Each year about 2 million people visit the St. Joseph Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. St. Andre Bessette, a lay brother of the Congregation of Holy Cross, was devoted to St. Joseph and his dream was to build a chapel dedicated to the beloved saint. The first chapel built where the Oratory now sits was 15 feet by 18 feet. It has now been enlarged four times. Many pilgrims climb up the 100 stairs to reach the church on their knees in a gesture of prayer. The Oratory was founded in 1904 and is the largest shrine in the world dedicated to St. Joseph.
St. Joseph Shrine — Detroit
The St. Joseph Shrine in Detroit was completed in 1873 and is a landmark center of the Catholic faith in Detroit’s historic Eastern Market district. The Victorian Gothic shrine was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 due to its beautiful stained-glass windows in the sanctuary and its intricate architecture. What was once a key parish in the area, in March 2020 the parish was granted the designation of archdiocesan shrine. The shrine, which offers daily Traditional Latin Masses, is home to an active and growing community.
National Shrine of St. Joseph — De Pere, Wisconsin
The National Shrine of St. Joseph in De Pere, Wisconsin, was initiated by Father Joseph Durin, MCS, pastor of the former parish, in 1888. On Sept. 25, 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued the Bull of Canonical Coronation for the solemn crowning of the shrine’s statue of St. Joseph. This statue remains one of only 17 crowned Josephian statues in the world by papal decree and the only one in the U.S. In 1892, the term “National Shrine of St. Joseph” began to be used and it has been defined that way ever since. In 1898, the shrine was entrusted to the local missionary Norbertines. Today, it is visited by thousands of pilgrims each year seeking the intercession of St. Joseph.
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