Saint Joseph's Oratory

Brother André Bessette was a doorkeeper at a college on Mount Royal, small, barely literate and in poor health, and from the 1870s people who came to him reported being healed; he attributed everything to Saint Joseph and built a small chapel in 1904 with money from haircuts he gave. The crowds grew and the basilica followed, finished in 1967, with a dome of about ninety-seven metres, the largest church in Canada. Discarded crutches hang in the votive chapel. Brother André was canonised in 2010 and his heart is displayed in a reliquary. Some pilgrims climb the ninety-nine central wooden steps on their knees.

History

Brother André Bessette of the Congregation of Holy Cross, renowned as a healer, was given the means in 1904 to build a small chapel on Mount Royal opposite Notre Dame College; it was enlarged four times in a decade, and the original chapel, 4.5 by 5.5 metres, still stands about a hundred metres from the basilica. Dalbé Viau and Alphonse Venne built the crypt church in 1914-1916 and the walls up to the roof between 1924 and 1927, work stopped in the Depression, and Dom Paul Bellot, working through Lucien Parent, redesigned the dome far larger on the model of Florence Cathedral, completing it in 1941 (Wikipedia, Saint Joseph's Oratory).

What you'll find

• The dome - Canada's largest church, on the highest point in the city.
• The votive chapel - walls hung with crutches left by those who came.
• The wooden steps - ninety-nine central steps climbed on the knees by pilgrims.
• The original chapel - Brother André's small 1904 building, preserved.

When to go

Year-round; the oratory is open daily and free. Major feast days and Christmas bring large crowds. The city view from the terrace is best on clear days.

What to expect

This is an active pilgrimage site with people praying, not a monument to walk through casually. There are many steps and the site is on a steep slope, though a lift exists. Restoration work has covered parts.

Nearby

Mount Royal park lies east; downtown Montreal is southeast.

Key facts