“Brother André Bessette, originally from Quebec in Canada and a religious of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, experienced suffering and poverty starting very young. This led him to pay recourse to God in prayer and an intense interior life. As porter of the College of Notre Dame in Montreal, he showed limitless charity and made every effort to relieve the sufferings of those who went to entrust themselves to him.

Though a man of little education, he nevertheless understood where to find the essential of his faith. For him, to believe meant to freely submit himself out of love to the divine will. Abiding everything in the mystery of Jesus, he lived the beatitude of the pure hearts, of personal uprightness. This simplicity has enabled many to see God.

He was responsible for building the Oratory of St. Joseph in Mont Royal, where he would stay as a faithful guardian until his death in 1937.

‘Do not try to have your struggles taken away,’ he said, ‘rather ask for the grace to carry them well.’ For him, everything spoke of God and his presence. May we, following him, seek God with simplicity to find him always present in the midst of our lives!”