It is Saint Joseph who does miracles

suor Marzia Ceschia

Among the most pious devotees of Saint Joseph we must remember Brother André (1845-1937) canonised by Pope Benedict XVI on 17 October 2010. He was born Alfred Bissette in Quebec (in East Canada), from a poor francophone family: he was the eighth of twelve children: he became an orphan at the age of twelve and he was placed under the care of one of his aunts.

Then, searching for work, he emigrated to the United States with some French Canadians and after this experience he returned to Canada; then he entered in the novitiate of the Congregation of the Holy Cross receiving the religious name of Brother André: he was assigned as doorkeeper of Notre Dame College in Monreal and he continued this assignment for forty years.

From childhood he was very devoted to St. Joseph thanks to the support of his spiritual father, the Rev. André Provençal pastor of his parish who noticed his devotion. André prayed to Saint Joseph at the end of his novitiate when the congregation hesitated to accept him because of his frail health and the lack of formal education; on that occasion he promised to construct a big shrine in the saint’s honour if he were to be admitted into the congregation.

His prayers were answered and this simple professed brother (he will never become a priest) began to be known for his charity and his humility. Then his reputation as a healer by asking Saint Joseph’s intercession began to spread. He said again and again: “I do not heal, Saint Joseph heals, Jesus heals, trust in them”. He financed the construction of a shrine to his favourite saint by founding the brotherhood of St. Joseph and the revue “The annals of St. Joseph” and he received many donations.

The first oratory was opened in 1904 and he was assigned as its caretaker welcoming people who flocked to see him every day and interceding for them. When brother André died at the age of 91 an estimated one million people came to pay their respects in the Saint Joseph Oratory in Montreal, the biggest shrine of the world in honour of this saint.