Ave Explores Series | Faith in Action | Week 1
God’s Doorkeeper, St. André Bessette
By Stephanie A. Sibal
“I am sending you a saint.”
Alfred Bessette was a small and fragile man who had little formal education, but a strong devotion to St. Joseph. His pastor encouraged a vocation to religious life, sending Bessette to the Brothers of the Congregation of Holy Cross with a note that foreshadowed his future as the Congregation’s first saint.
After he entered the Holy Cross Novitiate in 1870, Bessette took the name André and was assigned as doorkeeper of Notre Dame College in Montreal, which he continued after his profession of vows. He greeted visitors from all walks of life and prayed with them in his quiet way. These acts of love—his unconditional hospitality and compassion—are his examples to us of how to live the Gospel.
Br. André’s reputation began to spread as people reported physical healing after they prayed with him. So many people came to meet the humble servant that Holy Cross moved him to a trolley station across the street to see the sick. Br. André credited the source of these miracles to the intercession of St. Joseph.
Br. André wanted to build a shrine to his patron. He saved $200 from the nickels he earned giving haircuts in order to build a simple structure, which opened in 1904. Five years later, Br. André was assigned as the full-time caretaker of the Oratory of St. Joseph. Pilgrims flocked to the oratory, hoping for a miracle. Thousands of healings were attributed to Br. André’s intercession, and he became known as the “Miracle Man of Montreal.”
Br. André died on Epiphany in 1937, about thirteen years after construction began on a basilica near the shrine. Today the side chapels of the basilica—called St. Joseph Oratory—are adorned with the crutches of people who were healed through Br. André’s intercession. His simple act of visiting and praying with the sick—one of the Corporal Works of Mercy—was a powerful testament of God’s love and something every Christian can emulate.
“Brother André was the living proof that the weak, the outcast, the poor could also achieve great and beautiful things,” his biographer wrote.
He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1982 and canonized on October 17, 2010, by Pope Benedict XVI. St. André’s feast day is January 6.
Image of St. André Bessette provided by januaryjaneshop. Find it and all of the saint polaroids on Etsy and Instagram.
Stephanie A. Sibal is the director of stewardship and engagement at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Granger, Indiana, and former senior publicist at Ave Maria Press. For more information on St. André Bessette, visit the Congregation of Holy Cross, United States Province of Priests and Brothers and read Brother André: Friend of the Suffering, Apostle of Saint Joseph.
