“I truly believe that my own vocation in Holy Cross goes back to Saint André Bessette,” writes Fr. John Dougherty, C.S.C. “It amazes me that my uncle (Br. Fulgence Dougherty, C.S.C.) and André were alive at the same time. Although they never met, they were cut from the same cloth. As a ‘younger’ Holy Cross religious I hope that I can share in their devotion to Saint Joseph and our Blessed Mother.” Read More

“Whenever I look at my Brother André prayer card on my desk, I remember that I, too, can be a saint,” writes Michael Mercurio, a junior at Notre Dame in reflecting on the recent pilgrimage to St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal. “I don’t need to be amazing. I don’t need to be great. I just need to be me, and to accept God’s call to serve Him.” Read More

The press keeps coming for our first canonized Holy Cross saint, Saint André Bessette.  Recently, he was featured in a cartoon in Venture magazine for children. We are pretty sure that Saint André never dreamed that he would be a cartoon hero, but today he is – and so much more. Read More

On Tuesday, Stonehill College, which was founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1948 in Easton, MA, launched the first annual Saint André Lecture in honor of the first saint of Holy Cross.  The inaugural lecture was given by Nicholas Kristof, an op-ed columnist for the New York Times and two-time Pulitizer Prize winner.  His lecture was entitled "Welcoming the Other." Read More

By the decree of The Most Reverend John Vlazny, Archbishop of Portland in Oregon (US), the Downtown Chapel, which had been formally known as St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, has been renamed for the first saint in the Congregation of Holy Cross. Effective as of January 6, 2011, the landmark parish at the intersection of West Burnside and Sixth Avenue is now St. André Bessette Catholic Church, perhaps making it the first parish in the world – or at least the first in the United States – to bear the name of this saintly Holy Cross brother. Read More

January 6th is a big day for the Congregation of Holy Cross. Of course, January 6th has traditionally been the celebration of the Feast of Epiphany (although in the United States the feast has been transferred to the first Sunday after January 1). January 6th is also the day that Saint André Bessette died in this world and was born in the world to come. Usually, the Church celebrates the saints on the day of their birth into eternal life, but in future years, Saint André’s feast will be celebrated on January 7th to avoid the Feast of Epiphany. This year, however, having just been canonized on October 17, 2010, by Pope Benedict XVI, we mark this humble, holy Brother of Holy Cross on the day the Lord received him into eternal life 74 years ago. Read More

The day after the canonization of Saint André Bessette, as related in our vocation pilgrims’ blog of the events in Rome, the faithful gathered in Sant’Andrea della Valle for a Mass of Thanksgiving. At the Mass, the Archbishop of Montreal – His Eminence, Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte – presided and preached.  Read More

Seeing that canonizations do not happen every day, the celebration of Saint André Bessette is continuing, especially in his homeland of Quebec.  Read More

We have our latest post from Fr. Charlie McCoy out at the University of Portland in his monthly blog on university ministry called "It All Adds UP."  In keeping with the canonization theme, he shares about the re-dedication of a chapel on the campus. Read More

Here is our second post giving us a glimpse into the life of Old College, the Holy Cross undergraduate seminary on the campus of Notre Dame. Today, third-year Old Collegian, Chris Brennan shares about how the men prepared for the Canonization of Brother André. Read More

Here comes our latest post from our vocations pilgrims in Rome, as reported by Andrew Solkshinitz. You can see more photos of the Mass of Thanksgiving Andrew writes about on our Vocations Flickr account. Read More

Not all the celebrations of the canonization of Saint André Bessette took place in Rome. Many of our Holy Cross parishes and schools had events surrounding the canonization. One example is St. John Vianney Parish in Goodyear, Arizona. Read More

Here is the first post from Andrew Solkshinitz, a Holy Cross College student, who is on pilgrimage in Rome for the canonization of Blessed Brother André with the group from the Holy Cross Office of Vocations.  Visit our Vocations Flickr account for more photos of the celebrations in Rome. Read More

This morning in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI canonized Br. André Bessette, C.S.C., and five other blesseds as saints in the Roman Catholic Church.  In his homily, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of St. André Bessette, the first saint in the Congregation of Holy Cross, as a “man of simplicity” for whom “everything spoke of God and his presence.  May we, following his example, search for God with simplicity to discover Him always present in the core of our lives!” Read More

The Toronto Star ran a story today on Fr. Mario Lachapelle, C.S.C., who was the vice-postulator for Brother André Bessette’s cause for canonization. Read More

Today is the last in our series of Sunday reflections on Brother André Bessette as next Sunday we will be celebrating his canonization, and we will have blog posts from pilgrims in Rome for that historic day!  So stay tuned!  Our reflection this Sunday has an international flair, coming from Fr. Jose Ahumada, C.S.C., who is the rector of St. George’s College in Santiago, Chile. Read More

Fr. Eric Schimmel, C.S.C., continues his posting from André House in Phoenix. Given that the namesake of their ministry to the poor and homeless is being canonized in less than two weeks, Fr. Eric decided to share with us some stories about one of their guests named Andre. Read More

In our continuing series of personal reflections on Brother André leading up to his canonization in Rome on October 17, today we here from the Vicar General of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Brother Thomas A. Dziekan, C.S.C.  He shares how Brother André drew him into his vocation as a brother in Holy Cross. Read More

Here is the fourth in our on-going series of personal reflections from Holy Cross religious on what Blessed Brother André, who will be canonized October 17th, means to them. This week's comes from Fr. Bill Wack, C.S.C., who worked for many years at André House, a Holy Cross ministry serving the poor and the homeless in downtown Phoenix. Read More

Salt + Light Television, our Catholic channel of hope from Canada, has been working on a beautiful documentary on the life of Brother André entitled God’s Doorman.  Although the documentary is currently racing toward completion, they just launched the website for it, which includes the trailer for what has been a real labor of love for the people at Salt + Light. Today we share with you some remarks that their CEO, Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B., gave on Brother André in the context of a conference of vocation and seminary personnel. Read More

Here is the fourth in our on-going series of personal reflections from Holy Cross religious on what Blessed Brother André, who will be canonized October 17, means to them. This week's comes from Brother Ron Whelan, C.S.C.:

I first heard of Brother André Bessette as a young Holy Cross Brother when . . .   Read More

Here is the third in our series of personal reflections from Holy Cross religious on what Blessed Brother André, who will be canonized October 17, means to them. This week's comes from Fr. Thomas P. Looney, C.S.C., the provincial superior of the Eastern Province of Priests and Brothers:

“Go to Joseph!” – When a “saint” tells me to seek out another saint, to expand the circle of prayer and intercession, to give voice to my need, it strikes me as advice worth heeding... Read More

Joining in the celebration of his upcoming canonization, the Knights of Columbus put Brother André Bessette on the cover of their September issue of Columbia. Read More

Here is the second in our series of personal reflections from Holy Cross religious on what Blessed Brother André, who will be canonized October 17, means to them.  This week's comes from Fr. André Léveillé, C.S.C Read More

Today marks seven weeks until the canonization of the first saint in the Congregation of Holy Cross, Brother André Bessette. To help us prepare for this amazing celebration for the Church and for Holy Cross we will post each Sunday leading up to the canonization a reflection from a current Holy Cross religious explaining what this humble, but holy man means to them personally in their life and ministry. The first of our contributors is Fr. Steve Lacriox, C.S.C., the current director of the Old College Undergraduate Seminary Program. Read More

Starting on Sunday, August 29, Holy Cross priests and brothers from around the world will be reflecting on what Brother André means to them personally in their lives and ministry. As a preview to that series, we are sharing the homily that Fr. John Jenkins, C.S.C., preached at the Opening of the School Year Mass for the University of Notre Dame. The homily reflects on what this humble saint has to teach those of us engaged in study or ministry in the apostolate of higher education. Read More