St. André Bessette: First Canadian-born saint was a healer who loved St. Joseph

St. André Bessette (1845–1937) was a brother of the Congregation of Holy Cross, which oversees the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Known as a healer with a great devotion to St. Joseph, he led the effort to build Montreal’s famous Oratory of St. Joseph. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Public domain

National Catholic Register, Jan 6, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

St. André Bessette (1845–1937) was a brother of the Congregation of Holy Cross, which oversees the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Known as both a healer and for his devotion to St. Joseph, he led the effort to build Montreal’s famous Oratory of St. Joseph.

Bessette, known affectionately as “Brother André,” was born in Quebec, Canada, the eighth of 12 children. He was sickly and had little education. His father was killed in a logging accident when Bessette was 9, and his mother died of tuberculosis when he was 12. He tried working on a farm and at a variety of trades to support himself, and he even headed to New England for a time to work in the textile mills.

He returned to Canada, where a parish priest took note of his remarkable piety. The priest encouraged him to try his vocation as a brother of the Congregation of Holy Cross and told the community: “I’m sending you a saint.”

Brother André performed menial duties for the community as gardener, lamp tender, nurse, barber, errand boy, and, most famously, porter (doorman) — greeting visitors and filling out Mass cards. He later joked: “When I joined this community, the superiors showed me the door, and I remained there 40 years.”

His prayers led to the cure of many who were sick, and he became known as the “Miracle Worker of Montreal.” He told the sick to pray, especially to St. Joseph. In 1904, Brother André joined with friends to build a small chapel in honor of St. Joseph on a mountainside where people could go to pray. The chapel was expanded to accommodate growing numbers of pilgrims, and in 1917, a crypt church was built that could hold 1,000 people.

In time, the magnificent St. Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal, a minor basilica and national shrine, would be built with the crypt church at its base. (Brother André’s small chapel can still be seen today, although it was relocated 100 yards away to allow room for the basilica.) The oratory is the world’s largest pilgrimage site dedicated to St. Joseph.

Thousands wrote to Brother André requesting his prayers during his lifetime. He died at age 91, surrounded by members of his community. A million people came to his funeral. 

He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, the first man born in Canada and the first member of the Congregation of Holy Cross to be canonized. His feast day is Jan. 6, and he is the patron of family caregivers.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.