Brother André Bessette

Brother André recommended very simple prayers, such as "Saint Joseph, pray for me as you yourself would have prayed had you been here on earth, in my shoes, with my troubles."

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Brother André Bessette opened the door. For nearly 40 years, he stood at the entrance of a boarding school in Montreal and greeted visitors. He carried luggage, swept floors, washed windows, cleaned outhouses, cut hair and delivered students' dirty laundry.

The first saint from the Congregation of Holy Cross—who was canonized Oct. 17, 2010, in Rome—was not a scholar or a University president, even though his order is renowned for founding eight colleges and universities. Brother André could barely read.

But he was a teacher. He taught that we must welcome every person as Christ.

And he taught it daily throughout his life. He became renowned for comforting and praying with the sick. Sometimes people reported miraculous healings, which he attributed to the intercession of Saint Joseph.

Through his fortitude, Brother André gathered construction materials and volunteers to build a small chapel dedicated to Saint Joseph. In later years, the chapel was expanded to a towering shrine. It was completed in 1937, thirty years after Brother André's death.

Saint Joseph's Oratory is visited today by more than two million pilgrims annually. Some supplicants climb the stone steps on their knees.

Here are some things Brother André taught us:

"When you say to God, Our Father, He has his ear right next to your lips."

"Practice charity with your neighbor—and this doesn't mean only to give money to the poor. We could, for example, keep ourselves from examining our neighbor's conscience."

His advice to a beleaguered wife and mother: "Household quarrels are like drafts. To create a draft, you need to open two windows. Close one, and you stop the draft."