Saint Brother André, Patron of Montreal

Saint André, born Alfred Bessette, came into the world in Saint-Grégoire-d’Iberville, in what was then called Canada East, on August 9, 1845, and died in Montreal on January 6, 1937.

From his early years he stood out for an unusually deep spirituality. He lost his father at the age of nine, and his mother died three years later, so Alfred found himself alone at twelve. He went to live with his aunt and her husband, who tried every way they could to have him learn a trade, but the boy was not strong enough for such hard work. Alfred could barely write his name or read his prayer book. At different times he worked as a blacksmith, a baker, a shoemaker and a wagon driver.

From early childhood Alfred Bessette was frail and often ill. Despite his piety, no one expected him to live long, let alone become the most famous religious figure in Quebec. As Brother André, he served as doorkeeper at Collège Notre-Dame in Montreal, a post he held for forty years. He received visitors, and his duties also included washing floors and windows, cleaning lamps, bringing in firewood and carrying letters. Brother André had a great love for Saint Joseph the carpenter and asked for his intercession in his prayers. When he visited the sick, he urged them to pray to this great saint so that their illness and troubles would go away. He would take oil from the lamp burning before Saint Joseph’s altar at the college and rub it on the sick, and they were quickly healed; people said they had been cured through the prayers of Saint Joseph and Brother André. Word of Brother André’s miracles and wonders spread quickly, and he became very popular among the faithful.

His fame spread beyond Canada to the United States and Europe, and then to the rest of the world.

In Montreal, Brother André succeeded in building a great shrine to Saint Joseph: Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal.

(“Since the arrival of the first settlers in New France at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Canada has had ten saints, thirteen blesseds and four venerables” — Canadian Encyclopedia, at the time of his canonization.)

On May 23, 1982, Pope John Paul II declared him Blessed.

He was then canonized on October 17, 2010, by Pope Benedict XVI. His feast is celebrated in Canada on January 7. It is worth noting that Brother André is the first Canadian-born male saint, while Saint Marguerite d’Youville (1701-1771), foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Montreal (the Grey Nuns), is regarded as the first Canadian-born saint.

Prepared by Rita, of the Sawt el Rab team