October 13, 2010 // Local

Who was André Bessette?

Todays Catholic

As a novice in 1870.

Joseph Alfred Bessette (Brother André) was the eighth of 12 children born to Isaac and Clothilde Bessette who lived near Montreal. Alfred was baptized conditionally on the day he was born, Aug. 9, 1845. He was small and suffering from a stomach ailment that plagued him throughout his life. When Alfred was nine, his father was killed by a falling tree.

In 1920 at Notre Dame.

André’s true work, however, began in an unpredicted way. As he answered the door and greeted visitors and the boys at the college, he often heard tales of sickness and troubles. The little brother promised his prayers. Sometimes he would anoint sick visitors with St. Joseph’s oil. At a surprising rate, visitors began to report astonishing answers to prayer. Unexplainable healings from deadly diseases. Dramatic healings from depression. Reconciliations in families wounded for decades.

Last portrait. Date unknown.

Joseph Alfred Bessette (Brother André) was the eighth of 12 children born to Isaac and Clothilde Bessette who lived near Montreal. Alfred was baptized conditionally on the day he was born, Aug. 9, 1845. He was small and suffering from a stomach ailment that plagued him throughout his life. When Alfred was nine, his father was killed by a falling tree. Clothilde, a cheerful, loving woman, soon buckled under the task of supporting her 10 surviving children. She was soon forced to find homes for them all — except for Alfred. Because of the boy’s poor health and inability to do hard physical labor, she kept him with her and lived with her sister. Two years later, however, Clothilde died of tuberculosis at the age of 43. Alfred was devastated but found comfort in prayer.  From then on, the boy got by as well as he could. As a young man he tried different jobs but couldn’t keep them because of his fragile health. Though he could read and had a quick mind, his education was spotty, at best. In 1870, he joined the Holy Cross Brothers at St. Cesaire and took the religious name “André.” Brother André was initially assigned as a porter at Notre Dame College for boys in Montreal. As he later joked in a self-deprecating style that was to become one of his trademarks, “When I joined this community showed me the door and I remained there for 40 years.”

In the window of his small office near the front door, he set a small statue of St. Joseph turned towards Mount Royal. André always predicted that St. Joseph would one day be honored on that mountain, the largest in the city of Montreal. André’s true work, however, began in an unpredicted way. As he answered the door and greeted visitors and the boys at the college, he often heard tales of sickness and troubles. The little brother promised his prayers. Sometimes he would anoint sick visitors with St. Joseph’s oil. At a surprising rate, visitors began to report astonishing answers to prayer. Unexplainable healings from deadly diseases. Dramatic healings from depression. Reconciliations in families wounded for decades. “I do not cure,” Brother André would vehemently insist when people increasingly pointed him out as a “miracle man.” “St. Joseph cures.” Eventually, the little brother’s superiors allowed him to build a shrine to St. Joseph on the majestic Mount Royal. A small oratory began to draw the crowds and over the decades the magnificent St. Joseph Oratory rose high above the city. It was not completed until 1967, 30 years after Brother André’s death in 1937. Brother André was beatified in 1982. Today, St. Joseph’s Oratory and the tomb of the little brother draw 2 million visitors a year.