SAINT ANDRE BESSETTE

 
Brother André was born Alfred Bessette in Quebec in 1845, one of at least a dozen siblings.  He lost both parents when only a boy of ten and twelve years old.
 
Relatives took him in, but poor health kept him from school.  He worked on farms, took up various trades, and labored in textile factories in the United States, but his weak constitution forced the young man to abandon those occupations.  During these unsettled years, Alfred developed a strong piety: some accounts say he was always praying.
 
Alfred returned to Canada where in 1867 his local pastor, remarking on the young man’s devout faith, first spoke to him about the religious life and Alfred entered the Congregation of the Holy Cross as a postulant in 1870.  The pastor who recommended him wrote the Congregation that he was sending them a saint.  His first assignment took him to Montreal’s Collège Notre-Dame, the equivalent of our high school, where his duties included doorkeeper, infirmarian (nurse), and lamp tender as well as errand boy, gardener, barber, launderer, and general handyman. 
 
Brother André took first vows to the order in 1872 and a year and a half later, final vows.  Ill health continued to plague the young religious, who nevertheless, toiled at his humble tasks. Visitors to the Collège, meeting him at the entrance, asked him to pray for them.  Thus began Brother André’s devotion to St. Joseph, who recently had been declared patron saint of the Universal Church.  Soon those penitents reported healings and cures after praying to St. Joseph.  These people and many other devotees helped Brother André build and over the years, enlarge the chapel and other facilities at what became the Oratory of St. Joseph.  Brother André left the Collège after 40 years of service in 1909, obeying an appointment as caretaker at the new St. Joseph Oratory.  As the Oratory grew, so also spread Brother André’s reputation as a saint and miracle worker.  He told visitors that he did not heal, that it was St. Joseph who performed these miracles.
 

On June 12, 1978 Pope Paul VI declares Brother André "Venerable", thus recognizing the heroic virtues of the Servant of God.

Brother André was beatified in 1982 by Pope John Paul II and canonized in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI.
 
St. Joseph’s Oratory now houses a basilica, carillon, tourist facilities, and most important, a famous statue of St. Joseph and the tomb of Saint André Bessette.  Visitors flock to the shrine to beg favors of St. Joseph and spiritual guidance from Saint André.  In 2016, Canadian bishops declared Saint André Patron Saint of Family Caregivers.
 
Write and tell us if your family tree includes the saint.  Use the Contact Us page and email us your genealogy connection to Saint André Bessette or if someone in your family’s history was cured with prayers from Saint André Bessette.  We’d also like to hear from you about memorable trips to the Saint Joseph Oratory,