Alfred Bessette answered the door. He had entered the Congregation of Holy Cross as a lay brother in 1870, taken the name André, and been given the porter's lodge at Collège Notre-Dame on the side of Mount Royal. In 1904 he and Brother Abundius and a few lay friends put up a small wooden chapel on the slope across the road, and it was blessed on 19 October that year.
The chapel was enlarged four times in eight years, and the sick kept coming to the porter. What stands on the slope now is the largest shrine in the world dedicated to Saint Joseph, a basilica whose dome rises 155 metres above Queen Mary Road and 263 above the sea, and the Oratory counts around two million pilgrims and visitors a year. Brother André did not see it finished. He died on 6 January 1937 with the basilica open to the sky, and a million people filed past his coffin over six days.
Montreal keeps three other churches a pilgrim comes for. Notre-Dame Basilica stands over Place d'Armes in the old town, its interior carved and gilded and vaulted in deep blue. The Sailors' Church on the waterfront was founded by Marguerite Bourgeoys, who arrived in 1653 and opened the colony's first school five years later. Mary Queen of the World, downtown among the office towers, is a scaled reduction of Saint Peter's in Rome.
📜 History & Spiritual Significance
Marguerite Bourgeoys came to Ville-Marie in 1653 at the invitation of its founder, and from 1655 she gathered colonists to build a chapel of pilgrimage to the Virgin on the riverbank. She opened the settlement's first school in 1658 and founded the Congregation of Notre-Dame. She was born at Troyes on 17 April 1620 and died in Montreal on 12 January 1700. John Paul II canonised her on 31 October 1982, the first Canadian woman raised to the altars. Her chapel burned in 1754. The present building went up between 1771 and 1773 directly on the foundations of the first stone chapel, which were uncovered by excavation in the 1990s.
The parish church of Notre-Dame was built between 1824 and 1829 to designs by James O'Donnell, an Irish-born architect working out of New York who became a Catholic and lies in the crypt. It was the first Gothic Revival church in Canada. Victor Bourgeau directed the interior between 1872 and 1880. The west tower was finished in 1841 and the east in 1843. John Paul II raised the church to a minor basilica on 21 April 1982, and it was designated a National Historic Site in 1989. It is a parish church, not the cathedral.
Alfred Bessette was born on 9 August 1845 and entered the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1870. He spent his working life as porter at Collège Notre-Dame and directed the sick who came to him to Saint Joseph. The chapel of 1904 grew into a larger project: the Holy Cross authorities approved a basilica in 1914, the crypt church was built from 1915 and inaugurated in December 1917, and the cornerstone of the basilica above it was blessed on 31 August 1924 before a crowd of some thirty-five thousand.
Work stopped in 1931 in the Depression and resumed on 1 April 1937, three months after Brother André's death. The dome was designed by the Benedictine Dom Paul Bellot, working through the Montreal architect Lucien Parent, and the cross crowning it was blessed on 1 August 1941. The votive chapel and the alcove for Brother André's tomb were built in 1946. The first solemn Mass in the basilica was celebrated on 21 November 1954, and the church was raised to a minor basilica on 19 March 1955. Gérard Notebaert completed the interior in the 1960s. Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte consecrated the basilica on 17 October 2004, and Parks Canada designated the Oratory a National Historic Site of Canada in March of that year.
A statue of Saint Joseph at the Oratory was crowned by decree of Pius X on 19 March 1910 and crowned again on 9 August 1955 by decree of Pius XII. Brother André was declared venerable in 1978 and beatified by John Paul II in 1982. Benedict XVI canonised him at Rome on 17 October 2010.
John Paul II came to Montreal on 10 and 11 September 1984, the first pope to set foot in Canada. He visited the cathedral, celebrated Mass at Jarry Park before a crowd reported at around three hundred and fifty thousand, said a Mass for children at Notre-Dame Basilica, and went up to the Oratory on 11 September.
☩ Pilgrimage Sites in Montreal
Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal
Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal
The shrine climbs the northwest slope of Mount Royal in stages: an avenue, a monumental stone stairway, a terrace, and above it the basilica under its green copper dome. The outer dome is 39 metres across and the basilica stands 97 metres to its exterior height, 60 metres inside. Beneath the basilica are the crypt church of 1917, the votive chapel designed by Lucien Parent with room for ten thousand lamps and its bas-reliefs of the eight titles of Saint Joseph, and the black granite tomb of Saint Brother André in a small semicircular room beside it, under a fresco by Henri Charlier. The original wooden chapel of 1904 is preserved on the grounds. An exhibition on the founder's life presents his heart as a relic. Pilgrims climb the central wooden stairway on their knees as a private devotion.
Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal
Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal
Twin asymmetrical stone spires over Place d'Armes, and behind the doors a vaulted interior of carved and polychromed wood, gilding and deep blue, lit by windows that carry the history of the colony rather than the usual scriptural cycle. The Sacred Heart chapel behind the sanctuary was rebuilt after a fire in 1978. James O'Donnell, who designed it and died shortly after its completion, is buried in the crypt. The basilica reports over a million visitors a year.
Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours
A small stone chapel on the Old Port waterfront, known as the Sailors' Church. Model ships hang from the ceiling, left by mariners in thanksgiving, and a statue of the Virgin stands on the roof facing the river with her arms open toward the water. The archaeological site under the chapel holds the foundations of Marguerite Bourgeoys's first stone chapel and traces of earlier occupation, and the adjoining museum tells her story.
Mary Queen of the World Cathedral
Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde
The seat of the Archdiocese of Montreal, built downtown as a reduced version of Saint Peter's in Rome and finished in the 1890s, its green dome and columned front now enclosed by office towers on René-Lévesque. Statues of the patron saints of the parishes that paid for it stand along the roofline in place of Saint Peter's apostles.
Saint Patrick's Basilica
Basilique Saint-Patrick de Montréal
Built between 1843 and 1847 for the Irish who came to Montreal in the famine years, and the mother church of the city's English-speaking Catholics. The nave is a run of slender columns and ribbed vaulting in the French medieval manner, with a rose window over the stone front. John Paul II raised it to a minor basilica by the decree Quæ Per Orbem in December 1988, proclaimed at the church on Saint Patrick's Day the following year.
🕯️ Annual Feast Days & Celebrations
Solemnity of Saint Joseph — 19 March
The Oratory's principal day. A novena of ten days runs up to it, with a daily preacher on a set theme, English preaching in the crypt church and French in the basilica. Solemn Masses are celebrated in both churches on the feast itself.
Feast of Saint André Bessette — 7 January
Brother André died on 6 January 1937, which is his memorial in the general calendar. In Canada and in the Congregation of Holy Cross the feast is kept on 7 January. The Oratory marks it with Masses through the day and a bilingual evening Mass.
Month of Saint Brother André — August
The Oratory keeps August as the month of its founder, centred on 9 August, his birthday, with a triduum of celebration.
Memorial of Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys — 12 January
Kept at the Sailors' Church she founded, where her story is told in the museum beside it.
Christmas
The crypt church is given a nativity scene each Advent, alongside a display of crèches gathered from around the world.
🛏️ Where to Stay
Pavillon Jean XXIII (pilgrim accommodation) (on the shrine grounds) — The Oratory's own seventeen-room guesthouse, set in the wooded grounds on Mount Royal with a chapel of its own. It suits a pilgrim who would rather wake on the shrine's grounds and walk to morning prayer than travel in, and it takes groups. Website
Hôtel Terrasse Royale ⭐⭐⭐ (0.4 km) — A mid-range hotel on Côte-des-Neiges Road, a short walk downhill from the Oratory, in a busy neighbourhood of cafés around the Université de Montréal. The practical choice when the shrine's own pavilion is full. Website
Auberge du Vieux-Port (boutique hotel) (5.3 km) — A nineteenth-century riverfront warehouse in Vieux-Montréal turned hotel, with exposed brick and stone and a roof terrace over the St Lawrence. It suits a pilgrim basing themselves in the old town near Notre-Dame and the Sailors' Church. Website
Épik Hotel Montréal (boutique hotel) (5.0 km) — A ten-room hotel in a 1723 building on rue Saint-Paul, the main street of Old Montreal, a few minutes from Notre-Dame Basilica. Quieter and more intimate than the larger riverside houses. Website
🚗 Getting There
By Air: Montréal–Trudeau International (YUL) is about 10 km from the Oratory.
By Train: VIA Rail services from Toronto, Ottawa and Quebec City arrive at Gare Centrale downtown, about 4 km from the Oratory.
By Car: The Oratory is on Chemin Queen Mary on the northwest side of Mount Royal, with parking on the grounds.
Local Transport: Côte-des-Neiges station on the Blue Line is the nearest metro stop, about nine minutes' walk from the shrine entrance. Notre-Dame Basilica and the Sailors' Church are both in Old Montreal, a short walk apart.
📚 Further Reading
Bernard LaFrenière, C.S.C. Brother André According to Witnesses — The testimony gathered for the cause of canonisation, collected by a Holy Cross priest who served as the Oratory's historian.
Jean-Guy Dubuc and Mario Lachapelle. Brother André: Friend of the Suffering, Apostle of Saint Joseph — A life of the porter of Collège Notre-Dame and the shrine that grew from his chapel.
🎥 Recommended Videos
Remembering Brother André | Catholic Focus — A profile of the founder and the shrine, from the Canadian Catholic broadcaster Salt + Light.
The Humble Saint Who Founded the Largest Shrine to St. Joseph — EWTN News In Depth on Brother André and the Oratory.
🔗 Useful Links
Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal — The shrine's own site, with the pilgrimage calendar and the novena.
Archdiocese of Montreal — The archdiocese, its cathedral and its parishes.
Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal — The basilica's own site.
Marguerite-Bourgeoys Museum and Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel — The chapel, the museum and the archaeological site beneath it.
Saint Patrick's Basilica — The parish site of the mother church of Montreal's English-speaking Catholics.
🧭 Nearby Pilgrimage Destinations
Kahnawake (10 km) — The Saint Francis Xavier Mission on the Mohawk territory across the St Lawrence, holding the tomb of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha.
Cap-de-la-Madeleine (130 km) — Our Lady of the Cape, the national Marian shrine of Canada, on the north shore of the St Lawrence.
Ottawa (162 km) — Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica in the federal capital.
Québec City (237 km) — The oldest Catholic see in North America north of Mexico, and its cathedral-basilica.
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré (268 km) — The shrine of Saint Anne on the St Lawrence below Quebec City.
🪶 Closing Reflection
"Do not seek to have your trials removed, ask rather for the grace to bear them well."
— Saint André Bessette, quoted by Pope Benedict XVI, Canonisation Homily, 17 October 2010
