Page 11 - Michael Journal 2020 March

u serious. His superior at the College, Father Louage, His Apostles that signs would follow their preaching.
was not particularly impressed by Brother Andre and He was true to this promise: “But they going forth
oftentimes disciplined him in what seemed to be an preached every where: the Lord working withal, and
unfair manner. Because of this, Brother Andre was confirming the word with signs that followed” (Mark
given the name “the lightning rod of the college” by 16:20). As is plain from Church History and the lives
the other religious, who said, “He receives the bolts of the saints, the divine foundation of the Church was
of Father Louage.” In all of this, the pious religious proved by miracles in every age.
persevered without the slightest protest, wishing to Since Our Lord’s time, then, there have been suf-
unite his sufferings to Christ’s instead of wasting them ficient — and oftentimes more than sufficient — extra-
by complaining. ordinary proofs for all to know the One True God and
It was soon after his assignment at the college His One True Religion. And so, in this age of great
that those supernatural phenomena which marked intellectual pride, God manifests His mercy again to
the rest of his life started to happen. an unbelieving people to give them more than ample
opportunity to save their souls.
As for Brother Andre, the public nature and fre-
quency of the miracles he worked make them impos-
sible to dispute. He cured many of the students at the
college, so many that he developed a reputation as a
great miracle worker.
One day, as the pious porter was scrubbing the
floor in the parlor of the college, a lady came to see
him, having heard of his reputation. She was so af-
flicted with rheumatism that she could only walk with
the assistance of two men supporting her by holding
each arm. Her request to Brother Andre was simple
enough: “I am suffering from rheumatism. I want
you to heal me.” Not looking up from the floor he was
still busily scrubbing, Brother Andre said to the men
assisting her, “Let her walk.” The woman walked out
unassisted.
As the school’s doorkeeper, Brother Andre sa-
luted and bid farewell to the many guests who came
to the college. Having a keen interest in their spiritual
welfare and a sympathetic ear for their problems, the
little doorman could often tell who was in need of his
prayers or counsel. One day he noticed on the face of
a guest — the father of a boarding student — a pre-
occupied, strained expression. When Brother Andre
learned that the man was worried about his sick wife,
he told him, “But she is not so sick as you think. At
this very moment she became better.” The man was
The first chapel to St. Joseph, quite cynical, for he knew that his wife had been ill for
erected on Mount Royal in 1904 many years. Yet upon arriving home, his wife greeted
Miracles him at the door, perfectly healthy, in good spirits, and
inquiring about the couple’s children. The man later
God, knowing that men do not think often enough learned, upon speaking with his wife’s nurse, that she
of their final end, nor of Him, nor of the truths of reli- had asked to be taken out of bed exactly when Brother
gion, gives human nature external signs of His pres- Andre pronounced the words, “At this very moment,
ence and the truth of His religion. Our Lord Himself, she became better.”
when the disciples of Saint John the Baptist ap-
proached Him, asking if He were the Messiah, said, Father Henri-Paul Bergeron, a Holy Cross Priest
“Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. who knew Brother Andre, gives an account in his
book, The Wonder Man of Mount Royal, of an event
The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, that recalls some of those recorded in the Gospels:
the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have
the gospel preached to them.” Culminating with His “One day as he was going along Bienville Street in
own miraculously prolonged passion and His glori- Montreal, a sick woman was brought to him. Immedi-
ous Resurrection, Our Lord gave ample proof of His ately all of the sick of the neighborhood, children, men
Divinity. In addition to His own miracles, He promised and women, were brought out until the whole street was
filled with the sick and the infirm. Brother Andre attended

12 MICHAEL March/April 2020 www.michaeljournal.org