André Bessette
Saint André Bessette is the patron of caregivers because of the work that filled his long life: as the humble doorkeeper of a Montreal college, this frail, nearly illiterate brother received the endless stream of the sick and afflicted who came to his door, and through his prayer to Saint Joseph thousands reported healings. He is the patron of those rejected by religious orders because he was nearly turned away himself — accepted into the Congregation of Holy Cross only provisionally on account of his poor health and lack of schooling, the man dismissed as fit for nothing became its greatest glory. “It is Saint Joseph who cures,” he always insisted; “I am only his little dog.”
Saint André Bessette was a humble Holy Cross brother from Quebec, Canada, known for his extraordinary devotion to Saint Joseph. Born in 1845, he was orphaned at age twelve and worked as a manual laborer before entering religious life. As doorkeeper of Notre-Dame College in Montreal, he welcomed thousands of sick and afflicted people. He built Saint Joseph’s Oratory, now the largest church in Canada.
