St Joseph's Oratory

 

 Friday we took a little 2 hour trip with the Allens and the Conways to visit St Joseph's Oratory.  The Allen's are in a room that is filled with hundreds of votive candles.  Those of the Catholic faith light the candles and pray.

 This gigantic cathedral is very beautiful both inside and out.  It was founded by Brother Andre, who was a very loving and giving priest who dedicated his life to helping others.

 There are two gigantic chapels.  This is the inside of the one on the bottom.  The one on the top, in the dome is very modern.

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In the hall of votives there are many sections such as this one.  There is a little stairway on each side where one can go to to top and light a candle that is up high.

Lining the walls in little alcoves are hundreds of canes.  These canes are canes that have been left behind by people who came in using them and after the prayers of Father Andre and other faithful ones, the people left healed.

                                                          Another section of votives.

                                            This is the inside of the oratory on the first level.

                                     Many beautiful stained glass windows line each side wall.

                                      The statue in the front is of Joseph holding baby Jesus.

                                                This is one of the organs.  It is huge.

Many people used to make a pilgrimage crawling to the church from many miles away and then crawling all the way to the alter.  I saw this woman who was on her knees crawling from the back of the church to the front.  She would stop every few feet and pray.

     On the 5th level is a museum.  This is an actual robe, hat and shoes that Frere Andre wore.

                                                         A model of the cathedral.

A wax figure of Frere Andre.  According to this and the size of his clothes, he appears to be a very small man.

This is the bed and furnishings taken from the hospital which he established and in which he died.

We looked through this gated wall into a little box filled with (formaldehyde?) or some other preservative that holds the heart of Frere Andre.

                                     The following are photos from the upper level chapel.

There are many wooden carvings and paintings everywhere.  

There are 7 levels in all, but we were only able to tour the first 5.  The others were closed off.

                                                       The view from the top.

The path to the left leads to gardens and the stations of the cross which depict Christ's journey to Gethsemane.

                     The Allens and the Conways with Papa at the entrance to the gardens.

Outside by the gift shop is this bell tower. As we were leaving some beautiful music was coming from those bells.