Forty years ago, on May 23, 1982, Brother André was consecrated in Rome by Pope John Paul II. He will be canonized on October 17, 2010. An emblematic figure of Saint-Joseph’s Oratory, the man dubbed “the man of the miracles of Mount Royal” reaped the people there. Our archives testify that for many believers, his influence is over time.
As early as 1958 at the Vatican, the Sacred Congregation of Rites announced that it would carry out procedures that would likely lead to the beatification of Brother André. An ecclesiastical court had to investigate the miracles associated with religion.
Beatification gives the right to public worship confined to a particular region, while canonization gives the right to universal worship.
On May 23, 1982, journalist Réal D’Amour attended the beatification ceremony in St. Petersburg. Peter’s Square in Rome.
Brother André is beatified along with five other members of the religious community, including Sister Marie-Rose (Eulalie Durocher).
5,000 Quebecers travel to Rome for the occasion. Religious communities were present, but so were Quebec Education Minister Camille Laurin and Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau.
The impressive two-hour ceremony brings together 30,000 people. Monsignor Paul Grégoire asked Pope John Paul II to recognize Brother André blessed.
” Brother André had to endure misunderstandings and ridicule because of the success of his apostolate. But he remained simple and cheerful by going to Saint-Joseph. He himself practiced for a long time and with zeal, on behalf of the sick, the prayer he taught them. “
On October 17, 2010, on the occasion of the canonization of Mount Royal’s thaumaturge, journalist Jocelyne Allard returned from Brother André’s journey with the program. Second look.
Alfred Bessette was born on August 9, 1845 near the village of Saint-Grégoire d’Iberville, about fifty kilometers southeast of Montreal. He became an orphan at the age of 12 and ran several small businesses reserved for the uneducated. After becoming a doorman of Notre-Dame College, he became Sainte-Croix’s brother at age 25.
In 1904, he obtained permission to build a small chapel on Mount Royal in honor of Saint-Joseph, to whom he had great devotion.
In the report, archive images emphasize Léopold Lussier, a friend of Brother André, testifying to the way the man of the Church performed his miracles. He said to them: wipe yourselves with the oil and medallion of St. Joseph and ask him to help you and I will also pray for your healing.
Even though many call him a deceiver, his faith is still contagious. In the midst of the economic crisis, people will contribute to help build the oratory.
The oratory will be the first sanctuary dedicated to Saint-Joseph in the world, the counterpart of the first sanctuary dedicated to Mary at Lourdes in France.
In the report of second look, sociologist Françoise Deroy-Pineau, author of three works on Brother André, mentioned that she gathered many people in the same way as a sports champion or a politician.
On January 6, 1937, at Brother André’s funeral, an unprecedented crowd thronged the Oratory of Saint Joseph. Believers approach the coffin to pay their last respects to this little man to whom the miracles of healing are attributed.
” Brother André’s phenomenon is rooted in Quebec’s popular culture and it continues to live on by transcending Quebec’s popular culture as Saint-Joseph’s Oratory has now become a microcosm of the whole world and the people. in the lower part of the Côte-des- Snows. , representing all the nations of the world, ascends the oratory on that particular Sunday. “
Source: Radio-Canada
