On the Doorkeeper of St. Joseph

the soon-to-be Saint Andre Bessette:

At the end of February, during the special consistory for the new Saints, Pope Benedict established the date of Brother André’s canonization: October 17, 2010. Brother André will become the 11th Saint in the Canadian Church.

I have had a personal devotion to Brother André ever since my first visit to the Oratory in 1976 when I was a high school student. Brother André taught me back then:“Ite ad Joseph”, “Go to Joseph” and entrust to the Holy One of Nazareth your projects and dreams, that he may protect you and give success to the work of your hands.

Brother Andre was renowned as a wonder-worker during his lifetime:

...As for Brother André, the public nature and frequency of the miracles he worked make them impossible to dispute. He cured many of the students at the college, so many that he developed a reputation as a great miracle worker.

One day, as the pious porter was scrubbing the floor in the parlor of the college, a lady came to see him, having heard of his reputation. She was so afflicted with rheumatism that she could only walk with the assistance of two men supporting her by holding each arm. Her request to Brother André was simple enough: “I am suffering from rheumatism. I want you to heal me.” Not looking up from the floor he was still busily scrubbing, Brother André said to the men assisting her, “Let her walk.” The woman walked out unassisted.

As the school’s doorkeeper, Frère André saluted and bid farewell to the many guests who came to the college. Having a keen interest in their spiritual welfare and a symphetic ear for their problems, the little doorman could often tell who was in need of his prayers or counsel. One day he noticed on the face of a guest — the father of a boarding student — a preoccupied, strained expression. When Brother André learned that the man was worried about his sick wife, he told him, “But she is not so sick as you think. At this very moment she became better.” The man was quite cynical, for he knew that his wife had been ill for many years. Yet upon arriving home, his wife greeted him at the door, perfectly healthy, in good spirits, and inquiring about the couple’s children. The man later learned, upon speaking with his wife’s nurse, that she had asked to be taken out of bed exactly when Brother André pronounced the words, “At this very moment, she became better.”

Father Henri-Paul Bergeron, a Holy Cross Priest who knew Frère André, gives an account in his book, The Wonder Man of Mount Royal, of an event that recalls some of those recorded in the Gospels:

“One day as he was going along Bienville Street in Montreal, a sick woman was brought to him. Immediately all of the sick of the neighborhood, children, men and women, were brought out until the whole street was filled with the sick and the infirm. Brother André attended to all with kindness, and his chauffeur. . . making his way through the crowd, remarked:

‘How wonderful; it is like a scene from the life of Our Lord: everyone rushed forth to beg for favors and cures.’

‘Perhaps so’ replied the Brother, ‘but God is surely making use of a very vile instrument...’”

The stories go on. For more on the saint, see here and here (on the home page of the Oratory of St. Joseph Br. Andre founded).