Our family’s first official pilgrimage to St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, Canada certainly did not disappoint. Even the photo here does not fully capture the grandeur and magnitude of the Basilica Shrine dedicated to the foster father of our Lord – which is the largest shrine to St. Joseph in the world.

As a couple we had recently completed a 33 day process of consecrating ourselves, our marriage, and our family to St. Joseph. And during that process we learned of the existence of the Oratory and knew it would be the perfect place to bring our entire family, as a pilgrimage, to more officially dedicate ourselves to the care and protection of St. Joseph – and it couldn’t have been a more perfect place to do so.

Our journey began by flying from South Florida to New Jersey. After spending the first half of the week visiting extended family in the area, we loaded up our rental car and drove 7 hours north to Montreal, Canada. We arrived in the evening and were pleasantly surprised to find that the Oratory was open late – everyday until 9pm.

The Oratory sits atop a hill, Mont-Royale, and we were so excited to see the dome with its illuminated cross from a good distance away as we came down the highway and through the city of Montreal. We arrived around 8pm and the Oratory was, to our surprise, packed – daily evening mass was taking place and a good amount of people were milling around – as it’s a popular place to catch a good sunset and views of the city.

We quickly climbed the 99 steps to reach the lowest entry point – the crypt. And continued to make our way up to the top… Well, almost – the Basilica church in the sixth level had already been closed off. However, we were able to get a good feel for the layout of the building and also got some great views of Montréal all lit up at night.

9pm came very quickly, and we made our way back down, down, down – this time taking the winding exterior perimeter stairs back to our car at the bottom of the hill.