St. Andre Bessette
Beatified By: Pope John Paul II
Canonized By: October 17, 2010, Saint Peter's Square, Rome, by Pope Benedict XVI
When Alfred Bessette came to the Holy Cross Brothers in 1870, he carried with him a note from his pastor saying, "I am sending you a saint." The Brothers found that difficult to believe. Chronic stomach pains had made it impossible for Alfred to hold a job very long and since he was a boy he had wandered from shop to shop, farm to farm, in his native Canada and in the United States, staying only until his employers found out how little work he could do. The Holy Cross Brothers were teachers and, at 25, Alfred still did not know how to read and write. It seemed as if Alfred approached the religious order out of desperation, not vocation.
Alfred was desperate, but he was also prayerful and deeply devoted to God and Saint Joseph. He may have had no place left to go, but he believed that was because this was the place he felt he should have been all along.
The Holy Cross Brothers took him into the novitiate but soon found out what others had learned -- as hard as Alfred, now Brother Andre, wanted to work, he simply wasn't strong enough. They asked him to leave the order, but Andre, out of desperation again, appealed to a visiting bishop who promised him that Andre would stay and take his vows.
After his vows, Brother Andre was sent to Notre Dame College in Montreal (a school for boys age seven to twelve) as a porter. There his responsibilities were to answer the door, to welcome guests, find the people they were visiting, wake up those in the school, and deliver mail. Brother Andre joked later, "At the end of my novitiate, my superiors showed me the door, and I stayed there for forty years."
In 1904, he surprised the Archbishop of Montreal if he could, by requesting permission to, build a chapel to Saint Joseph on the mountain near the college. The Archbishop refused to go into debt and would only give permission for Brother Andre to build what he had money for. What money did Brother Andre have? Nickels he had collected as donations for Saint Joseph from haircuts he gave the boys. Nickels and dimes from a small dish he had kept in a picnic shelter on top of the mountain near a statue of St. Joseph with a sign "Donations for St. Joseph." He had collected this change for years but he still had only a few hundred dollars. Who would start a chapel now with so little funding?
Andre took his few hundred dollars and built what he could ... a small wood shelter only fifteen feet by eighteen feet. He kept collecting money and went back three years later to request more building. The wary Archbishop asked him, "Are you having visions of Saint Joseph telling you to build a church for him?"
Brother Andre reassured him. "I have only my great devotion to St. Joseph to guide me."
The Archbishop granted him permission to keep building as long as he didn't go into debt. He started by adding a roof so that all the people who were coming to hear Mass at the shrine wouldn't have to stand out in the rain and the wind. Then came walls, heating, a paved road up the mountain, a shelter for pilgrims, and finally a place where Brother Andre and others could live and take care of the shrine -- and the pilgrims who came - full-time. Through kindness, caring, and devotion, Brother Andre helped many souls experience healing and renewal on the mountaintop. There were even cases of physical healing. But for everything, Brother Andre thanked St. Joseph.
Despite financial troubles, Brother Andre never lost faith or devotion. He had started to build a basilica on the mountain but the Depression had interfered. At ninety-years old he told his co-workers to place a statue of St. Joseph in the unfinished, unroofed basilica. He was so ill he had to be carried up the mountain to see the statue in its new home. Brother Andre died soon after on January 6, and didn't live to see the work on the basilica completed. But in Brother Andre's mind it never would be completed because he always saw more ways to express his devotion and to heal others. As long as he lived, the man who had trouble keeping work for himself, would never have stopped working for God.
On December 19, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI promulgated a decree recognizing a second miracle at Blessed André's intercession and on October 17, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI formally declared sainthood for Blessed Andre.
In His Footsteps:Brother Andre didn't mind starting small.
Think of some service you have longed to perform for God and God's people, but that you thought was too overwhelming for you. What small bit can you do in this service? If you can't afford to give a lot of money to a cause, just give a little. If you can't afford hours a week in volunteering, try an hour a month on a small task. It is amazing how those small steps can lead you up the mountain as they did for Brother Andre.
Prayer:Blessed Brother Andre, your devotion to Saint Joseph is an inspiration to us. You gave your life selflessly to bring the message of his life to others. Pray that we may learn from Saint Joseph, and from you, what it is like to care for Jesus and do his work in the world. Amen
Copyright 1996-2000 by Terry Matz. All Rights Reserved.
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I have visited the beautiful oratory and grounds, and seen the crutches lining the walls. I have marvelled at this life, like a mustard seed, that bore the greatest of fruit. St. Br. Andre has blessed me with peace when under great stress. I am sure that he welcomed my father into the kingdom after much suffering in his last days. Pray for me, Br. Andre and St. Joseph, that I might do those little things now to help bring about God's will on earth, and do one millionth the good you have done. Let me continue to find joy in the simple things and trust in God.
St.Andre Bessette god bless you
I would like 2 build a nurseing home for the old people on my land
may b with your help and that of all the saints i can
please pray for me
Amen
Thank You St. Andre, for letting me grow in faith, and find ways to express it as you did, in this 'Year of Faith'.
happy feast day St. Andre Bessette. thank you for our visit to canada
Dear Saint,
Grant me the gift of Humility that your preserved throughout your life. Help me to be devoted to our Blessed Mother Virgin Mary. Amen
6th jan 2013:epiphany sunday;st andre alfred bessette csc pray for us !
my parish here in laconia new hampshire is named after andre bessette. He is one of my favorite saints
I believe in the power of prayer.. I believe that praying to Brother Andre to intercede helped me through what doctors told me would be a pregnancy with not a happy ending.. The odds were extremely high that I would have a baby with Down's Syndrome.One Dr. went as far as to say my child would be a burden to me and my family. My husband told the Dr. that abortion was out of the question and that we would have faith to get us through.
I prayed for the baby to be normal and every priest I saw I asked for a blessing for my unborn child. But I was still distraught .
My visit to St. Joseph's in Montreal was my chance to get my prayers heard. From the moment I walked into the door the atmosphere had a holiness to it I can't explain but it was so strong that to this day I have not felt that effect since.
I prayed over Brother Andre's coffin with my belly on the casket and closed my eyes in deep prayer with my Mom and Step dad watching .My Mom swears to this day that 2 nuns came in the room in old nun habits on and stood behind me as I was praying. I was not aware as I was so deep in prayer but I felt a sense of warmth and peace at that moment. She never told me this until after the baby was born.
My little girl was born months later completely healthy and the neonatal unit that was set up for her wasn't needed. My doctor brought her to me after I delivered her and said she was perfect. She was, and is, to this day. She is my blessing and asks me every night to read her a bible story. Oh, and we named her Faith. Thanks to God, Jesus, Mary, St Joseph and Brother Andre for prayers answered.
St Andre. Please intercede to St Joseph for my mom who is at the doctor's office right now.
I spent my childhood visiting St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal and looking at the many crutches from Brother Andre's healing. I even attended school with a student who's father was cured and able to walk because of his miracles. Now as an adult, this is even more interesting. Saint Andre has become one of my very favorite Saints.
Dear Br. Andre, Please grant me an iota of your faith! Please pray for me.
The message of St Andre Bessett comes from the way he lived his life. One does not have to be learned to commit themselves to become holy. The pathway to holiness is Christ and Saint Andre exemplied that in the way he lived along with a humble devotion to Saint Joseph. What a humble and beautiful man he was.
this story shows even though st. andre had only had a little his faith in GOD and st joseph prayer life and works great things can happen.that is a good motto for all of us.
dear st. andre bessette please pray for my daughter julia that she will return home. May the people she is with have a change of heart and advise her to return to her family. Her mother and family is in grief over this situation. It has been months since she has spoken to us as she is filled with anger due to an evil manipulating man. May this end soon.
What a beautiful story of an inspirational man. St Andre, please pray for me as I struggle to find work.
St Andre. Please intercede to St Joseph for my husband who the Doctor said he need his right foot amputated . Please intercede on our behalf for a miracle that he doesn't lose his foot
St. Andre Bessette, I was astounded with happiness as I walked casually along the streets of Toronto and saw how St. Joseph was proudly proclaimed as patron saint of Canada. Then I happened to read about your humble life as a young lad of ill-health and no learning. How great is our God to those who love and honour Him. The reward He gave you is amazing, truly impossible to imagine. You are my inspiration for all who have learning difficulties. Please intercede to St. Joseph on behalf of all children who are born with fragile X. Free them from epileptic fits, speech delays and poor behaviour. With your help and the intercession of St. Joseph, find a permanent cure for all these suffering children. One day, I'd like to visit the basilica of St. Joseph in Montreal, hopefully to give thanks for their cure. Amen.
St- Brother ANdre has made many more healing than 2 sanctionned
by the Pope.
There are thousands of crutches at St Joseph Oratory in Montreal which brother
Andre built.
ALSO, I AM A RECIPIENT OF A MIRACLE IN 1960 WHERE I FOUND THE USE
OF MY LEG AGAIN THROUGH ST BROTHER ANDRE INTERCESSION.
THIS SAINT SHOULD HAVE BEEN RECOGNIZED WAY BEFORE 2009.....
BUT FINALLY, HE WAS ACKNOWLEDGED ALTHOUGH LATE.
BROTHER ANDRE STILL AFFECTS MY LIFE,, MY LEG IS FINE TODAY,
NO NEED OF CRUTCHES AND HIS GRACE LIVES ON FOREVER....
My devotion to Saint André and Saint Joseph is tremendous. I have had the privilege of
praying at Brother André's tomb at the Oratory in Montréal--a beautiful and magnificent
shrine. This holy and humble man of Montréal and loyal friend of St. Joseph has finally been raised to sainthood! St. André, pray for us.
Thank you for this article.
My devotion, not St. Andre's holiness, to St. Joseph, is great.
He, St. Joseph, helped me when I was a single woman, especially on trips alone over the great state of Arizona.
He (St. Joseph} answered my prayers to have my brother relocate to Arizona., and not only that, but Joe, my brother, bought the home next to mine.
Oh, St. Joseph, you are the greatest!!!
jeanne