Blessed André Bessette, who will be canonized in October, teaches by his example openness to others as an expression of love for God, affirmed the vice-postulator for his canonization cause.
ZENIT spoke with Holy Cross Father Mario Lachapelle about the significant moments and virtues that marked the religious brother's life.
In this interview, the priest also described the importance of this canonization for the Church in Canada, and for the faithful worldwide.
ZENIT: How did Brother André realize that he had a vocation to consecrate his life to the Lord?
Father Lachapelle: One can discern three important stages in the development of the life of faith of Brother André.
There is that of his youth (1845-1870), where he met with great trials (poor health and the lack of education, the loss of his two parents at a young age, exile in a foreign country to find work); this period enabled Brother André to consolidate intensely his relationship with God. Instead of turning him away from God, the unhappy events of life made him approach him.
Then there was the period that extends from 1870 (his entrance into the Congregation of the Holy Cross as a religious brother) to 1904 (the construction of the first chapel dedicated to St. Joseph on Mont Royal).
Many duties were then entrusted to the young religious despite his poor state of health. He was appointed, among other things, doorman of the Notre Dame College of the Cotes des Neiges in Montreal, Canada.
He received visitors and parents. Hence the other" became an important reality for Brother André; he opened himself to his neighbor as he knew previously how to open himself to God. He thus escaped being enclosed in an exclusive relationship with God where the trials of life could have led him.
He learned that one cannot really love God without loving one's neighbor or love others without recognizing God's presence in them.
Acceptance, compassion, openness to the other became the characteristic traits of his person. His reputation as a miracle-worker also began to spread beyond the walls of the college.
Finally, from 1904 to his death on January 6, 1937, his public ministry began. At 60, at an age where often one thinks only of retirement, he made himself the builder of the largest shrine ever dedicated to St. Joseph.
Brother André was not only the builder of a stone building but of a living Christian community. He became a remarkable unifier.
More than a million people came to pay him homage at his funeral despite the difficult winter weather and today also, more than two and a half million pilgrims and visitors come each year to the St. Joseph Oratory of Mont Royal.
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