It is Saint Joseph who does miracles

suor Marzia Ceschia

Among the most pious devotees of Saint Joseph we must remember Brother André (1845-1937) canonised by Pope Benedict XVI on 17 October 2010. He was born Alfred Bissette in Quebec (in East Canada), from a poor francophone family: he was the eighth of twelve children: he became an orphan at the age of twelve and he was placed under the care of one of his aunts. Then, searching for work, he emigrated to the United States with some French Canadians and after this experience he returned to Canada; then he entered in the novitiate of the Congregation of the Holy Cross receiving the religious name of Brother André: he was assigned as doorkeeper of Notre Dame College in Monreal and he continued this assignment for forty years. From childhood he was very devoted to St. Joseph thanks to the support of his spiritual father, the Rev. André Provençal pastor of his parish who noticed his devotion. André prayed to Saint Joseph at the end of his novitiate when the congregation hesitated to accept him because of his frail health and the lack of formal education; on that occasion he promised to construct a big shrine in the saint’s honour if…