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Saint André Bessette

Saint André Bessette Also known as

Alfred
Alfredo
Andreas
Frère André

6 January (United States)
7 January (Canada)

Profile

Son of a woodcutter, and eighth of twelve children. His father died in a work-related accident, his mother of tuberculosis, and he was adopted at age twelve by a farmer uncle who insisted he work for his keep. Over the years Andre worked as a farmhand, shoemaker, baker, blacksmith, and factory worker. At 25 he applied to join the Congregation of the Holy Cross; Andre was initially refused due to poor health, but he gained the backing of Bishop Bourget, and was accepted.

Doorkeeper at Notre Dame College, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Sacristan, laundry worker and messenger. He spent much of each night in prayer, and on his window sill, facing Mount Royal, was a small statue of Saint Joseph, to whom Andre was especially devoted. “Some day,” Andre believed, “Saint Joseph will be honored on Mount Royal.”

Andre had a special ministry to the sick. He would rub the sick person with oil from a lamp in the college chapel, and many were healed. Word of his power spread, and when an epidemic broke out at a nearby college, Andre volunteered to help; no one 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 always said; “Saint Joseph cures.” By his death, he was receiving 80,000 letters each year from the sick who sought his prayers and healing.

For many years the Holy Cross authorities had tried to buy land on Mount Royal. Brother Andre and others climbed the steep hill and planted medals of Saint Joseph on it, and soon after, the owners yielded, which incident helped the current devotion to Saint Joseph by those looking to buy or sell a home. Andre collected money to build a small chapel and received visitors there, listening to their problems, praying, rubbing them with Saint Joseph‘s oil, and curing many. The chapel is still in use.

Born

9 August 1845 Mont-Saint-Gregoire, Monteregie Region near Montreal, Quebec, Canada as Alfred Bessette

Died

6 January 1937 of ‘gastric catarrh’ in the infirmary of Our Lady of Hope convent, Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
more than a million people paid their respects at his funeral
buried in an alcove inside the crypt behind the Votive Chapel at Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal, Mont-Royal, Montreal
his tombstone reads: Pauper, servis a humilis (a poor and humble servant)