In 1915, given the immense flow of people crowding the little oratory to invoke Saint Joseph and to meet Brother André, it was decided to raise up a great sanctuary. The plans envisaged a lower church with a grand basilica towering above.
The crypt church was blessed in 1917. It seats over 1000 persons who attend masses and devotions scheduled throughout the day. (The basilica is used for Sunday High Mass and for special celebrations.) The church is called a crypt because although its façade is open to the sun, it is built into the side of the mountain below the basilica and because it is part of the foundations of the rest of the structure.
Crypt Credit photo: Paul Simon
The stained glass windows
Each of the stained glass windows, completed in 1919 by the workshop of Pedriau and O'Shea, represents an episode in the life of Saint Joseph:
