By Aaron Villegas Andre was born with the name Alfred at a little town called Mont-Saint-Gregoire, Quebec. He was the eighth kid out of the twelve in his family. Unfortunately, four out of 12 died at infancy. When he was born he was rather frail which means he looked really weak and a curé, baptized Andre “conditionally” the next day he was born. He was orphaned by he was 12 as his father got crushed by a tree during work when Alfred was 9 and his mother died of tuberculosis. Alfred moved to Moosup, Connecticut at the age of 18 but moved back to Canada just four years after.
The pastor of his parish noticed Alfred’s devotion to the church and introduced Alfred to the Congregation of the Holy Cross. The pastor sent a letter to the congregation with a note that said: “I am sending you a saint.” At first, they didn’t accept Alfred due to his health but he never gave up trying to join and with the help of the Archbishop of Montreal, he got in on December 27, 1870. At this time, he took the name Andre, which was the name of the pastor who led him to join the Holy Cross. During this time he was assigned to the job of doorkeeper of Notre Dame College in Montreal because of his frail health and lack of education growing up. He always greeted visitors and made sure all their needs were met! When people prayed with Andre, people started experiencing some healings and Andre slowly got a reputation of a healer. His popularity grew to a point where the Congregation let him go to a nearby trolley station and check on the people there. Andre remained humble during this time and actually kind of being confused on why people praised him because he knew why he was able to heal these people. He knew that the source of the healings was from St. Joseph’s intercession. He wanted to devote something more for St. Joseph and so he started giving people haircuts for 5 cents each. He eventually earned $200. That’s 4000 haircuts. And eventually opened up the Oratory of St. Joseph on October 09, 1904. Andre was eventually released from being a doorkeeper and became a full-time caretaker of the Oratory. This attracted many pilgrims and Andre served the people by serving sick visitors due to his reputation as a healer. He became known as the “Miracle Man of Montreal” and many miraculous healings are connected through Andre’s intercession. Andre died on January 6, 1937, at the age of 91. Reportedly, an estimated one million people came to pay respects and endured the cold. His body was laid outside the Oratory. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 17, 2010. St. Andre Bessette, Pray for Us!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
PulsePulse is our Jr High group (Grades 6-9) for those who want to be journeying to learn more about God and how He fits into this crazy thing called life! From Saint of the Day to talks to activities, we work to understand more about our faith and its importance in our everyday lives as we all work to become modern day saints. Categories
All
|