St. Joseph's Oratory Accomodation

We had a family re-union in Montreal on the long weekend in August and booked the oratory accomodation for three families. The person managing the accomodation was terrible. He had to remove our shoes while going up the stairs to our room, the children were not allowed to speak in the hallway. One the children fell ill and as breakfast is included, we tried to take some food for the child to have with medication but the manager did not allow us to take food down. The food was only available if the child came to the dining room and we wanted to avoid that as there were many people from outside travelling and living there and did not want to tranfer any illness to the rest of the people in the dining room.

Either the manager did not like children or he did not like Asians. He was very friendly with the visiting nuns and allowed them to take food to their rooms. We were not allowed to speak in the hallway and were constantly sushed and made to feel very unwelcome. Our childen were not noisy and we had advised the children about the 10:00 pm quiet time set by the oratory's accomodation guidelines.

Our family reunion was spoilt by this manager though the other staff were very accomodating and apologized for his behaviour. On the day that we were supposed to leave, we requested the front staff for lunch room facility so that the children can eat the leftover pizza before our journey back to Toronto and the manager was angry at the staff and waited just outside the lunch room to intimate us that he wants us to leave the room.

We booked the oratory accomodation as we had lived there before when it was managed by nuns and had a pleasant experience. We recommended the oratory accomodation to our family members and with change in management, it was a terrible experience and would like to warn anyone with children to avoid the place. As a catholic place of worship, we found it hard to believe that people at such holy sites could be so discriminatory to their guests.

This is a great place to visit especially if you consider yourself a religious person.

The oratory is not only interesting because of the museum of Brother André (be sure to pick a leaflet that tells his story) but also because of the outstanding view of the city of Montreal. You don´t have to pay to see the museum or to enter the oratory but a donation is welcome.

Another thing that impressed me was the room full of candles. A pity that TA only allows small pictures to be published!

Have a nice time at the oratory!
Best regards :-)
Oscar

We stopped by this church on our way out of town and I am so glad that we did. It would have been a shame to leave Montreal without seeing this inspiring sight. This basillica is second only to Saint Peter's Basillica in Rome in size. It is an impressive church inside and out surrounded by peaceful gardens. Perched on top of a hill, you will have a nice view of the city. I recommend walking through the "Ways of the Cross" gardens which are inspirational. Also the Chapel is interesting, as the walls are lined with crutches from pilgrims who claim to have been cured by Brother Andre's prayers.

My family visited St. Joseph's Oratory during a Montreal trip in June 2007. Since we took the subway, we came to the oratory at street level, and to get to the church, had to walk up a large number of steps. The size of the Oratory is impressive looking up at it from the street.

We were looking for a tour book in English, but at the entrance we came through, they were all in French. We finally found an English version half way through our tour which provided us with additional background information and a route to take to view the entire Oratory.

My wife especially loved the outdoor gardens and the Stations of the Cross. It was very peaceful with just the birds singing. The crypt church is large (seats 1,000) and the stained glass windows depict the life of St. Joseph. Behind the crypt church is the votive chapel where a number of crutches from those who had been healed upon visiting Br. Andre are maintained. The basilica within the oratory is even larger with a huge domed ceiling.

A museum within the oratory maintains a large number of nativity scenes from throughout the world. Also, from the top of the Oratory, you get a great view of Montreal.

We spent most of one morning visiting the Oratory and could have spent more time, but our younger children were beginning to get tired. It was well worth the visit!