Saint of the day for January 6: the story of Saint André Bessette

Saint of the day for January 6nd
(9 August 1845 - 6 January 1937)

The history of Saint André Bessette

Brother André expressed the faith of a saint with a lifelong devotion to Saint Joseph.

Illness and weakness have haunted André since birth. He was the eighth of 12 children born to a French-Canadian couple near Montreal. Adopted at 12, on the death of both parents, he became a farm worker. Various trades followed: shoemaker, baker, blacksmith: all failures. He was a factory worker in the United States during the boom times of the Civil War.

At the age of 25, André asked to enter the Congregation of Santa Croce. After a year of novitiate, he was not admitted due to his poor health. But with an extension and the solicitation of Bishop Bourget, it was finally received. He was entrusted with the humble job of janitor at Notre Dame College in Montreal, with additional duties as a sacristan, washerman and messenger. “When I entered this community, the superiors showed me the door and I stayed for 40 years,” he said.

In her little room by the door, she spent most of the night on her knees. On the window sill, facing Mount Royal, was a small statue of Saint Joseph, to whom he had been devoted since childhood. When asked about it, he said, "One day, Saint Joseph will be honored in a very special way at Mount Royal!"

When he heard that someone was sick, he went to visit him to cheer and pray with the sick. He lightly rubbed the sick man with oil from a lighted lamp in the college chapel. The word of the healing powers began to spread.

When an epidemic broke out in a nearby college, André volunteered to cure. Not a person died. The trickle of the sick at his door became a deluge. His superiors were uncomfortable; the diocesan authorities were suspicious; doctors called him a charlatan. "I don't care," he said again and again. "St. Joseph heals." Eventually he needed four secretaries to handle the 80.000 letters he received each year.

For many years the Holy Cross authorities had been trying to buy land in Mount Royal. Brother André and others climbed the steep hill and planted Saint Joseph medals. Suddenly, the owners gave in. André raised $ 200 to build a small chapel and began receiving visitors there, smiling through long hours of listening, applying St. Joseph's oil. Some have been treated, some have not. The pile of crutches, canes and braces grew.

The chapel has also grown. In 1931, there were gleaming walls, but the money ran out. “Put a statue of St. Joseph in the center. If he wants a roof over his head, he'll get it. “It took 50 years to build the magnificent Mount Royal Oratory. The sickly boy who could not keep a job died at 92.

He is buried in the Oratory. He was beatified in 1982 and canonized in 2010. In his canonization in October 2010, Pope Benedict XVI affirmed that Saint Andrew "lived the bliss of the pure in heart".

Reflection

Rub sick limbs with oil or a medal? Plant a medal to buy land? Isn't this superstition? Haven't we got over it for some time? Superstitious people rely only on the "magic" of a word or action. Brother André's oil and medals were authentic sacraments of a simple and total faith in the Father who allows himself to be helped by his saints to bless his children.