Lien pour visite virtuelle de l'Oratoire Saint Joseph

www.saint-joseph.org/…/visite-virtuelle

Saint Frère André, priez pour nous.

Andreas Bessette
Taufname: Alfred
Gedenktag katholisch: 6. Januar
gebotener Gedenktag in Kanada
nicht gebotener Gedenktag in den USA
Name bedeutet: An: der Mannhafte (griech.)
Al: von Elfen / Naturgeistern beraten (altenglisch / althochdt.)
Mönch
* 9. August 1845 bei Montréal in Kanada
† 6. Januar 1937

Andreas Bessette
Alfred Besette war das achte von zwölf Kindern eines Holzfällers. Der Vater starb bei einem Arbeitsunfall, die Mutter an Tuberkulose; er wurde dann von einem Onkel aufgenommen und musste hart arbeiten auf dessen Bauernhof, dann als Schuhmacher, Bäcker, Schmied und auch als Fabrikarbeiter in den USA. 1867 kehrte er nach Kanada zurück und arbeitete dann fast 40 Jahre lang als Pförtner im Notre Dame College in Montréal.
1870 wollte er sich dem Orden vom heiligen Kreuz anschließen, wurde aber wegen seiner Armut abgewiesen und erst auf Fürsprache des Bischofs mit dem Ordensnamen Andreas aufgenommen. Auf seinem Fenstersims mit Blick auf den Mount Royal stand eine Statue von Joseph, den er besonders verehrte. Mit besonderer Hingabe widmete er sich Kranken, die er mit Öl aus einer Lampe der Kapelle des College massierte. Tausende von Kranken wurden geheilt. Der Orden erbaute dann 1904 mit Geld, das Andreas als Spenden gesammelt und durch den Verkauf von Josephs-Medaillons erlöst hatte, eine dem heiligen Joseph geweihte Kapelle auf dem Mount Royal; inzwischen steht dort das wohl größte Josephsheiligtum der Welt. Dort empfing Andreas nun die Bittsteller, hörte ihnen zu, betete und massierte sie mit Josephs-Öl. Gegen Ende seines Lebens erhielt er 80.000 Briefe im Jahr mit Bitten um sein Gebet zur Heilung von Menschen.
Mehr als 1 Million Menschen begleiteten Andreas Besette bei seiner Bestattung.
Kanonisation: Andreas Besette wurde 1982 seliggesprochen, Papst Benedikt XVI. sprach ihn am 17. Oktober 2010 in Rom heilig.
Auf Englisch und Französisch informiert das St.-Josephs-Oratorium auf dem Mount Royal.
www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienA/Andreas_Alfred_…

January 6 St. André Bessette (1845-1937)
Brother André expressed a saint’s faith by a lifelong devotion to St. Joseph.
Sickness and weakness dogged André from birth. He was the eighth of 12 children born to a French Canadian couple near Montreal. Adopted at 12, when both parents had died, he became a farmhand. Various trades followed: shoemaker, baker, blacksmith—all failures. He was a factory worker in the United States during the boom times of the Civil War.
At 25, he applied for entrance into the Congregation of the Holy Cross. After a year’s novitiate, he was not admitted because of his weak health. But with an extension and the urging of Bishop Bourget (see Marie-Rose Durocher, October 6), he was finally received. He was given the humble job of doorkeeper at Notre Dame College in Montreal, with additional duties as sacristan, laundry worker and messenger. “When I joined this community, the superiors showed me the door, and I remained 40 years,” he said.
In his little room near the door, he spent much of the night on his knees. On his windowsill, facing Mount Royal, was a small statue of St. Joseph, to whom he had been devoted since childhood. When asked about it he said, “Some day, St. Joseph is going to be honored in a very special way on Mount Royal!”
When he heard someone was ill, he visited to bring cheer and to pray with the sick person. He would rub the sick person lightly with oil taken from a lamp burning in the college chapel. Word of healing powers began to spread.
When an epidemic broke out at a nearby college, André volunteered to nurse. Not one person died. The trickle of sick people to his door became a flood. His superiors were uneasy; diocesan authorities were suspicious; doctors called him a quack. “I do not cure,” he said again and again. “St. Joseph cures.” In the end he needed four secretaries to handle the 80,000 letters he received each year.
For many years the Holy Cross authorities had tried to buy land on Mount Royal. Brother André and others climbed the steep hill and planted medals of St. Joseph. Suddenly, the owners yielded. André collected 200 dollars to build a small chapel and began receiving visitors there—smiling through long hours of listening, applying St. Joseph’s oil. Some were cured, some not. The pile of crutches, canes and braces grew.
The chapel also grew. By 1931 there were gleaming walls, but money ran out. “Put a statue of St. Joseph in the middle. If he wants a roof over his head, he’ll get it.” The magnificent Oratory on Mount Royal took 50 years to build. The sickly boy who could not hold a job died at 92.
He is buried at the Oratory. He was beatified in 1982 and canonized in 2010. At his canonization in October 2010, Pope Benedict XVI said that St. Andre "lived the beatitude of the pure of heart."

Comment:

Rubbing ailing limbs with oil or a medal? Planting a medal to buy land? Isn’t this superstition? Aren’t we long past that?
Superstitious people rely only on the “magic” of a word or action. Brother André’s oil and medals were authentic sacramentals of a simple, total faith in the Father who lets his saints help him bless his children.

Quote:

“It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most exquisitely beautiful pictures,” said St. André Bessette.
www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx