Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal |
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Basic information | |
Location | 3800, chemin Queen Mary Montreal, Quebec H3V 1H6 |
Geographic coordinates | 45°29′30″N 73°37′00″W / 45.491667°N 73.616667°WCoordinates: 45°29′30″N 73°37′00″W / 45.491667°N 73.616667°W |
Affiliation | Roman Catholic |
District | Archdiocese of Montreal |
Country | Canada |
Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Minor basilica |
Leadership | Father Claude Grou |
Website | http://www.saint-joseph.org/ |
Architectural description | |
Architect(s) | Dalbé Viau, Alphonse Venne, Lucien Parent, Emilien Bujold and Dom Paul Bellot |
Architectural type | Oratory, domed basilica |
Architectural style | Italian renaissance |
Completed | 1967 |
Construction cost | $2.3 Million (CAD) |
Specifications | |
Direction of façade | NNW |
Capacity | 10,000 / 2,400 sitting |
Length | 105 metres (344 ft) |
Width | 65 metres (213 ft) |
Width (nave) | 37 metres (121 ft) |
Height (max) | 129 metres (423 ft) |
Dome(s) | one (1) |
Dome height (outer) | 97 metres (318 ft) (from nave floor) |
Dome height (inner) | 60 metres (200 ft) (from nave floor) |
Dome dia. (outer) | 39 metres (128 ft) |
Dome dia. (inner) | 26 metres (85 ft) |
Materials | Canadian granite, copper |
Official name: Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal National Historic Site of Canada | |
Designated | 2004 |
Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal (French: Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal) is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and national shrine on Westmount Summit in Montreal, Quebec. It is Canada's largest church and the twenty-seventh largest church building in the world.
The basilica enshrines a statue of Saint Joseph, which was authorised a Canonical coronation by Pope Pius XII on 31 July 1955, now located within its crypt department. The shrine is also famous due to its association with Brother Andre Bessette who was believed to possess healing powers through his Josephian devotion with its notable oil oinment given freely to its believers.
In 1904, Saint André Bessette, C.S.C., began the construction of St. Joseph, a small chapel on the slopes of Mont Royal near Notre Dame College. Soon the growing number of the congregation made it too small. In 1917 a larger church was completed that had a seating capacity of 1,000. In 1924, the construction of the basilica of Saint Joseph's Oratory was commenced; it was finally completed in 1967.
Father Paul Bellot, an architect, completed the dome of Saint Joseph's Oratory between 1937-39. The dome is the third-largest of its kind in the world after the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro in Côte d'Ivoire and Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.