Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal: Montreal Travel Guide

A dome above Queen Mary Road

The dome comes into view long before the doors do. A green copper cap sits high on the shoulder of Mount Royal, and on a clear day you can pick it out from much of western Montreal. It is Canada’s largest church, and the approach makes the most of that scale.

From Chemin Queen Mary, terraces of stairs lead up the hillside to the basilica’s front. Down the middle runs a separate wooden staircase. Pilgrims still climb it on their knees, one step at a time, while everyone else uses the stone flights on either side.

Brother André’s heart and the wall of crutches

This is where the whole place started. Brother André Bessette was a doorkeeper at a nearby college with a devotion to Saint Joseph. Through him, people began arriving in search of healing. In 1904 a small wooden chapel went up on the slope for them. It still stands just behind the basilica, and you can step inside.

When he died in 1937, huge crowds filed past his coffin over several days. The Church canonised him in 2010. Today his tomb lies near the Votive Chapel, a low room full of candles. Its walls are hung with crutches and canes left by people who credited him with their recovery.

Upstairs, his heart is kept in a reliquary. It was stolen in 1973 and recovered the following year, a story locals still bring up. Whatever you believe, this part of the Oratory holds what is still a working pilgrimage shrine.

Under the basilica’s dome

The basilica took decades to build. Work began in the 1920s and wasn’t finished until 1967, and the interior is spare by the standards of older European churches. You get pale stone, wide sightlines and a great deal of height, with modern stained glass instead of gilded clutter.

Two things to listen for:

• The great organ, built by Rudolf von Beckerath. It gets regular use at services and the organ concerts the Oratory hosts.
• The carillon, a set of bells you’ll hear outside at set times.

Below the basilica sits the Crypt Church, a lower, warmer room used for many daily services. The Oratory also runs a museum of religious art. Check the official site for current exhibitions and entry details before you plan around it.

The Way of the Cross on the mountainside

Most visitors skip the gardens, and they shouldn’t. Behind and above the basilica, a path climbs through trees past life-size sculpted Stations of the Cross. The groups of white stone and mosaic figures stand among lawns and flowerbeds.

The path is steep in places, and the view opens out toward the north of the city as you climb. In summer it’s the coolest, quietest corner of the site. In winter, check whether the path is open before heading up. Allow 30–45 minutes to walk it without hurrying.

Getting to Côte-des-Neiges

The Oratory’s address is 3800 Chemin Queen Mary. The easiest way there is the metro: take the Blue Line (Line 5) to Côte-des-Neiges station and walk west along Queen Mary Road. It takes around ten minutes, mostly on the flat, until the stairs begin.

There’s parking on site for drivers. For anyone who’d rather avoid the stairs, the buildings have lifts linking the levels inside. If you’d like to spend the whole day outdoors, the Oratory pairs easily with Mount Royal Park and Beaver Lake on the other side of the mountain. The Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery is right next door.

Beating the weekend crush

At the moment the Oratory opens from 6:30am to 9pm every day. Treat that as this week’s schedule, not a fixed rule: times can shift through the year and around religious holidays. The official site lists the current hours and Mass times.

It’s usually calmest between 7am and 10am on weekdays and between 7am and 9am on weekends. Try not to arrive between 10am and 8pm on a Saturday or Sunday. That’s when tour coaches, families and Mass-goers all pile onto the same stairs. Early morning also tends to have the softest light on the façade and the city below.

Moving through a working shrine

The Oratory is very popular, but it’s a shrine first and a sight second. These habits will help you fit in:

• Speak quietly in the Votive Chapel and the Crypt Church. People there are often praying for someone ill.
• Leave the central wooden stairs to pilgrims. Climb the side flights, and don’t take photos of people on their knees.
• Check the Mass schedule before you walk into the basilica or crypt. During a service, sightseeing should wait, so sit quietly or come back later.
• Light a candle if you’d like to. Many visitors do, whatever their faith. Offering boxes sit beside the racks.
• Brush up on basic French greetings. Staff switch to English easily, but a “bonjour” at the welcome desk goes down well in Montreal.

Dress modestly enough for a church: cover your shoulders for services, and men take off their hats inside. Bring a layer even in summer, because the stone interior stays cool.