André Bessette
| Saint André Bessette, C.S.C. | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
August 9, 1845 Mont-Saint-Grégoire, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | January 6, 1937 (aged 91) Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Venerated in |
Catholic Church (Canada and the United States, and the Congregation of Holy Cross) |
| Beatified | May 23, 1982, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City, by Pope John Paul II |
| Canonized | October 17, 2010, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI |
| Major shrine |
Saint Joseph's Oratory Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Feast | January 6 (United States), January 7 (Canada) |
André Bessette, C.S.C. (9 August 1845 – 6 January 1937), more commonly known as Brother André (French: Frère André), and since his canonization as Saint André of Montreal, was a lay brother of the Congregation of Holy Cross and a significant figure of the Roman Catholic Church among French-Canadians, credited with thousands of reported miraculous oil healings associated within his pious devotion to Saint Joseph.
Bessette was declared venerable in 1978 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1982.Pope Benedict XVI approved the decree of sainthood for Blessed André on 19 February 2010, with the formal canonization taking place on 17 October 2010.
He was born Alfred Bessette in Mont-Saint-Grégoire, Quebec, a small town situated 40 kilometres (25 mi) southeast of Montreal. Bessette was the eighth of 12 children (four of whom died in infancy). He was so frail when he was born that the curé baptized him "conditionally" the following day, completing an emergency ritual performed at his birth. He was from a working-class family; his father, Isaac Bessette, was a carpenter and lumberman, and his mother, Clothilde Foisy Bessette, saw to the education of her children. In 1849, with employment scarce and his family living in poverty, Alfred's father decided to move to Farnham (in Quebec) where he hoped to earn a living as a lumberman. Tragically, he lost his life in an accident, crushed by a falling tree, when Alfred was only nine years old. His wife found herself widowed at the age of forty with ten children in her care. She died of tuberculosis within three years, and Alfred found himself orphaned at the age of twelve.
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