racially diverse Catholic population, as well as a pillar of Louisiana history and a gallery of awe-inspiring artwork. That is what elevates St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Grand Coteau amongst the religious, albeit crowded, historic landscape of Louisiana.
Parish Manager Darrell Burleigh has been part of the iconic church for the majority of 67 years.
“It’s really my life,” Burleigh said. “I can do everything around here. I could even say mass but it wouldn’t count. Working here has been like a calling for me.

The seeds of faith
The Catholic residents of the area felt that building a church in the small town was something worthwhile as well nearly 200 years ago.
St. Charles Parish was established in 1819 and is the third oldest parish in the Diocese of Lafayette. A planter-carpenter from Maryland named Charles Smith donated 140 arpents of land (a pre-metric French unit of length or area) to Bishop William Dubourg. The parish would then be renamed St. Charles Borromeo in honor of the donor’s patron saint.
Smith by the way is buried underneath the current church with a stone marker.
The original church served the Grand Coteau community until it was dismantled in 1910, which ultimately paved the way for the historic church that now peers through the ancient oak trees that line the property.
Due to its condition and capacity, church leaders wanted to construct a new house of worship. The church first got permission from Archbishop Napoleon-Joseph Perche of New Orleans to build a new building on the Jesuit property in front of the old St. Charles College.
The church then sent the construction plans to Rome to get approval from Pope Pius IX, who graciously gave his Papal seal of approval. The predominately wooden structure crafted in the Greek Revival style was designed by famed New Orleans architect James Freret and built by Jesuit Brothers Cornelius Otten of Halland and Joseph Armand Brinkhaus of Grand Coteau. Construction began in March of 1879 and was completed the following year.
The church was originally slated to be a brick structure but due to financial and time constraints those plans had to be scrapped.
St. Charles Borromeo’s well-known bell tower, located at the back end of the church near the cemetery, was added in 1886 and represents a second empire style belfry. The bell, which is still rung to this day, comes in at a hefty 3,104 pounds.
Due to the sweltering conditions of Louisiana and good old father time, there are some maintenance projects on the horizon for the property listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“The outside is going to need some repairs,” Burleigh said. “We have some wood that is rotten. The outside needs to be pressured washed and painted. We have a lot of upcoming maintenance projects. There is a lot of maintenance on an old building.”
“I think it is very special place,” former Grand Coteau 89-year-old Mayor Mary V. Murray said. “You know sometimes when you live in a community you don’t realize the beauty and historic value of the church.”

Bringing Catholics together
The old building, as Burleigh lovingly calls it, has gone through its share of name changes.
To show gratitude to The Society of the Religious of the Sacred Heart for its role in treating the yellow fever epidemic that swept through Louisiana in the 1870’s, church leaders sent a letter in 1878 to have the name changed to Sacred Heart. In 1880, Bishop John Quinlan of Mobile consecrated the church with its new name, which lasted for 91 years.
Sacred Heart though would return to its original namesake of St. Charles Borromeo as the church would integrate in 1971 with Christ the King, a local African-American Catholic church. Christ the King, originally named St. Peter Claver, was formed by African-American parishioners in 1931.
The church has also a few close calls of being nearly destroyed.
A fire in 1907 engulfed the old St. Charles College, which rested less than 100 feet away from the church, but the fire thankfully didn’t carry over to St. Charles. In 1950, lightning struck the original wooden steeple damaging it and the organ located in the choir loft.
The integration of the church became a significant moment of race relations in the small town.
“Two councils from both parishes joined together and talked about the integration of the church,” said 84-year-old Mary Henry, whose late husband served as a deacon at St. Charles. “It was a decision that had to be made. Some whites didn’t want it and some blacks didn’t want it but we eventually integrated.”
“I noticed that we lost a lot of people from mass years ago when we integrated the parish,” Burleigh said. “It used to bother me a lot but ultimately we want the people that want to come here and be with us.”

Like walking through a museum
In addition to its spiritual and social standing, the artwork on the inside is a trove of Catholic iconography.
There are original paintings, majority done by French artist Erasmus Humbrecht, an itinerant artist who also did work inside the famed St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. The majority of his work is represented in the paintings called the 15 Mysteries of the Rosary located on the ceiling level. The massive Coronation of the Blessed Mother appears on the ceiling directly above the altar.
A painting of the Sacred Heart rests over the main altar which belonged at one time to a prominent socialite in Paris named the Duchess of Sagan. There are large paintings above the side altars depicting St. Joseph and Mater Admirablis. The main altar is flanked by Saint Peter and Saint Paul and there is collection of 14 paintings resting in golden wooden frames with small crosses at the peak of the frames that are called the “The 14 Stations of the Cross.”
There isn’t only a bevy of paintings there is also small statues of St. Anthony and Saint Ann, a large statue behind the church of St. Joseph as well as an Our Lady of Sorrows statue, a replica of Michelangelo’s work from the 1500’s which was gifted in 1899, that resides on the inside.
Not to mention the dozen, and extremely ornate, 10-foot tall stained glass windows in the main seating area which illustrate the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
“We have a lot of visitors,” Burleigh said. “They always ask ‘can we look into the church?’ They are just floored about the artwork.”
A large portion of those visitors are the dedicated parishioners and church workers that have been attending many of the masses that St. Charles Borromeo offers every day of the week.
“I enjoy the worship service there and I feel at peace there,” Henry said. “You go where you feel at peace. You feel the presence of the Lord when you go in there.”
For Burleigh, who has battled severe illnesses like Lupas over his 36 years working at the church, feels extremely fortunate to have worked in such a magnificent place.
“When I had gotten sick ‘I said God if you want me to keep doing your work then you know what you need to do,’” Burleigh said. “God still feels that I’m doing something worthwhile.”