Ride to Church in Montreal

Last month, my husband and I visited our son, who’s a PhD student at the University of Montreal.  We’ve visited him twice now, and both times we’ve stayed the Pavilion Jean XXIII, a small hostel,  on the grounds of the St. Joseph Oratory. It’s a five minute walk from our son’s apartment, so convenient, as well as beautifully located, and inexpensive. From the hostel, we can walk easily to the Oratory, just a few hundred feet away.

We wanted to go during the winter so that we’d get a little taste of true Canadian weather, and Montreal didn’t disappoint.  We were there during a blustery week with snow, wind, and freezing rain. It actually felt pretty good to us folks from Endless Summer territory. The grounds of the Oratory were beautiful — huge deciduous trees covered in snow that was up to my knees in most places. Children from the school had built forts and snowmen.  

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The Oratory is located on a lower part of Mont Royale. It was founded by a man named Brother Andre’ who was a priest at the College of Notre Dame, which is across the street from the Oratory.  The story is that it was his dream to build a great church there, and dedicated his life to make sure that it was built. He was canonized in 2010. Construction on the Basilica started in 1924 and was not finished until 1967. The outside of the Oratory looks fairly traditional with its Italianate style, but the inside of the Basilica is a surprise. The style of the decoration is much more modern, and because the Oratory is dedicated to St. Joseph, the carpenter, the interior is simple, with wood sculptures and tile mosaics behind the altar. The space is warm and welcoming, especially with the late afternoon sun coming through the stained glass windows. When we visited, the Oratory museum had an exhibit of nativity scenes from many countries and I’ve included a few of those here too.  

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(If you keep your cursor near the bottom of the photos as you look at them, you can see the captions.)