Montreal is really a huge city (l,620,693 population) with quite a few skyscrapers and sits along the St. Lawrence River. The mountain in the middle of the island was called Mont Royal. In Italian it became Monte Re'al or the origin of Montreal. As in everyother city we've visited on our trip, there are tons of flowers. We drove around and saw a lot of beautiful homes or mansions in some cases. Couldn't believe how big they were.
We visited several churches, basilicas and/or cathedrals. The first one being the chapel built by Brother Andre' who later lived on the second floor in very modest surroundings. Everything is still the way he left it. He prayed to Saint Joseph to help with poverty, exile and manual labor. He became the center of attention because of the extraordinary cures attributed to him. There are canes hanging to signify they were no longer needed as well as plaques thanking him for the cure. To thank St. Joseph he started building a chapel in his honor; however, because of the large attendance it needed to be bigger. Eventually becoming a Basilica. Brother Andre' died in l937 at the age of 9l and was beatified by Pope Jean-Paul in l982. In 2010, he was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI.
This is Saint Joseph's Oratory. It is one of the most important sanctuary's in the world dedicated to Saint Joseph. The Oratory has become a sacred place. It is one of the world's largest basilicas and one of the city's most important religious shrines which was completed in l967. The middle picture is the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. Its monumental grille, green Vermont marble columns and hemicycle ceiling covered in gold leaf make it the most richly decorated part of the Basilica. Bottom right is the Grand Organ which is 60' high and 44' wide. There are 58ll pipes.
You can see more canes hanging throughout the Basilica. Bottom left is part of the Votive Chapel - 3500 vigil lights (10,000 lights in the chapel). The statue above the lights is of Saint Joseph. Bottom middle is the Crypt Church in the lower level of the Basilica. The statue above is again of St. Joseph - 9 feet tall weighing 5000 lbs. Bottom right is the heart of Brother Andre'.
Moving on to Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel and Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum. Absolutely breathtaking. The remains of Marguerite, founder of the first uncloistered congregation of women in the New World, are under the left side alter. Middle right is one of many stained glass windows in the ceiling as well as around the walls. Celine Dion was married in this Basilica in l994 and Pope John Paul celebrated a mass for the children in l984.
This is another chapel in the lower level for smaller events, such as weddings. We had to just sit for a minute to take it all in. The bronze piece behind the alter was shipped from England in 6 pieces. If you would like to see better pictures, I suggest you look it up on the internet - simply unbelieveable.
While walking around the city, we saw the unique clock above, the statue of the three ladies (as if they were just sitting on the park bench chatting away), stained glass window in City Hall, the first Mayor's mansion as well as the restaurant that we later had dinner at. I think we must have walked about 5 miles going up and down so many of the streets. The day just kept getting better.
There were several docks along the river near the downtown area. Closed off streets to cars so we could just walk right down the middle of the cobblestone streets. A lot of restaurants and cafe's open to the street and plants and more plants. Bottom right were plants in the courtyard of the inside wall of the restaurant we ate at. We really hated to call it a night as it was so beautiful out, various musicians playing and the city lights were turning on but it was getting late and we have another long day to travel tomorrow.
Picture of the Day !!
City Hall lite up at night.
Again, we want to thank Lise and Bernard for the fantastic tour of their
beautiful city. Very gracious of them to take a day off to
spend with us.
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