Page 15 - Michael Journal 2020 March

u which she is the Patroness of the Holy Cross Congrega- seph, what would you do? Well, pray for this in my
tion. Frequently he walked around with Our Lady’s Ros- behalf.’ ” To the people who came to him with their
ary in his hand; and in visiting the sick or raising funds troubles — and thousands did — the friend of Saint
for the Oratory, he would take advantage of the car ride Joseph recommended the use of sacramentals, like
to recite not one but several Rosaries. In his simplicity, Saint Joseph’s oil or a Saint Joseph medal. Most of
he spoke of the Virgin as a child would: “If you consider all, he recommended persevering and confident pray-
all the saints, you will see that all of them had a de- er, usually prescribing a novena to his powerful bene-
votion to the Blessed Virgin; her intercession is most factor.
powerful, she is the Mother of God and the Mother of A typical example of the favors wrought through
men.” the intercession of Saint Joseph is this one: A girl at
The piety that he had toward the Patron of the a convent school not far from Quebec was severely
Universal Church was simple and childlike too: injured when another child struck her in the right eye
“When you invoke Saint Joseph, you don’t have to with an oar. The doctors tried to save the eye, but
speak much. You know your Father in heaven knows paralysis of the optic nerve set in, causing the girl to
what you need; well, so does His friend Saint Jo- lose her sight. The sisters at the school had heard of
seph.” “Tell him, ‘If you were in my place, Saint Jo- the cures at the Oratory and procured a medal of Saint

“A poor and humble servant”

Pope St. John Paul II beatified Brother Andre money
Bessette, the great apostle of devotion to Saint
Joseph, on May 23, 1982, and on that occasion,
said the following in his homily:
We venerate in Blessed Brother Andre Bes-
sette a man of prayer and a friend of the poor…
a truly astonishing man. The work of his whole
life — his long life of 91 years — was that of “a
poor and humble servant”: Pauper servus et hu-
milis, as was written on his tomb. A manual work-
er up to the age of twenty-five years, on a farm,
in workshops and factories, he then entered the
Brotherhood of the Holy Cross, who entrusted to
him, for almost forty years, the work of porter in Pope St. John Paul II in front of the tomb of
their college in Montreal; and finally for almost Brother Andre at St. Joseph’s Oratory in 1984
thirty years more he remained custodian of the
Saint Joseph’s Oratory near the college. money or education, with mediocre health, in
Where, then, does his unheard-of radiance, short, deprived of everything except a great faith
in God. It is not surprising that he felt himself
his fame among millions of people, come from? close to the life of Saint Joseph, the poor and ex-
A daily crowd of sick, afflicted, poor of all kinds iled worker, so close to the Saviour, whom Can-
and those who were handicapped or wounded ada and especially the Community of the Holy
by life found in his presence, in the parlour of the Cross have always greatly honoured. Brother
college, at the oratory, a welcoming ear, comfort Andre had to put up with incomprehension and
and faith in God, confidence in the intercession of mockery because of the success of his apostol-
Saint Joseph, in short, the way of prayer and the ate. But he remained simple and jovial. Turning
sacraments, and with the hope and often mani- to Saint Joseph, in the presence of the Blessed
fest relief of body and soul. Do not the poor today Sacrament, he himself recited, long and ardently,
have as much need of such love, of such hope, of in the name of the sick, the prayer that he taught
such an education in prayer? them. Is not his faith in the power of prayer one of
But what was it that gave Brother Andre this the most precious signs for the men and women
ability? God was pleased to give an attraction of our time, who are tempted to resolve their
and a marvellous power to this simple man, who problems without recourse to God?v
had himself known the misery of being an orphan
with twelve brothers and sisters, left without Pope St. John Paul II

16 MICHAEL March/April 2020 www.michaeljournal.org