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Father Claude Grou stands in front of a statue of Brother Andre at St. Joseph's Oratory. The humble hero would have been comfortable with canonization, the oratory rector argues, "if this can help people to love St. Joseph better, if this can help people come closer to God." Before recognizing a saint, the Catholic church says it thoroughly investigates the subject to ensure he or she led a remarkable and exemplary Christian life. The subject must also have at least two miracles recognized as taking place through his or her intercession. The Vatican says it must confirm that "the act...

Franciscan Media Image: photograph of Saint Andre Bessette | Wikimedia Saint André Bessette Saint of the Day for January 6 (August 9, 1845 – January 6, 1937)  Saint André Bessette’s Story Brother André expressed a saint’s faith by a lifelong devotion to Saint Joseph.Sickness and weakness dogged André from birth. He was the eighth of 12 children born to a French Canadian couple near Montreal. Adopted at 12, when both parents had died, he became a farmhand. Various trades followed: shoemaker, baker, blacksmith—all failures. He was a factory worker in the United States during the boom times of the...

January 6, 2017 Christmas Weekday Reading 1 1 Jn 5:5-13 Beloved:Who indeed is the victor over the worldbut the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the one who came through water and Blood, Jesus Christ,not by water alone, but by water and Blood. The Spirit is the one who testifies,and the Spirit is truth. So there are three that testify,the Spirit, the water, and the Blood, and the three are of one accord. If we accept human testimony,the testimony of God is surely greater. Now the testimony of God is this,that he has...

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...