When Andre Bessette came to the Holy Cross Brothers in 1870, he carried with him a note from his parish priest saying, "I am sending you a saint." The Brothers found that difficult to believe.
Chronic stomach illness had made it impossible for Andre to hold a job very long and since he was a boy he had wandered from shop to shop and farm to farm, in his native Canada and in the United States, including working for a time in West Warwick. The Holy Cross Brothers were teachers and, at 25, Andre still did not know how to read and write. It seemed as if Andre approached the religious order out of desperation, not vocation.
Andre was also prayerful and deeply devoted to God and Saint Joseph. The Holy Cross Brothers took him into the novitiate and he was soon appointed Porter. He would later joke, "At the end of my novitiate, my superiors showed me the door, and I stayed there for forty years." Brother Andre had great devotion to St. Joseph and began the building of a basilica dedicated to the Lord’s Foster Father. He became widely known for his healing powers and his compassion for the poor and the sick.
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 never stopped working for God.
Brother André Bessette, C.S.C., was declared Venerable by the Catholic Church in 1978 the first step toward sainthood, and Blessed in 1982, the second step, and now Pope Benedict XVI has announced that he will formally be canonized a saint in the Catholic Church on October 17, 2010. Known popularly as the “miracle man of Montreal,” Brother André Bessette, C.S.C.—an unassuming porter who became legendary for his ministry to the sick and needy of Montreal—will soon be called Saint Andre! The saintly brother, who spent time working among mill workers of West Warwick, should serve as an example for all. Let us join together in 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
