Sites, shrines and cathedrals devoted St. Joseph

Editor’s note: In this Year of St. Joseph, devotion to Jesus’ foster father is heightened in parishes and sites in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis named for the saint. In addition, sites, shrines and cathedrals devoted to the saint, such as the National Shrine of St. Joseph in De Pere, Wisconsin, can be found across North America and beyond. A sample:  

The Loretto Chapel

Sante Fe, New Mexico

A mysterious, winding staircase with no visible structural support — and attributed by many to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters — draws visitors every year to a Gothic-style chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Loretto Chapel itself was designed and constructed by French architects for the Sisters of Loretto from 1874 to 1878. But their work ended before access to the 22-foot-high choir loft was constructed. At a loss, the sisters prayed for nine days to St. Joseph, according to the chapel website, lorettochapel.com. On the novena’s final day, a carpenter appeared with a donkey and a toolbox. He put together the “Miraculous Staircase” with wooden pegs and wood not native to the American Southwest, and disappeared without payment. The staircase remains a marvel of architecture, with two 360-degree turns, no railing (a banister was added later to help people climb the stairs) and no center pole for support. The staircase’s weight rests entirely on the bottom step. “Some believe the carpenter was St. Joseph himself, while others believe that it was someone sent by St. Joseph,” the chapel website says. “What is known is that the Sisters of Loretto prayed, and their prayers were answered.”

— Joe Ruff

St. Joseph Cathedral
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

When the Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was in need of a new cathedral in the early 20th century, its leader, Bishop Thomas O’Gorman, sought the work of E.L. Masqueray, a French architect who designed the Twin Cities’ Cathedral of St. Paul and Basilica of St. Mary. Those co-cathedrals were commissioned by Bishop O’Gorman’s childhood friend, Archbishop John Ireland. Masqueray died before the Sioux Falls cathedral was finished, but it was completed in 1919 by his associate Edwin Lundie, after construction was briefly interrupted by World War I. The resulting edifice overlooking downtown Sioux Falls is easily identifiable by its unique twin spires, textured in a manner some say mimics the heads of grain or prairie grass. The building’s interior was recently restored by classical architect Duncan Stroik with an eye to Masqueray’s original intention for the building. Its patron is acknowledged in several places: a nativity scene of the Holy Family in the apse above the high altar, the traditional St. Joseph chapel at the right of the sanctuary, St. Joseph the Worker in a large rose window, and a large bronze Statue of St. Joseph with the Child Jesus on a landing of the building’s front exterior steps.

— Maria Wiering

St. Joseph Oratory of Mount Royal

Montreal, Quebec

Each year, about 2 million people from around the world visit the largest shrine in the world dedicated to St. Joseph: St. Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal. St. André Bessette (1845-1937), a lay brother of the Congregation of Holy Cross canonized in 1910 as St. André of Montreal, was devoted to St. Joseph. His dream was to build a chapel dedicated to the saint — an “oratory,” a small, wayside shrine where people could pray to his esteemed saint. The first chapel on site fit that bill: a 15-by-18-foot chapel built with spruce flooring and pressed metal ceiling and roof. It has since been enlarged four times. However, the room above the chapel where Brother André lived is largely unchanged. The chapel remains, now dwarfed by a basilica and a crypt church. To reach the church, many pilgrims climb the 100 wooden steps on their knees in a gesture of prayer. The full construction project with the basilica was completed in the late 1960s. The shrine is open today, but as this issue went to press, the U.S.-Canada border remained closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

— Barb Umberger

St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral

La Crosse, Wisconsin

During a meeting Jan. 4, 1863, at St. Mary’s log cabin church — the first Catholic parish in La Crosse — attendees decided a new parish was needed to serve German-speaking Catholics. Two days later, trustees determined it would be dedicated to St. Joseph. The 62-by-140-foot brick and stone church, built on the corner of 6th and Main streets in today’s downtown La Crosse, was dedicated Oct. 2, 1870. Its bell tower was completed in 1884. In 1956, then-Bishop John Treacy determined the church would be razed and replaced by a new cathedral. On May 1, 1961, a bas-relief statue of St. Joseph was in place during construction for the sixth celebration of the patronal feast of St. Joseph the Worker, instituted by Pope Pius XII in 1955 in response to Communist-sponsored “May Day” worker celebrations. Designed as a contemporary interpretation of the original church’s Gothic architecture, the new cathedral was dedicated May 14, 1962, and was consecrated May 7, 1969. While the cathedral’s steeple is currently undergoing extensive repair, the three bells dating to 1884 still ring from the tower. They each have a name: St. Joseph, St. Boniface and St. Agnes.

— Barb Umberger

Shrine of St. Joseph

St. Louis, Missouri

People visiting Shrine of St. Joseph church in downtown St. Louis will be standing in one of the few churches in the Midwest where a Vatican-authenticated miracle took place. In 1864, German immigrant Ignatius Strecker was healed of an injury suffered while working in a local soap factory. After all treatments failed, he was given just two weeks to live. He came to the church, built in 1844, kissed a relic of Blessed Peter Claver and was cured. The miracle was authenticated by the Vatican in 1887. Blessed Peter Claver was canonized in 1888. Just two years after Strecker was cured, more divine assistance led to the creation of a monument dedicated to St. Joseph called the Altar of Unanswered Prayers, now the centerpiece of the church. During an outbreak of cholera, the pastor rallied parishioners to make a solemn vow to build a monument to St. Joseph if God would protect them from the illness. No one who signed the vow and made a monetary pledge to support the monument died of cholera. The altar was completed and dedicated in 1866. This beautiful historic church, featuring two large towers in the front and a magnificent Baroque sanctuary, is owned by the Archdiocese of St. Louis and leased to The Friends of the Shrine of St. Joseph. Tours are available after every Sunday Mass; private tours are available upon arrangement. Online tours are offered on the church website: shrineofstjoseph.org.

— Dave Hrbacek

Related:

• Wisconsin’s National Shrine of St. Joseph ‘a small, quiet place of prayer’