Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal

Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal sits at 3800 Chemin Queen-Mary on the western slope of Mount Royal in Côte-des-Neiges, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It began in 1904 as a small wooden chapel built by Brother André Bessette, a Holy Cross brother and doorkeeper at the nearby Collège Notre-Dame, who was widely reported to have healed the sick through prayer to Saint Joseph. Pilgrim numbers soon outgrew the chapel, and construction of the monumental basilica started in 1924. The crypt church opened in 1917, the main basilica was largely finished by 1967 and its great dome, one of the largest in the world, was completed under the designs of architects including Dalbé Viau, Alphonse Venne and Lucien Parent, with the dome by Gérard Notebaert. The style is a combination of Renaissance and Beaux-Arts revival, in grey granite, with a 283-step outdoor stairway climbed by pilgrims, some on their knees. Inside, the minimalist modern interior contrasts with the exterior, and the Casavant organ and a carillon of 56 bells are notable. The Votive Chapel is lined with canes and crutches left by those who believed they were healed. Brother André died in 1937, was beatified in 1982 and canonised in 2010, and his tomb and the original small chapel can be visited, along with a museum of his life and a set of Way of the Cross gardens. Saint Joseph's Oratory is considered the largest church in Canada, and receives around two million visitors a year. The oratory is maintained by the Congregation of Holy Cross, with ongoing conservation of the dome and stonework, and it remains a working place of worship with daily services.