While in Montreal last week, I was able to visit St. Joseph’s Oratory on Mount Royal. This is the shrine where St. Joseph came to be honored through the ministry of Br. Andre Bessette. The magnificence of the shrine is certainly contrasted with the small stature of Br. Andre, the lowly porter, who referred to himself as the dog for St. Joseph.
At Andre’s birth, the midwife, recognizing the poor health and frail condition of the infant’s health, performed an emergency baptism. His ailing health would follow him throughout his entire life, as many feared and doubted his abilities at many things. At the end of his novitiate, the superiors declined to approve him for first profession. Andre accepted this as God’s will, but made it known that happiness had pervaded his life in the novitiate, where he felt alive and content through the practice of hard work and prayer. He was given the concession to continue with an extended novitiate. Six months later he professed and despite his frail health, he would be strengthened through prayer and hard work to live for ninety-two years.
For sure, everything at the shrine shows God’s power being channeled through the lowliness of a porter which echoes Mary’s Magnificat from the gospel of Luke: “God looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness…the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name” (1: 48). Four sure, God’s healing presence was revealed to many by simply touching the hands of Br. Andre, the humble servant of Mount Royal, whose whole life drew from the patronage of St. Joseph.