| Notes |
- 14B355368. Alfred Bessette - born 8 Sep 1845 in Saint-Gregoire, Quebec,
Canada. Saint Andre Bessette.
Saints Alive
Bl. Andre Bessette, C.S.C
(1845-1937)
Few visitors to Montreal fail to visit the stunning Basilica of St. Joseph that crowns the “Royal Mountain” from which the city gets its name. This shrine, noted for its miracles, was the great achievement of a little Holy Cross brother, Andre Bessette.
Baptized Alfred, Bessette was of French-Canadian stock, the sixth of the ten children of Isaac Bessette, a carpenter of Iberville, Quebec. Of frail health from birth, Alfred learned from his mother not only piety but the value of self-denial. Unfortunately, he lost both parents before reaching 12. Cousins raised him, but they often laughed at his puny frame and his little penitential practices.
As a member of the working class, Alfred was obliged to earn his own living. He tried cobbling, baking, blacksmithing and farming, and served likewise as the sacristan of his parish church. Physical weakness did not permit him to stay long at any of his jobs. In 1921 he went to Connecticut. There he earned a dollar a day working long hours in the mills at Hartford, Mooseup and Phoenix. At other times he engaged farming. Once again, ill health kept him from long-term employment.
When Alfred returned to Canada after three years in New England, he was close to 24. His spiritual advisor now helped him discern his true calling. Gladly accepting the priest’s recommendation, Bessette applied for entrance into the Holy Cross Brothers, who had a novitiate on Mount Royal. Received in this order, in 1870, he was given the religious name “Andre” (Andrew). For the next 40 years, Brother Andre was to grow in holiness as porter of the Brother’s College of Notre Dame. It was an ideal assignment, for he was deeply spiritual, efficient, personable, and humorous. His gentle smile charmed those whom he encountered, and he became known as a “friend to all.”
Since childhood, Bessette had been devoted to St. Joseph, the patron saint of Canada. He was happy to find that Joseph was also a favorite of the Holy Cross Brothers. In 1890, he was inspired to set up a tiny chapel of St. Joseph in the woods of Mount Royal near the College. Through his quiet persuasion people began to visit this shrine, and sick people were soon declaring themselves cured there. As the crowds of pilgrims increased, the Holy Cross Congregation had to enlarge the original chapel three times.
In 1910, Montreal’s Archbishop, Paul Bruchesi, after a careful investigation, officially approved of the shrine as a devotional center. Meanwhile, the little Brother who had promoted the movement and was always on hand to greet and counsel pilgrims, was more and more frequently spoken of as the agent of the physical and moral miracles performed on Mount Royal. But Brother Andre always protested such remarks. “It is not I but God who is responsible,” he would say. “All this comes through St. Joseph’s prayers. I am only St. Joseph’s little dog!” The present vast basilica, begun in 1922, was dedicated only in 1955. Brother Andrew did not live to see its completion. He died on the feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1937.
The nationwide attention given by the press and radio to his death showed the international prominence that he had merited. Over half a million mourners passed by his body as it lay in state. Many touched him with their medals or rosaries so as to have some memento and relic of this remarkable man.
Brother Andre had once said, “The good one does on earth is nothing in comparison with the good one can do in heaven.” More and more, after his death, pilgrims to St. Joseph’s shrine also prayed to the little Brother who had been his devoted promoter. Only three years after his death, the first steps were taken towards the canonization of the “Miracle Man of Montreal.” The day for proclaiming him a saint has not yet arrived; but on May 23, 1982, Pope John Paul II solemnly declared him “Blessed.”
Blessed Andrew Bessette lived and worked in Canada and the United States, two nations more noted for commerce than for sanctity. Perhaps that is why God has given us this saintly man – this “pauper, servus at humilis” (“poor, humble server of others”) to remind us that although we live in a materialistic world, we can and must always keep our sights lifted up to heaven. Father Robert F. McNamara
Catholic News Service, 4 October 2010
Blessed Andre Bessette will by Holy Cross Brother’s first saint
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Blessed Andre Bessette, 1845-1937, the founder of St. Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal, will be the Holy Cross Brothers' first saint when he is canonized Oct. 17 at the Vatican. Blessed Andre is known for his intense piety, famed for miraculous cures and praised for his dedication to seeing the oratory built.
He was born Alfred Bessette Aug. 9, 1845, near Montreal. He was one of 12 children and suffered from a chronic stomach ailment that kept him out of school and often without work. His father died when he was 9 and his mother died when he was 12.
When he entered the Congregation of the Holy Cross in 1870, his childhood parish priest, Father Andre Provencal, sent a letter to the novice master saying, "I am sending a saint to your congregation." For 40 years, Brother Andre served as the doorman of Notre Dame College, the community's school in Montreal. He developed and spread devotion to St. Joseph and, through his healing touch, thousands of people were cured; he became known as the "Miracle Man of Montreal."
Springfield Republican, May 1, 1928
Brother Andre Leaves
Brother Andre, healing religious of Montreal, who has been the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Homer J. Bessette of 45 Athol street, this city, for the past few days, left by motor for Montreal yesterday morning. The trip is being made in Mr. Bessette’s automobile. The northward journey will be interrupted by a halt at Richford, Vt., where Brother Andre’s sister lives.
Orland Park Relatives in Rome for canonization of ‘Brother Andre’
BY CASEY TONER SouthtownStar
Last Modified: Nov 4, 2010 12:04PM
As of Sunday, six relatives in Orland Park will have a saint in their family.
Richard and Jane Bessette and their daughter Claire, along with Franny and Charlie Durbin and son Andy Durbin, are in Rome to attend the canonization of a distant cousin: "Blessed Brother Andre" Bessette -- better known as the "Miracle Man of Montreal."
In February, Pope Benedict XVI announced Brother Andre was one of six candidates who would become saints. Bessette, who lived from 1845 to 1937, was a French-Canadian member of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Catholic order of brothers and priests.
After joining the congregation, he worked as a doorman at Notre Dame College in Quebec, where the church credited him with miraculous healing of the sick. He went on to found St. Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal.
Forty-one years after his death, Bessette was deemed eligible to become a saint, and Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1982.
"I am so excited, and we're honored to have him in our family," Claire Bessette, 15, said before she headed to Rome.
His near-sainthood status has "been a big part of my family since I was little,'' she said. "We're really low key, and we don't make a deal about it to other people. Finally, it's coming, and it's really exciting.''
A cousin of Brother Andre's was Simeon Bessette, Claire's great-great-grandfather. Simeon Bessette immigrated to Chicago's Brighton Park community in 1879 with his wife and 10 children. One of Simeon's sons, Felix, had a son named Lucien, who is Claire's grandfather.
At the ceremony Sunday, Pope Benedict will sign a decree recognizing Brother Andre as a saint. His relatives likely will get seats close to the pope for the ceremony, said Chicago Archdiocese canon lawyer William H. Woestman.
Claire's family will be part of a larger group of 700 people associated with St. Joseph's Oratory who are to attend the canonization.
This isn't the first journey for the Bessette family to honor their cousin. Four years ago, they traveled to St. Joseph's Oratory, where they looked upon the crutches of once-disabled people whom the church says Brother Andre cured. Brother Andre attributed his good works to praying to St. Joseph.
"To know that I'm related to the man that inspired that" is overwhelming, Claire Bessette said. "I'm amazed."
Claire, a sophomore at Marian Catholic, will spend a week with her family in Rome. She was given a simple theology assignment for the week of classes she is missing from school: Keep a journal. That's a homework assignment she will happily complete, she said.
Brother Andre is an inspiration to Catholics everywhere, Woestman said.
"We all have heroes," Woestman said. ". . . He has a popular devotion from the ordinary people. He was a simple, ordinary man with prayer."
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Bassett Family Association Database
1845 - 