St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal
is the most popular centre of pilgrimage in Canada.
At the Oratory there are three distinct locations
of ritual activity, the votive chapel,
the crypt church and the basilica, that are expressive
of three different types of religion which can be
interpreted
along a continuum from folk
to popular to elite Catholicism, respectively. A systematic
examination of the ritual space and processes of these
sites, as well as citations
from the publications of the Oratory, make it clear
that there is a tension between the elite and folk
ritual
expressions—a tension which
I suggest is mediated, at least in part, by the locus
of popular ritual activity, the crypt church.
[1] St. Joseph's Oratory, situated
on the north side of the west mountain in the heart of
Montreal, is an architectural landmark that is visible
from outside the city.
This pilgrimage centre attracts approximately two million
visitors a year at a time when attendance at parish
churches in Quebec is in marked
decline. From a casual visit, the Oratory may seem to
be home to a set of compatible, even if somewhat diverse,
liturgical and devotional
activities. However my thesis is that: (1) a systematic
analysis of the three main locations of ritual activity
reveals that the décor
and ritual activity in two of the principal locations
stand in opposition to each other; (2) this opposition
is not merely implicit, but explicitly
referred to in the Oratory publications; and (3) that
the third location of ritual activity mediates between
the two that are in opposition to
one another.
[2] The primary sources of
data for this study consist of literature published by St. Joseph’s
Oratory, such as the monthly magazine, the guide book, prayer books,
hagiographies of Brother André; DVDs (sold in the Oratory shop) on
the Oratory itself and on the life of Brother André; notes made on
observations from over one hundred visits to the Oratory with students,
colleagues and alone over the space of five decades; and unobtrusive
measures (Webb, Campbell, Schwartz and Sechrest 1966), such as counting
the number of statues of various saints in the shop and the number of
vigil lamps lit over a given period of time in the votive hall. I have
also made use of data from secondary sources such as the examination
made by Jean-Marc Charron (1996) of a sample of 100 prayer request forms.
[3] The method of analysis
used in this study is one of organizing parallel features of the three
principal locations of ritual activity into a number of dimensions in
order to facilitate a comparison of the ritual space and process in
the three locations (see Figure 1). This analysis is supported by quotations
from visitors to the Oratory and from the priests who manage the pilgrimage
centre, and by data from secondary sources.
[4] My thesis, that the decoration,
activities and texts associated with the principal ritual locations
of the Oratory express competing discourses, is consistent with the
theoretical perspectives taken in more recent studies of pilgrimage
centres. The theoretical perspectives used by researchers of pilgrimage
and pilgrimage centres have evolved over the second half of the 20th
century. Eade and Sallnow (1991) identify three general approaches.
One of these is a functionalist (or correspondence) approach in which
a correspondence is shown between some aspect of the pilgrimage and
the structure of the society in which the pilgrimage site is located.
An example is a study undertaken by Wolf (1958) on the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Wolf argues that the “miraculous” image of the Virgin of Guadalupe
expresses the view that the Mexican mestizos will attain salvation (meaning
that they are as human as their Spanish overlords), and that the image
further expresses the messianic hope that one day the Spanish will be
driven out of Mexico. Another example is that of Bhardwaj (1973) who
placed Hindu pilgrimage centres on a spectrum of local, subregional,
regional, supraregional and pan-Hindu and found that the more local
a pilgrimage centre was, the fewer the number of Brahmins and the greater
the number of unscheduled caste members it attracted. Researchers utilizing
this approach see pilgrimage as an expression of (or in some cases,
even legitimizing) the social order.
[5] In reaction to the correspondence
perspective, Victor and Edith Turner (1978) articulated a model that
describes pilgrimage as an experience of communitas and antistructure—pilgrims
are outside their usual space-time experience in which they would normally
have to meet responsibilities within a hierarchical social order, and
instead find themselves in a community of equals and in an atmosphere
in which the symbols of the religion exposed at the pilgrimage centre
take on a heightened significance. The Turnerian paradigm became the
prevailing one, although increasingly investigators found it was not
applicable to the pilgrimages they were researching. According to Eade
and Sallnow, both the correspondence and Turnerian approaches treat
pilgrimages as a homogeneous process, whereas pilgrimage shrines are
actually characterized by a variety of discourses. Eade and Sallnow
therefore maintain that a study is more fruitful if it takes these diverse
(and often competing) discourses into account:
The power of a
shrine … derives in large part from its character almost as a religious
void, a ritual space capable of accommodating diverse meanings and practices—
though of course the shrine staff might attempt, with varying degrees
of success, to impose a single, official discourse. This, in the final
analysis, is what confers upon a major shrine its essential, universalistic
character: its capacity to absorb and reflect a multiplicity of religious
discourses, to be able to offer a variety of clients what each of them
desires. Universalism is ultimately constituted not by a unification
of discourses but rather by the capacity of a cult to entertain and
respond to a plurality (Eade and Sallnow 1991, 15).
In fact, according to Eade
and Sallnow, not only are there different, and competing, discourses,
they are often in conflict with each other.
[6] While accepting the basic
position of Eade and Sallnow that pilgrimage sites express a multiplicity
of discourses, Coleman and Elsner (1994, 1995 and Coleman 2002) reject
the notion that a pilgrimage shrine is no more than a “religious void”
to which pilgrims bring their competing discourses. Instead they argue
that the pilgrimage landscape (understood broadly to include architecture,
images, texts and rituals) plays a role in actively orchestrating the
experience of pilgrims. They further maintain that such sites serve
to absorb some of the differences between competing discourses. Maniura
(2004) feels that the description of Coleman and Elsner makes pilgrims
seem too passive, when in fact pilgrims can and do play an active role
in crafting their own experience and their own identity as pilgrims.
And, in addition, pilgrims even exert some influence over the pilgrimage
landscape itself.
[7] Certainly St. Joseph’s
Oratory reflects to some degree the Quebec social order, but that is
not the primary focus of this study. It is also possible that groups
of pilgrims arriving on a bus together to visit the Oratory may experience
something of the communitas and antistructure described by the Turners,
but I have seen no evidence of this in, for example, the testimonials
of pilgrims. And pilgrims visiting the votive chapel do so as individuals
or in small groups. Even when visitors are with others, they pray by
themselves. And I have seen no evidence that there is much of an experience
of communitas in the liturgies conducted in either the crypt church
or the basilica.
[8] On the other hand, I have
noted that there are two competing discourses. One of these is that
of folk Catholicism. This is expressed primarily in the votive chapel
and the religious items shop. It includes the presence of ex-votos (such
as crutches, braces and canes), the boxes in which written prayer requests
can be deposited, the veneration of a relic of St. Joseph, the tomb
of Brother André, the sale of bottles of St. Joseph’s oil (used for
healing), and the sale of statues of Brother André and St. Joseph.
The other discourse, the theologically correct discourse, is that of
the clerical custodians of the Oratory (the priests of the Congregation
of the Holy Cross) and it is expressed verbally in fixed prayers made
available for visitors, in articles in the publications of the Oratory,
and in sermons. It is also expressed in the architecture and images
of the basilica.
[9] One might expect that there
would be an active effort on the part of the representatives of elite
Catholicism to educate a group of passive practitioners of folk Catholicism.
But Maniura’s insight applies in the case of the Oratory. The pilgrims
who visit the Oratory for temporal benefits play an active role in shaping
at least part of the pilgrimage landscape. It is because of their necessary
presence and financial support that the Oratory continues to exist.
It is because of them that there is a votive hall and that it contains
ex-votos and boxes into which written prayer requests can be placed.
It is because of them that the Oratory shop sells bottles of St. Joseph’s
oil and statues of St. Joseph and Brother André. Coleman and Elsner
note that pilgrimage shrines are not just empty spaces in which competing
discourses contend. Pilgrimage shrines can actually absorb or deflect
attention away from the potential conflict of discrepant discourses.
This is particularly noticeable in the crypt church, as I will explain
below.
[10] In my schematization of
three locations, and types, of ritual activity at the Oratory, I contrast
the ritual performances of elite Catholicism with those of
folk Catholicism. By folk Catholicism I mean what Meslin
(1972) describes as popular religion, a form of religion that
looks for immediate material benefits, such as healing, wealth, success
in love, by manipulating the supernatural through the use of such devices
as charms, amulets, holy medals, and relics. The term folk religion
is so used by a number of researchers (Bhardwaj 1973, Hufford 1985,
Kaelber 2002). By elite ritual activity I am referring to the
performance of a relatively long mass that is accompanied by complex
liturgical and classical music. Such a mass is conducted by a number
of ritual specialists in an architecturally impressive setting. The
sermon in such a mass tends to be theologically informed and completely
devoid of any suggestion that material needs can be met by recourse
to the means identified by Meslin. I use the term popular religion
to refer to the type of religious practice that is typical of most parish
churches. The relevance of these types of religion to an analysis of
the ritual locations of the Oratory will be shown below, but first a
brief description of the ritual locations and of the Oratory’s founder
will provide a useful background.
[11] The founder
of St. Joseph’s Oratory was a miracle-working lay brother of the Congregation
of the Holy Cross, born in 1845, at St. Grégoire d'Iberville, as Alfred
Bessette. On joining the Congregation of the Holy Cross Alfred
took the name of André. His work in the Congregation, which operated
a boy's school, consisted of various domestic chores and the duties
of a porter. Brother André was devoted to St. Joseph, and encouraged
the many lay persons with whom he was in contact to pray to the saint
for their material and spiritual needs. In addition he personally attended
to those who were ill by commiserating with them and then either rubbing
them with oil that had been placed in front of a statue of St. Joseph
or else touching them with a St. Joseph medal. His reputation
as a healer grew and in 1904 his admirers helped him build a small shrine
to St. Joseph on the north side of the west mountain, opposite the school
of the Holy Cross Brothers. Over the next several years extensions were
made to the original structure and then in 1914, plans were drawn up
for an imposing complex that would eventually include a basilica, a
somewhat smaller church, known as the crypt church, and a votive chapel
in which private prayers can be made to St. Joseph and to the deceased
founder of the Oratory, Brother André.1
The Crypt
Church
[12] Visitors to the Oratory
worship in three major locations. The first of these,
encountered immediately upon mounting the stairs,
is the crypt church, with a low
barrel-shaped ceiling that creates an atmosphere of warmth
and security. The architectural style is Renaissance
Revival, one of the styles used
for older Quebec churches, and hence connotes a feeling
of familiarity and comfort for traditional Catholics.
The crypt church, with
a seating capacity of 1000, was begun in 1915 and completed
in 1922. It contains a rich variety of visually accessible
images in the form
of sculpture and stained glass windows. One of the sculpted
images is a crucifix, in front of which at any time
of day can be observed
a line of pilgrims, waiting their turn to pray while
resting their hands on the feet of the crucified Christ.
The central image, behind
the altar, is that of St. Joseph holding the infant Jesus
in his arms. Among the stained glass windows are several
of events in the life of
Jesus at which, according to the gospels, his father
Joseph was present.
[13] Several times a day, masses
are performed by either one of the Holy Cross Fathers, who are responsible
for the maintenance of the Oratory, or else by a priest accompanying
a group of pilgrims. These masses are relatively short and simple—there
is usually only one priest, accompanied by, at most, one or two lay
assistants. The mass may be followed by prayers for the sick.
Between masses, there are usually several persons present in the church
praying in the pews, or in front of one of the images, or in front of
the tabernacle which contains consecrated bread.
The Votive
Chapel
[14] Immediately behind the
crypt church is the votive chapel, a dimly lit narrow room with a high
ceiling, built between 1946 and 1949. The architectural style
of the votive chapel is reminiscent of some Art Deco movie theatres
and restaurants of the 1930s. Located in the centre of the votive
chapel is a large statue of St. Joseph by himself (without the infant
Jesus), in front of which is an ascending bank of votive candles.
On the kneeler in front of the votive candles is a relic of St. Joseph,
which pilgrims can be seen kissing. In addition to this statue
there are eight tableaux in relief depicting St. Joseph in various activities
and in front of each of these are banks of votive candles (10,000 in
total), in front of which are kneelers. On each of the kneelers
is a prayer petitioning St. Joseph for a specific material or spiritual
blessing. On the walls are crutches, braces and canes donated
to the Oratory as votive offerings of thanks for healings received.
[15] The atmosphere in the
votive chapel is one that has a multi-sensory appeal. The overall
lighting is dim, making the flickering votive candles in their red and
green glass holders all the more noticeable. The relatively narrow
space is filled with pilgrims who light votive lamps and pray at one
or another altar. In front of the large elevated statue of St.
Joseph is a fountain, the sound of which mingles with the whispered
voices of the pilgrims. Behind the large statue of St. Joseph
is a small chamber with a low ceiling, containing the tomb of Brother
André, upon which most visitors place their hands while praying.
Worshippers choose their own pattern of devotion in the votive chapel;
there are no priests to conduct a pre-established liturgy. For example,
one worshipper may pray at one of the eight tableaux, e.g., that of
St. Joseph the Worker, for a specific intention, e.g., to find work,
then light a candle, and then leave. Another may say a prayer
in front of the appropriate altar for a healing and then pay a visit
to the tomb of Brother André before exiting the votive chapel.
And yet another may light a votive lamp in front of the statue of St.
Joseph after kneeling and kissing a relic of the saint, and then visit
any one of the eight altars to pray for a specific intention.
The Basilica
[16] Above the crypt church
and the votive chapel are the Oratory’s museums, and towering above
these is the basilica. The building, begun in 1922, was completed
in 1937, the year Brother André died, and the decorating of the interior
was finished in 1966. The basilica is the largest of the principal worship
locations at the Oratory—it has a relatively high ceiling and a seating
capacity of 2,200, or room for 10,000 people standing. The mood
is cool, detached and somewhat awe-inspiring, rather than warm or devotional.
The figurative art works (stained glass windows and sculpture) are dwarfed
by the plain concrete walls rising in angular lines to a height of 60
metres at the transept. The figures in the barely perceptible stained
glass windows tend to the abstract, as do the sculpted images of the
twelve apostles and of the Stations of the Cross. Rarely is anyone
seen praying in front of these images. The dominant image behind
the altar is a large crucifix in front of a screen with an abstract
design. The Oratory’s home page refers to the basilica as an
“architectural wonder,” comparable to St. Peter’s in Rome and
Sacré Coeur in Paris.
[17] Unlike the crypt church,
and especially the votive chapel, when the basilica is not in use for
Sunday morning mass and on special occasions, it is usually empty, except
for a few curious tourists. When it is used, the emphasis is not
on the favours obtainable through the intercession of St. Joseph, but
rather on a lengthy, elaborate performance of the official ritual of
the church, a mass with concelebrating priests (or perhaps one or more
bishops), several assistants and a boys’ choir (Les Petits Chanteurs
du Mont-Royal). Here is where special religious events that lend
status to the Oratory occur, such as the visit of Pope John Paul II
(in 1984) or Mother Teresa (in 1988). It is in this location that
high-status dignitaries of other faiths, such as the Dalai Lama (in
1993), are received. The basilica is also used for cultural performances
such as organ concerts. In other words, the basilica is where
sophisticated, culturally-informed and open-minded, progressive Catholics
are at home. Figure 1 indicates some of the significant differences
between the three major locations of ritual activity in a systematic
way.
Ritual
Space and Process at Three Locations in Saint Joseph's Oratory
|
|
Ritual location
|
Architecural style |
Primary sculpture |
Ritual space |
Ritual type |
Ritual time |
Ritual specialists |
Literature |
Elite
tradition |
Basilica—at the top of the whole pilgrimage complex. |
Dombellotism (named after
Dom Paul Bellot)—
a modern architectural style originating
in France among clerics and lay professionals |
The high god (Jesus) crucified. |
Expansive and overwhelming:
wide, long and high.
Use of natural light. Minimal
sensory input, mostly abstract visual. |
High mass. Elaborate ritual.
Directed participation—
movement restricted.
Practically no extraliturgical
devotions. |
Scheduled and infrequent.
Long mass (at least one hour).
Long sermon— i.e., emphasis on instruction. |
Bishops and many priests
con-
celebrating.
Altar servers.
Readers.
Large choir. |
Standard missalette. |
Popular
tradition |
Crypt church—
at the bottom and front. |
Renaissance revival style —i.e.,
a familiar and comfortable style for traditional Catholics. |
St. Joseph holding the
infant Jesus— i.e., a legendary saint plus the high god at
an
approachable age. |
Moderately wide and long,
but low ceiling.
Both natural and artificial light.
Rich visual input. |
Low mass. Ritual
trimmed down to bare essentials.
Directed
participation during mass. Some
extraliturgical devotions. |
Scheduled and frequent.
Short mass (half an hour).
Sermon is short. |
Usually a single priest
with one or two lay assistants. |
Prayer book
containing the order of the mass,
and, in addition, prayers to St. Joseph. |
Folk
tradition |
Votive chapel and tomb
chamber—
at bottom and behind. |
Modern style reminiscent
of some Art Deco movie theatres and restaurants. |
St. Joseph, without the
infant Jesus, and the tomb of Brother André
— i.e., a universal, legendary
saint plus a local saint. |
Confined: Votive Chapel
is narrow and tomb chamber is cramped.
Artificial light.
Rich multisensory input: sounds, flickering
red light, many textures, heat, smell, touch, etc. |
Extraliturgical devotions:
Private prayers (often for material
needs) to St. Joseph, at eight altars, and at tomb of Brother André.
Active participation
—free
movement. |
Unscheduled and continuous.
Short private prayers (a few minutes
long).
No sermon. |
No religious specialists
required. |
Prayers to St. Joseph at
each of the eight altars. Hagio-
graphical accounts of Brother André's
life & miracles (in the west lobby of the votive chapel). |
|
Contrast
between the Votive Chapel and the Basilica
[18] Location, architectural
style, lighting, art work, as well as other features distinguish the
basilica from the votive chapel. To begin with, the votive chapel is
located at the lowest level of the Oratory complex and behind the crypt
church and is the least spacious of the ritual locations under consideration,
whereas the basilica, the most spacious of the three locations, is at
the summit of the entire complex. From the street, the votive chapel
is invisible; the basilica dominates the skyline. The style of the votive
chapel interior is one that was popular at the time of its construction,
a style reminiscent of some Art Deco movie theatres and restaurants.
On the other hand, the exterior of the basilica is in a stately Renaissance
style with a modernist dome and interior designed by Dom Paul Bellot.
The interior of the votive chapel is dark; that of the basilica light.
Illumination in the basilica is provided by windows. No outside light
reaches the votive chapel. On the other hand, the votive chapel is lit
by hundreds of red and green vigil lamps. The dominant images in the
votive chapel are a large statue of St. Joseph (in front of which is
a fountain), and eight relief panels representing the needs that the
saint can meet through his prayers to God. In the basilica the principal
image is that of Christ on the cross. At the altar in front of the statue
of Joseph in the votive chapel is a relic of the saint which pilgrims
venerate. Behind the statue of St. Joseph is a small chamber containing
the tomb of Brother André where pilgrims pray, often while placing
their hands on top of the sarcophagus. Behind the main altar in the
basilica is a chapel where the consecrated bread (or host) is reserved—the
equivalent of a “relic” of Jesus. In the votive chapel the circulation
of pilgrims is up to the participants themselves. Most pray and light
a vigil lamp at one of the eight altars dedicated to St. Joseph, and
many pray and light a lamp in front of the large statue of St. Joseph,
and visit the tomb of Brother André. But there is no fixed order; each
pilgrim constructs his or her own sequence of pious activities. Except
for Sunday mass, the basilica is rarely visited, except by tourists.
At the Sunday mass in the basilica, the entire ritual process is orchestrated,
as it is at any parish mass. What is distinctive about the mass in the
basilica as opposed to masses in most parishes (and in the crypt church)
is its length, the music performed, and the many ritual specialists
involved. Whereas the votive chapel contains the body of a local holy
man along with images of a patron saint, the images in the basilica
are more representative of the universal church and its teachings. The
basilica, in addition to the image of Christ crucified, has the Stations
of the Cross and sculpted images of the twelve apostles. In sum, the
votive chapel is a shrine frequented by persons seeking immediate answers
to prayers for material needs. The ritual space and process of the basilica,
on the other hand, expresses the teaching of the universal church. This
teaching is one of delayed gratification, of accepting suffering, and
of making the effort to see a higher purpose in it. And part of the
teaching is that the church hierarchy plays a critical role, through
word and sacrament, in helping believers attain their goals. That there
are, in effect, competing discourses at the Oratory has not gone unrecognized
by the Holy Cross fathers who manage the pilgrimage site.
Ambivalence
of the Custodians of the Oratory
[19] The fundamental contrast
between the official liturgy of the church and the cult
of St. Joseph (and of Brother André) is a topic of concern for the clerical
custodians of the shrine. To say the least, many of
the priests of the Congregation of the Holy Cross,
as can be seen from articles in the Oratory’s monthly magazine, L’Oratoire,
and its English language equivalent, The Oratory, have ambivalent
feelings regarding the expressions of popular religion.
On the one hand, the shrine’s founder was renowned for his miracle-working,
and one of the primary attractions of the Oratory
is the votive chapel, with the tomb of Brother André and the eight altars
to St. Joseph between which are visual reminders of
past miracles (i.e., the crutches, braces,
canes and votive plaques given, as tokens of gratitude,
over the years). On the other hand, the priests would
like to see the visitors to the
Oratory focus their attention on the doctrines which
they articulate in their sermons and on the sacraments
which the priests alone can dispense.2
[20] At the time the interior
of the basilica was being completed, a regular feature of the L’Oratoire
and The Oratory was a column of testimonials to favours received
by devotees of St. Joseph. Of the 55 reported from January 1959
to February 1960, for example, three described successful conversions
of people about whom they were concerned. But all of the remaining
testimonials were of material benefits obtained. One correspondent
reported the recovery of a man from alcoholism, two testified to successful
examinations, two to finding a new habitation, and two to the peaceful
death of someone. Seven relate that employment was found or that
their work situation improved, seven reported finding money, and no
less than 28 told of healings. One of my favourites is a case
of what I would call spiritual euthanasia:
My uncle was ill
with cancer of the liver and pancreas for four months. As he came
to suffer intense pain almost constantly, we were told by the doctors
that his would be a long illness with continued suffering ... I told
the members of my family to pray through the intercession to St. Joseph
and Brother André for his immediate death ... The next morning we received
word from the hospital that my uncle was dying ... My uncle died in
a coma and without pain at eleven o'clock that night (Mrs. John
F. Kruse, The Oratory, January 1959, 21).
Another favourite is the story
of the removal of a noisy neighbour:
I would like to
tell the world that St. Joseph and Brother André granted me several
favors, particularly one that we asked for while visiting your lovely
city and Mount Royal [i.e., the location of the Oratory].
We,
my husband and I, prayed for a peaceful solution to be granted in view
of an annoyance caused by a new neighbor having set up a very noisy
workshop in our quiet middle-class neighborhood ...
Soon
after we had finished our pilgrimage and returned safely home we found
that our neighbor had moved his trucks and was also on the point of
moving his workshop to a business zone (Mrs. John A. King, The Oratory,
January 1959, 21).
St. Joseph may be the patron
of workers, but he apparently disapproves of their opening up shops
in respectable middle-class neighbourhoods.
[21] The decision to publish
these testimonials was clearly a fully conscious and deliberate one,
done to attract pilgrims to the Oratory, and yet just as clearly, the
Holy Cross fathers are not entirely at ease with these manifestations
of folk Catholicism. For example, in an article, from The Oratory
(October 1959, p.15) entitled “Qu’est-ce que ‘l’huile de Saint-Joseph?’”
(What is “St. Joseph’s oil?”), the Holy Cross priest, Henri Bernard,
states that numerous cures have been reported by those who had recourse
to the oil of St. Joseph, but he insists that the oil has no natural
healing properties. And while the Oratory’s religious items
shop contributes to the funding of the pilgrimage complex,3
the same author, in the pages of The Oratory, implicitly condemns
the use of religious kitsch by contrasting it with real art,
even while ostensibly defending a worshipper’s right to make use of
an “ugly statuette:”
[In no way] do
I wished to be ranked with the connoisseurs [of art] who take to task
those whose piety thrives on ... multi-coloured plaster or plastic statues,
plaques and medallions, the polychrome pictures of the Lord and the
saints ...
Commercial
religious goods are ugly? ... True enough in most cases! But then,
what of it? ...
To
my mind, both ... are legitimate because ... that which real art tends
to demonstrate about God through affirmation, commercial figurines and
imagery prove in a negative manner ...
And
thus it follows that even the literally ugly statuette pays a limited
tribute to God ... (Henri Bernard, Devotional Confetti,
The Oratory, January, 1960, p.3)
[22] Not only is the popular
religion, which is the source of a great deal of the Oratory's income,
qualified and implicitly devalued; but even to the extent it is tolerated,
it is clearly subordinated to the soteriological (or salvational) dimension
of religion with which the Oratory priests are more comfortable, as
can be seen from the following paragraph in a photo essay in the September,
1959 (8-9) issue of The Oratory:
The individual
pilgrim who is in the least aware of the continual blessings of divine
grace will find at the Shrine many an opportunity to strengthen faith.
Many have come whose faith has been remarkably rewarded with temporal
favors. To be sure, thousands have claimed physical relief through the
intercession of St. Joseph at the Oratory. But greater still are
the wonders of grace wrought in hearts.
As a further indication of
clerical ambivalence regarding miraculous healing, by the late 1980s
the testimonial column was no longer a regular feature of the Oratory's
magazines (although testimonial articles have appeared since, from time
to time). Clerical discomfort with undue emphasis on the miraculous
can also be seen in interviews, conducted by the Montreal Gazette
religion reporter, Harvey Shepherd, with three priests associated with
the Oratory.
Brother André's
faith and that of his admirers today contain elements some might decry
as superstitious, [Dominican father Benoît] Lacroix acknowledged.
“Any
phenomenon that comes from ordinary people will always have a side that
is exaggerated. People are like that.”
But
he thinks that Brother André's admirers today may be less intent on
immediate, concrete miracles than those of fifty years ago.
[Holy
Cross father Marcel] Lalonde agreed. He recalled, for instance,
a man whose jaw had already been half destroyed by cancer who asked
Lalonde to pray to Brother André with him “so I may have the
courage to bear this.”
“The
Oratory has always been connected with the sick, and those in need of
physical help,” [Holy Cross father Bernard] Lafrenière said, “but
that does not mean they will necessarily be disappointed if they are
not healed. Often the sick come here to pray for other people”
(The Gazette, Montreal, Saturday, August 1, 1987, J-10).
At least some of the priests
associated with the Oratory would like to believe that the search for
temporal blessings is on the decline.
[23] When there are healings
and other answers to prayer for material benefits, readers of the Oratory’s
publications are told that whatever miracles occur, their cause is not
to be found in the body (i.e., the relics) of the Oratory's founder,
as many of the hundreds of visitors who pray in front of his tomb appear
to believe. Thérèse Roy, in a two-page photo-essay in L’Oratoire
(Juillet 1992, 81,4: 8-9), provides the following cutline for
a picture of a woman in a wheelchair praying at the tomb of Brother
André, “Un jeune a demandé si le Frère André était dans le tombeau.
Sans hésiter, Mathieu, 7 ans, a répondu: ‘Il est vivant dans le
coeur de Dieu’” (“A young boy asked if Brother André was in his
tomb. Without any hesitation Mathieu, 7 years old, answered: ‘He is
living in the heart of God.’”). Even a child of seven years knows
that Brother André is not really in his tomb!
[24] However, the reality is
that visitors to the Oratory do believe that prayers at Brother André’s
tomb are efficacious. Furthermore, in spite of the pious hopes of the
priests interviewed by Harvey Shepherd, the primary reason why the faithful
visit the votive chapel is precisely to receive temporal favours.
There are various indications that this is the case. One of these is
the testimonies published in The Oratory referred to above. Another
indicator is the types of petitions made by visitors on prayer request
forms provided by the Oratory. At one end of the votive chapel there
are available prayer request forms and two boxes into which they can
be deposited. In 1993, 90,000 such prayer request forms were deposited.
Jean-Marc Charron (1996) analyzed a random sample of 100 of these forms
and reported that of the 100 forms 97 contained one or more requests
for a total of 123 requests for supernatural help. Eighty-six percent
of these were requests for material benefits of one kind or another,
such as help in overcoming family problems, in recovering health, or
in finding work or money; 14% were requests for psycho-spiritual benefits,
such as help in better self-understanding, in making the right life
choices, in discerning good from evil, or in attaining inner healing.
[25] Yet another indicator
that the favours sought at the Oratory are of a temporal nature comes
from an examination of the rate at which votive candles are lit at the
various altars in the votive chapel. The votive chapel contains eight
altars before which worshippers pray for specific intentions.
These include altars for prayers for temporal benefits such as support
in the midst of difficult circumstances, finding employment, and healing,
on the one hand, and altars for prayers for spiritual blessings such
as the practice of chastity, protection for the church, a death that
leads to eternal happiness and help in practising Christian virtues
within the family context. In front of these altars are placed
kneelers and behind them are stands with a large number of votive lamps
which, for a small donation, worshippers can light, either before or
after offering up their prayers.
[26] One way to determine the
relative importance of these intentions is to count the number of votive
lamps that are lit over a given period of time. I have done this
on various occasions. Let me give the results of one of these.
On May 26, 1995, at 2:30 p.m., I counted the number of lamps at the
various altars and then returned at 5:00 p.m. to make a second count.
I then subtracted the first count from the second for each altar in
order to have a rough estimate of the popularity of the various intentions.
The estimate is rough because during the two and a half hour period
some of the lamps had burnt out, hence affecting the totals. What
I found was that the number lamps at the altar of relief from difficult
circumstances had increased by 20, at the altar for employment by 27,
and at the altar of the sick also by 27.
[27] At the altar for aid in
living a chaste life there was an increase of eight lamps, at the altar
for the protection of the church an increase of two lamps, at the altar
for eternal salvation following death there was a decrease of
one lamp and at the altar for help in practising Christian virtues within
the family a decrease of 13 lamps! It may be that those
who are more concerned with spiritual goods come to pray earlier than
those who seek temporal goals. But I have noticed on other occasions
that when the Oratory is first open in the morning there are already
a number of lit vigil lamps at many of the altars. So at the altars
where prayers are made for this-worldly benefits the number of lamps
lit increases, whereas at the altars where prayers are made for other-worldly
blessings few lamps are lit and so the number of lit lamps increases
very little or actually declines throughout the day.
[28] In spite of the fact that
seeking material rewards is discouraged by the Holy Cross fathers, testimonials
to healings and other material benefits were once again, in 1998-1999,
and subsequently, part of the Oratory’s publicity.
These were found by accessing the Oratory’s home page. In fact
one of these accounts not only tells of a physical healing but also
of a punishment received for failing to provide a testimonial to the
Oratory.
I have been suffering
from back problems for 10 years; I constantly need to take medication
and visit a chiropractor regularly. Last August 18, I undertook a pilgrimage.
After a two-day trip and a 12-hour bus ride, I was unable to stand up
straight and I was in great pain. I went to Brother André’s tomb
and I prayed. A while later, I walked the Way of the Cross in the mountain
and I was able to go up and down stairs painlessly. Maybe you do not
call that a miracle, but I know that my prayers were answered.
I
have been intending to write this letter for a long time but I kept
postponing it. The other day, my back pain returned for a few days.
I then told Brother André that if he answered my prayers once again,
that I would bear witness to this fact. It is now done. My prayers were
answered once again. I pray to Saint Joseph and to Brother André every
day (W.T. Bloomfield, MI).
The not-so-subtle message to
those who access the Oratory’s home page is that should one be so
fortunate as to receive a physical blessing from heaven, one had better
send a testimony into the Oratory or run the risk of losing divine favour.4
[29] While, on the one hand,
the priests of the Congregation of the Holy Cross have encouraged the
practices of folk Catholicism, they also wish to redirect the practitioners
to what they see as a more authentic form of spiritual life—i.e.,
the teachings and sacraments of the Catholic Church. Father Henri Bernard,
in his book on the role of pilgrimage in pastoral ministry (Bernard
1966), wrote that urban pilgrimage centres attract marginal believers,
and as an example he mentions domestics working in Westmount, a residential
neighbourhood adjacent to St. Joseph’s Oratory, and in nearby Outremont.
According to Father Bernard, while pilgrimage centres may do a disservice
to marginal believers by encouraging them to think only of their immediate
personal needs and thereby foster a purely magical kind of religion,
a pilgrimage centre can be a vehicle for socializing marginal believers
and integrating them into the life of the universal church. One of the
means envisioned for socializing and integrating believers into theologically
correct Catholicism was the basilica. At least some of the Holy Cross
priests saw the basilica as the venue for this preferred type of religion.
The Superiority
of the Basilica
[30] As the interior decoration
of the basilica was nearing completion, an article appeared in L’Oratoire
(April, 1959, 31-35) which suggested that the time for miracles had
come to a close and that the new basilica would be the preferred environment
for the operation of the Holy Spirit—an operation that would inspire
faith in Christ and implicitly a desire to imitate Christ in accepting
suffering (rather than expecting a miraculous deliverance from the ills
of this world).
Toute soumission
gardée à l'Eglise, je crois que le Frère André, c.s.c.,
a fait des miracles hallucinants. Il "tirait" sur saint
Joseph et saint Joseph entrait dans le complot. C'est aussi simple
que ça. La période des miracles à la chaine est révolue à
l'Oratoire. Il y en aura encore. Ils seront plus rare.
Je parle de guérisons physiques: de boîteux qui marchent, de sourds
qui entendent ... .
La
crypt de l'Oratoire est honnête, architecturalement parlant; rien de
plus. La basilique, quand on en aura terminé la décoration
intérieure, donnera une ambiance exceptionelle ... NOUS SOMMES EN LIEU
OU L'ESPRIT A CHOISI DE SOUFFLER, A LA MANIERE PREFERENTIELLE ... je
ne suis pas si distrait que de désavouer le courant de piété populaire
...
Mais
il faut bien reconaître la jalousie de Dieu
... les sentiers des hommes doivent toujours déboucher sur le Christ
...
Les
"miracles" qu'il [Frère André] a semés impressionnaient;
mais plus encore sa ferveur pour la Passion de Jésus ...
(While the final
judgment must be left to the Church, I believe that Brother André has
made amazing miracles. He relied on Saint Joseph and Saint Joseph went
along with him. It is as simple as that. But the period of miracles
has come to an end at the Oratory. There are still some. But they are
few and apart. I am referring to physical healings: the lame walking,
the deaf hearing. …
The
crypt of the Oratory is, architecturally speaking, decent enough; but
nothing more. The basilica, on the other hand, once the interior decoration
is finished, will provide an exceptional ambiance … WE WILL BE IN
THE PLACE WHERE THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS CHOSEN TO BE IN A SPECIAL WAY…
I am not the kind of person who rejects popular piety …
But
it is good to keep in mind that God is a jealous God
… the journeys of human beings must always end in Christ …
The
legacy of miracles which Brother André has left behind is impressive;
but even more impressive was his commitment to the Passion of Christ
…)
[31] In the September, 1959
issue of The Oratory (pages 8-9 or 10-11) there appeared a photo-essay
in which it was stated that the value of the basilica was its capacity
to hold large gatherings that would inspire faith:
Collective manifestations
of faith seldom fail to bolster the faith of the individual. Where
huge throngs of worshippers congregate to express their common belief
in God, the compelling force of faith is better brought home to the
believers. In such circumstances we no longer feel isolated; the
universal brotherhood of men and the enthusing truth of the Communion
of Saints take on a deeper significance.
[32] In an article in The
Oratory of May, 1960 (pp.24-26), Father E.M. Brassard (of the Congregation
of the Holy Cross) elaborates upon the above point by contrasting what
he sees as the architectural limitations of the crypt church and the
votive chapel in comparison with the architectural majesty of the basilica:
... the faithful
[person] who comes to church to pray must integrate himself in the gathering
constituted by the Christian community.
This
spiritual reality must be exemplified in an external form. You
wouldn't expect to congregate thousands of worshippers in a low ceiling
hall [such as is the case in the votive chapel and crypt church]: they
would feel they are being stifled ...
It
is therefore essential that the nave where they assemble for devotions
serve as a invitation to expand their soul in the presence of God; the
very architectural design of the arches and pillars should prove a silent
and irresistible invitation to the soul's flight heavenward.
Thus,
a high ceiling and vault ... are ... indispensable to an atmosphere
of communal prayer.
[33] The architecture of the
basilica, the author hopes, will be conducive to soteriological Catholicism
because a large space can contain a large crowd and thereby make possible
the enthusiastic atmosphere that should occur in such gatherings. The
height of the vault further contributes to the exalted mood of the worshippers
by orienting them toward a transcendent perspective. In such an atmosphere,
there should be an increased likelihood that worshippers will perceive
greater depth and reality to the contents of the sermons—a content
which encourages identification with Jesus Christ crucified (the central
image of the basilica) than by a preoccupation with material benefits.
The Mediating
Function of the Crypt Church
[34] The verbal descriptions
by the Holy Cross priests regarding the superior nature of the basilica,
and the religious approach it represents, stand in apparent opposition
to the testimonials regarding the various material benefits that can
be attained by visiting the votive chapel and praying to St. Joseph
and to Brother André. This particular type of binary opposition
between folk and elite religion is found in almost every religious tradition
in the world (see Spiro 1970, and Bhardwaj 1973, for two non-Christian
examples). But as Coleman and Elsner claim, what is expressed
at pilgrimage sites are not just competing discourses. The conflict
between these discourses can also be absorbed or defused at those sites.
Sometimes the mere juxtaposing of the two can dissipate some of the
tension between them, by making possible a form of exchange—i.e.,
the folk tradition gains legitimacy by having the locus of its activities
placed in close proximity to the locus of the elite ritual celebrations,
and the elite tradition acquires an increased constituency by virtue
of the same proximity. But in other cases a more multifaceted
structure functions as a mediator between folk and elite religious expressions.
[35] At St. Joseph’s Oratory,
I suggest, the crypt church functions as a locus of mediation between
the folk tradition of the votive chapel and the elite tradition of the
basilica. The architectural structure of the Oratory makes the
supremacy of the elite tradition vividly clear. The elite tradition
(represented by the basilica) is at the top of the Oratory complex,
while the folk tradition (represented by the votive chapel) is below
in the rear. While not at the top, the crypt church is not at
the back either. The crypt church is in fact the first ritual
location that a pilgrim, ascending the stairs to the Oratory, will encounter.
While the crypt church is not nearly as spacious as is the basilica,
it is not cramped like the votive chapel. While the central image
in the crypt church is not Christ on the cross, as it is in the basilica,
it is not the image of Joseph alone, found in the votive chapel.
Instead the central image in the crypt church is of Joseph with Jesus,
albeit an infant Christ. While some extra-liturgical devotions
occur in the crypt church, it is not dedicated exclusively to these
as is the case in the votive chapel. The primary ritual in the
crypt church is the mass, as it is in the basilica, although in the
crypt church the masses are usually far simpler, of shorter duration
and more frequent. Mass in the crypt church is usually conducted
by one priest with perhaps one or two lay assistants, whereas the less
frequent celebrations in the basilica feature several priests along
with many laypersons and a choir. Such celebrations in the basilica
take at least twice as long as the masses in the crypt church, although
the latter obviously take longer than the few minutes it takes to say
a prayer in front of one of the many altars in the votive chapel.
In the votive chapel, at each of the altars are prayers in French and
English for the use of visitors. The standard mass book, or missalette,
is what is used in the basilica. This is also used in the crypt
church, but appended to the order of the mass are prayers to St. Joseph.
[36] Another text that can
be seen as absorbing the conflict of religious orientations is a book
of prayers (Recueil de prières) provided for the use of worshippers
in the crypt church. It contains the prayers for confession, and for
doing the Stations of the Cross, as well as various sets of prayers
addressed to Jesus, to St. Joseph and Brother André. The ideas and
attitudes expressed correspond to the type of theologically correct
orientation that the Oratory priests wish to encourage in pilgrims.
In the June 2008 version of the prayer book, there are prayers to Jesus,
to St. Joseph and to Brother André in which can be found a petition
for healing. But in all three cases, the petition is embedded in praise
for the addressee and requests for help in being more attentive to the
needs of others. In fact, in the prayers for healing addressed to Jesus
and to Brother André, the petitioners do not specifically pray for
themselves but for sick people in general. Only in the prayer to St.
Joseph do petitioners ask, “dis une parole pour notre guérison”
(“say a word [to God] for our healing”).
[37] Therefore in a number
of different ways the ritual space and ritual process in the crypt church
serves as a mid-point between the extremes of either the basilica or
the votive chapel. In doing so, the crypt church legitimizes the
private devotions that take place in the votive chapel by uniting them
to the act of worship over which the church hierarchy has control.
At the same time, in the crypt church, the worship presided over by
the clergy is made accessible, both by the location of the crypt church
and by the frequency of its services, to the large number of pilgrims
whose primary motive for making a visit to the Oratory in the first
place is to seek a material blessing from St. Joseph and Brother André.
[38] Although a casual visitor
to St. Joseph’s Oratory might think that the various ritual locations
and the activity that occurs within them are compatible
religious expressions, a more systematic analysis reveals
two fundamental religious orientations
in competition, if not in conflict, with one another.
This set of observations is consistent with the claim
Eade and Sallnow (1991) make about pilgrimage
centres in general that “what confers upon a major shrine its essential,
universalistic character [is] its capacity to absorb
and reflect a multiplicity
of religious discourses.” On the other hand, St. Joseph’s oratory
is not merely a single location to which pilgrims bring
their divergent views. The Oratory is not, as Eade and
Sallnow argue, simply a “religious
void, a ritual space capable of accommodating diverse
meanings and practices.”
Coleman and Elsner (1994) have shown that pilgrimage
locations play a far more directive role in shaping
the divergent discourses of pilgrims.
Certainly this is true of the Oratory. The art, architecture,
texts and ritual activities expected and modelled in
the votive chapel, the
crypt church and the basilica encourage and reinforce
specific religious approaches. While Coleman and Elsner
are right in emphasizing the influence
of the pilgrimage landscape, Maniura (2004) offers an important
qualification. Pilgrims are not merely passive participants,
but are rather active agents in shaping the pilgrimage landscape.
This is especially the case if one includes, as Maniura
does, under the term pilgrimage
landscape, the ritual activities of pilgrims. For example, at St.
Joseph’s Oratory, it is the pilgrims who model the ritual activity
in the votive chapel and who choose the altars at which
to light candles. It is the pilgrims who determine by
their purchases, at least to some
extent, what religious statues will be displayed in the
religious items store. Thus, systematic observation
and analysis of the principal ritual
locations at St. Joseph’s Oratory are consistent with the insights
of more recent research on pilgrimage centres. This does
not mean that earlier approaches to pilgrimage are irrelevant
to a better understanding
of the Oratory. At least one aspect of the Oratory, especially
in the 1930s, begs for a functionalist analysis—the role Brother André and
the Oratory played in discouraging Quebec workers from
joining international
labour unions. And I suspect that Turner’s concept of liminality might
very well apply to busloads of pilgrims coming from
individual parishes
in the United States and Canada. But these are themes
for other studies.
Notes
1. Information on Brother André,
the life of the founder of St. Joseph’s Oratory; on the history of
the construction of the Oratory; and on the dimensions and seating capacities
of the various ritual locations in the Oratory can be found in a variety
of sources: The Oratory’s Arrow Guide—Saint Joseph’s Oratory,
Garigue (1955), and Billick (1965).
2. It should be pointed out
that the Congregation of the Holy Cross is an order of teachers—an
order of relatively well educated men, many of them with graduate degrees.
The search for miraculous solutions by visitors to the Oratory has been
regarded by them with some considerable degree of ambivalence.
3. Garigue (1955) reports that
in 1955, 23% of the Oratory’s gross income of $2,100,000 came from
the sale of religious items in the souvenir shop. Included among those
religious items are statues of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and a wide range
of saints. On June 9, 2008, I counted the number of statues for sale
of the Virgin Mary (182), Brother André (169), St. Joseph (120), St.
Anne (56), and Jesus (52). The numbers of statues of other saints (e.g.,
St. Francis, St. Thérèse of Lisieux) were far fewer than the number
of statues of Jesus. These figures give some idea of the devotional
orientation of the customers of the religious items shop, and of the
willingness of the custodians of the Oratory to cater to this orientation.
4. In January 2008, the Oratory
web site contained no testimonies to miracles (an indication of the
ambivalence of the Oratory’s custodians regarding the goal of seeking
magical solutions to the problems of life), although visitors to the
web site were invited to share their memories of their visit to the
Oratory, and two photos of such visits were posted—one of these was
of a group of French pilgrims posing outside the Oratory, and the other
was a photo of the basilica submitted by a visitor from New Brunswick.
On the other hand, the web site advertised St. Joseph’s oil, for sale
in the religious items shop and online, explaining that, “Brother
André often suggested to the sick who came in search of relief that they
rub a bit of oil on the part of their body that was hurting, while invoking
Saint Joseph for assistance.” However the same announcement
was quick to point out that,
He [Brother André]
made it clear that the oil itself had no miraculous curative powers,
and that only God had the power to heal. He emphasized that prayer combined
with this gesture symbolizing the strength of one’s belief were ways
of expressing one’s inner faith in God’s power. [Available online
January 8, 2008 at: http://www.saint-joseph.org/en_1145_index.asp].
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