It is with much joy that the Bishops of Canada
welcome the 19 February 2010 announcement by
Pope Benedict XVI
of the canonization of Brother André.
"God's Doorkeeper" in Montréal to be Canonized
(RV - 19 Feb 10) Another person who will be declared a saint in October after today's announcement in the Consistory Hall of the Vatican was André Bessette, a religious of the Congregation of the Holy Cross from Canada.
The announcement is significant not only in the life of the Church in Canada, but also in the United States, where Brother André spent many years of his early life working in paper mills and factories.
Brother André is best known as the visionary founder of an Oratory dedicated to Saint Joseph in Montreal where people would gather to pray, a place which over the last century has grown into a massive shrine visited by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims.
Fr. Claude Grou, the Rector of St Joseph’s Oratory of Mont Royal, spoke to us about the continuing value of Brother André’s life for Christians throughout the world today.
