Brother André

Brother André, born Alfred Bessette in Quebec in 1845, was a frail, barely schooled lay brother of the Congregation of Holy Cross who spent decades as the porter of the Collège Notre-Dame in Montreal, answering its door. Sick people began coming to him, and thousands of healings were credited to his prayers to Saint Joseph. In 1904 he was given the money to build a small chapel on the slope of Mount Royal.

That chapel grew into Saint Joseph's Oratory, Canada's largest church, under a 97 meter dome. Brother André died in 1937 and was made a saint in 2010. His body lies in a tomb beneath the church, except his heart, which is kept in a reliquary; it was stolen in 1973 and recovered in 1974. On our Montreal walk the Oratory is the last stop. Find the small original chapel first, then climb to the basilica.