Our school is named after St. André Bessette (1845-1937). Little, if anything, about his life suggested he would do great things: a body frail and weak from the moment of birth in rural Quebec; a limited and unspectacular education; attempts at a series of trades, all without success.

In time it became apparent that God had blessed him with an expansive heart and a deep faith. It was his gifts— not his limitations— that came to define him. For almost 70 years he lived a simple life of goodness and compassion as Brother André, the name he took when he entered the Congregation of Holy Cross. Forty of those years were spent serving as doorkeeper at Notre Dame College in Montreal, where he lived in an office near the entrance and slept on a bench.

His special love of and confidence in St. Joseph prompted St. Brother André to recommend devotion to the saint, particularly for the sick. Whether they came to him or he went to them, the suffering credited St. Brother André with amazing healing powers. In time, thousands began flocking to see him, but St. Brother André always insisted that no credit should go to him: "I do not cure. St. Joseph cures."

In 1904, a small chapel was built to honour his beloved St. Joseph. It soon became too small to accommodate the crowds. Enlarged several times, St. Joseph's Oratory was completed in 1967 and is located on Mount Royal in the heart of Montreal. Each year two million people come in search of the peace it promises. When André Bessette died in 1937, an estimated one million people filed past his coffin. "It was as if all of Quebec stopped breathing," one observer noted. We at St. Brother André draw inspiration from his humility and reverence. On February 19, 2010, the church accepted the cause for the sainthood for Brother André and he was canonized on October 17, 2010 in Rome. This year in 2020, we celebrate the 10 year anniversary of St. Brother André's canonization.