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Brother Andre, Quebec's Humble Healer
The Daily Telegraph (UK) ^ | 2/19/10 | Michel Viatteau

Posted on 02/19/2010 6:37:39 AM PST by marshmallow

Diminutive, shy and with little education, Alfred Bessette of Quebec hardly seemed destined to become the Canadian province's first Catholic saint.

But he reputedly had the gift of healing, which he sometimes exercised by the laying on of hands, and sometimes did not need to.

The faithful say he could simply say in his gruff voice, "leave your crutches and walk" to cure a crippled person.

In the nave of Montreal's imposing St Joseph's Oratory, dozens of canes are testimony to the cures attributed to Bessette, later to become Brother Andre.

The sanctuary was built using the gifts of thousands of pilgrims attracted by Brother Andre's charisma.

However his path was strewn with obstacles.

Born in 1845 in Mont-Saint-Gregoire of Iberville, 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the east of Montreal, he was orphaned at the age of 12.

His father, a woodworker, was killed by a falling tree while his mother succumbed to tuberculosis three years later, leaving him in the care of an aunt.

Andre did odd jobs, including two years in textile mills in the United States before he returned to Quebec.

Deeply religious, he applied to join the congregation of Sainte Croix in the village of Cote des Neiges, today a neighborhood of Montreal, but the order initially refused him because he was of poor health.

Finally accepted, he became Brother Andre in 1870.

Because he could barely read or write, Brother Andre was assigned as a porter at the order's College of Notre Dame, manning the door, scrubbing the floor and working in the garden.

He slept very little and lived only on bread dipped in milk.

"Our superiors put me at the door, and I remained there for 40 years," he said later without regrets.

Brother Andre urged the sick to pray to Saint Joseph...........

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Ministry/Outreach
KEYWORDS: brotherandre; catholic

1 posted on 02/19/2010 6:37:39 AM PST by marshmallow
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To: marshmallow
We summered in Canada in 1956. We visited the cathedral and saw the canes, crutches and wheel chairs that left there.

I was an alter boy and when I spoke of our trip that fall our priests asked for copies of the pictures we took.

The following week these pictures had been blown up and were posted in the back of the church. The sermons spoke of faith and hope displayed by the results pictured in the back.

2 posted on 02/19/2010 7:18:12 AM PST by Young Werther (wtih)
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To: marshmallow
Brother Andre urged the sick to pray to Saint Joseph, to whom he attributed all his purported miracle cures.

Our church is becoming cancer-free. We attribute this to Jesus Christ. . . by His stripes we were healed. The gift of healing comes through the Holy Spirit.

3 posted on 02/19/2010 7:20:29 AM PST by stars & stripes forever ( Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness)
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To: stars & stripes forever

God performs the miracle, but the favor is obtained through the prayers of St. Joseph.


4 posted on 02/19/2010 7:25:06 AM PST by Pyro7480 ("If you know how not to pray, take Joseph as your master, and you will not go astray." - St. Teresa)
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To: Pyro7480
but the favor is obtained through the prayers of St. Joseph.

God doesn't need to otain favor from anyone. Can the pot tell the potter what to do?

5 posted on 02/19/2010 7:35:48 AM PST by stars & stripes forever ( Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness)
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To: stars & stripes forever
Can the pot tell the potter what to do?

Jesus submitted Himself to the authority of His parents. "And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them" -Luke 2:51

6 posted on 02/19/2010 7:53:10 AM PST by Pyro7480 ("If you know how not to pray, take Joseph as your master, and you will not go astray." - St. Teresa)
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To: stars & stripes forever
The Saints can petition God just as you can. Asking them to pray for you is like asking FReepers to pray for you. Why pray alone?

Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.

The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand.

7 posted on 02/19/2010 8:07:10 AM PST by agere_contra
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To: stars & stripes forever
God doesn't need to otain favor from anyone.

You've got it backwards.

We seek God's favor through the intercessory prayers of others.

Can the pot tell the potter what to do?

No.

It's called petitioning. Prayer.

We pray to God and we ask others to pray to God on our behalf.

8 posted on 02/19/2010 8:07:26 AM PST by marshmallow ("A country which kills its own children has no future" -Mother Teresa of Calcutta)
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To: Pyro7480; stars & stripes forever

Sigh...............

How many times do we tell the Protestants that God performs the miracles?

We ask the saints in prayer to intercede for us in heaven. Better to have a door and window in a house than only one window — my lame example this morning.


9 posted on 02/19/2010 8:08:05 AM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: marshmallow
Brother Andre, Quebec's Humble Healer
Canada’s Brother Andre moves closer to sainthood
Blessed Andre Bessette - 1845-1937
10 posted on 02/19/2010 8:08:50 AM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: marshmallow

Brother Andre, pray for us that we might be healed. We can walk, but we are murdering our own children.


11 posted on 02/19/2010 8:11:55 AM PST by agere_contra
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Brother Andre Books on Amazon
12 posted on 02/19/2010 8:44:07 AM PST by BlessedBeGod (New Wizard of Oz: Pelosi as the Wicked Witch of the West & Michelle as the Wicked Witch of the East.)
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To: marshmallow

I remember back in 1990 when I went to Montreal, I had the opportunity to visit Mount Saint Joseph’s. It is a HUGH shrine and you have to use the esscelater to get around. Seen the original shrine with all those crutches.


13 posted on 02/19/2010 10:22:03 AM PST by Biggirl ("Jesus talked to us as individuals"-Jim Vicevich/Thanks JimV!=^..^==^..^==^..^==^..^==^..^=)
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To: Salvation

It does not surprise me. This is all based on the scripture passage about Jesus being the only intercessor between God and man.


14 posted on 02/19/2010 10:25:12 AM PST by Biggirl ("Jesus talked to us as individuals"-Jim Vicevich/Thanks JimV!=^..^==^..^==^..^==^..^==^..^=)
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To: Salvation
How many times do we tell the Protestants that God performs the miracles?

God performs the miracles.

We stand in faith on the reliability of the Holy Scriptures.

We pray through the Holy Spirt, (the Counselor, Who speaks in groans we cannot understand) in the name of Jesus Christ, by Whose stripes we were healed.

Jesus is interceding on our behalf before the Father 24/7.

God promises to make all things good for those who love the Lord, according to His purpose for us.

15 posted on 02/19/2010 11:41:52 AM PST by stars & stripes forever ( Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness)
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To: Biggirl
This is all based on the scripture passage about Jesus being the only intercessor between God and man.

Do you mean: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh to the Father, except through me. John 14:6

16 posted on 02/19/2010 11:53:52 AM PST by stars & stripes forever ( Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness)
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To: stars & stripes forever

But also did not the Apostle Paul there is only “one mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus?”


17 posted on 02/19/2010 2:38:16 PM PST by Biggirl ("Jesus talked to us as individuals"-Jim Vicevich/Thanks JimV!=^..^==^..^==^..^==^..^==^..^=)
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