Blessed Brother André

Today is a day I am proud to be a catholic--and part of the Holy Cross family. I learned of the life of a humble man named Bl. Brother André while attending Holy Cross College. He lived a very humble life as a brother in Montreal and served the congregation in different menial roles. But somehow, this man developed a following of local Catholics that believed he helped them in healing their ailments. He didn't do much more then to direct them to pray for St. Joseph's intercession--but it seemed to be just what many needed. His life's mission was to build a magnificent church in honor of St. Joesph. And that he did. The Oratory of St. Joseph stands on a Mount high above Montreal and is visited by thousands yearly--and is decorated with many chruches that are no longer needed by those who say Br. André helped in curing them of their physical aliments.

At this very moment, the Pope is canonizing Blessed Brother André as Saint André of Montreal. The live stream from the Vatican is in French, so I'll have to wait for the re-broadcast in English at 9am.

My favorite professor from college introduced me to the life of this man. My professor is blessed to be in Rome to witness this amazing moment in person! While doing my initial research on Br. André I got instant chills when I learned he was made venerable on Ronnie's birthday and beatified on my first birthday. I believe in little signs like that and from that moment I felt a special connection to him. I went on to learn as much about his life as I could and began to pray for his intercession.

In the Catholic faith, a person must be dead for 5 years before a case for their sainthood can even be made. At that time, if enough people have petitioned the Vatican for a case to be made, the Vatican creates a special team to see if the cause should be venerated. Once made venerable, miracles may be attributed. The first attributed miracle and the person is recognized as blessed. The second, they are canonized as a Saint.

On a side note, the Vatican will dissect any claimed attributed miracle with every scienctific scrutiny at their disposable. In other words, they try with every tool at their disposal to prove the miracle was due to human intervention. When it cannot be proven that human hands caused the miracle, only then is it considered legitimate.

Why have saints? To me, that has always been an easy one to defend in the argument of faith. Since we are all called to live as one, why not have models to look toasted who already have, especially ones who have lived among us in modern times?

Saint André of Montreal is the first member of the Congregation of Holy Cross to be elevated to Sainthood.

Ave crux, spes unica.