Shrines of the Saint Lawrence

Part Four: Back in Montreal

July 29th

In the morning, we went out to explore some more of the varied sites of Montreal. We walked to the cathedral for morning Mass stopping on the way to admire interesting architecture. The chapel of the cathedral was all made of wood. It is fairly modern as there was a fire in the cathedral that destroyed the old chapel. After Mass, we wandered around the main body of the cathedral. It is very dramatic.

In the afternoon, we walked to the Oratory of Saint Joseph on the top of Mount Royal. Montreal is a very steep town with the Oratory at the highest point of the town. There is a steep flight of steps up to the Oratory itself. When you reach the top, you can look down on Montreal and see airplanes coming into the Montreal airport. The Oratory is the highest building in Montreal as well as being the biggest church in Canada and it has one of the biggest church domes in the world! You are so high up that the planes are below you! The lower level of the shrine is amazing. There is an enormous room filled with massive candle displays. It is very warm and there is a buzzing crackling noise behind all the other sounds. Some of the candle displays are arranged into the words of invocations and prayers to St. Joseph. Along one of the walls, there are hundreds of canes and crutches left by people who have been healed at the shrine. Behind the big St. Joseph candle display, there is a low door. When you go through it, you are with Brother Andre. His tomb is a large black block of stone. I knelt by his tomb for a while. You can feel his presence in this little room very strongly. Unfortunately, we did not have time to tour the grounds or visit the museum.

We walked to the Spiritan’s monastery where the wonderful Spiritan Fathers had offered us rooms for the night. We went to bed after a massive celebratory feast and went to sleep with the happy knowledge that tomorrow we would leave Montreal and start our long journey to where the shrine of Saint Anne waited for us, where the Saint Lawrence begins to grow salty as it nears the ocean.