Brother Andre (Saint Andre of Montreal)

By: Ron Simpson

Background:

Born, August 1845, in Mont-Saint-Gregoire, a small town situated southeast of Montreal, he was given the name, Alfred Bessette, and because he was so frail, the priest baptized him “conditionally” in an emergency ritual the day following his birth. He was born to working-class parents and because of a lack of work, they moved in 1849 to Farnham, Quebec. In 1854 his father Isaac, working as a lumberman, was crushed by a falling tree leaving his wife, Clothilde, with ten children. His mother died within three years leaving Alfred an orphan at the age of twelve. Over the next number of years, he was placed with different families and was removed from school at fourteen, having only learned to read and sign his name, both with difficulty. He tried several short-lived occupations but was too physically weak to sustain. He spent some time in Connecticut with relatives and returned to Canada in 1867 at the age of twenty-two.

Spiritual Conversion:

Reverend Andre Provencal, parish priest noticed the devotion and generosity of Alfred and presented him to the Congregation of Holy Cross in Montreal, with a note: “I’m sending you a saint.” While he was initially rejected because of his frail health, in 1872 he entered the congregation and given the name Brother Andre which he kept for the remainder of his life. Because of his limitations he became porter (doorman) at College Notre-Dame in Cote-des-Neiges, Quebec with additional duties as sacristan, laundry worker and messenger.

By all accounts he was a very humble man, and his devotion to Saint Joseph lead him to visit the sick in their homes rubbing them lightly with oil from a lamp burning in the college chapel. People started turning up at the college claiming they had been cured by Brother Andre to which he, in turn, gave complete credit to Saint Joseph steadfastly refusing to take any credit. With more and mor people claiming to be cured, he launched a campaign in 1904, to have a chapel built across the street to honour Saint Joseph.

About the same time, an epidemic broke out at a nearby college and Brother Andre volunteered as nurse. Not one person died. By now, the sick flooded the college daily and while some of his superiors called him a quack, Brother Andre insisted he did not cure but it was St. Joseph who cures. The flood of requests grew to 80,000 letters annually and he was permitted to receive the sick in a nearby tramway station. During this period while many of the teachers, parents and students supported him, there were many who opposed him and considered him dangerous to the school’s reputation.

In 1924, construction of a basilica named Saint Joseph’s Oratory began by the little chapel Brother Andre has constructed years earlier.

My Own Reflection:

I was born in 1941 and raised in Montreal. As I grew up, I learned about Saint Joseph’s Oratory, and it was only when I was a teenager that I first visited the Oratory. I remember vividly walking through the Oratory and seeing hundreds, if not thousands of crutches, braces, and many other medical devices on the walls which people had left who were cured. So many, many miracles. I was in awe. Later in life I reflected on the fact that anyone of us can be chosen to be a vessel for God’s purpose. Here was Alfred Bessette, who was baptized “conditionally” the day after he was born because he was so frail as they did not expect him to live. Because of his frailty, he was unable to do manual work and was extremely limited in learning to read and write leaving school at fourteen. In modern day terms, he would be considered a challenged person, both mentally and physically. However, it was God who chose Alfred and made him a vessel to bring miracles of healing to so many people through St. Joseph. It taught me the beautiful lesson to accept and respect every individual no matter their appearance, their abilities, or their position in life for they may well have been chosen to be His vessel.

Canonization:

Brother Andre died in 1937 at the age of ninety-one. A million people filed past his coffin. Beatified by Pope John Paul II on May 23, 1982, and after two miracles were recognized at Blessed Andre’s intercession, Pope Benedict XVI, on October 17, 2010, formally declared sainthood for him. He was the first saint of the Congregation of Holy Cross, the same religious order that founded the University of Notre Dame. His memorial is celebrated in Canada on January 7 and commemorated in most of the world by an optional memorial on January 6.