Feast Day Fun: St Brother Andre Bessette

January 6th is the Feast Day of St Brother André.

Chronic stomach pain had made it difficult for St André to hold a job. At 25, he could not read or write. He was deeply devoted to God and to St Joseph and insisted on building a shrine. He quietly greeted visitors as a lay brother of the Congregation of the Holy Cross and people began to seek prayer from him. St André gave the credit for all of the resulting physical healings to the intercession of St Joseph. In 1924, construction began for St Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, QC, alongside the chapel built on St André’s insistence.

St André is our first Canadian-born male canonized saint in Canada and he is the patron saint of the poor, the sick and the disabled.

Feast Day Crafts and Activities

Excerpts from A Treasure Chest of Traditions for Catholic Families , various posts at Equipping Catholic Families and our Saint Scripts Craft Kits (Series ONE and TWO)

“It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most exquisitely beautiful pictures…” St. André Bessette

I thought that that quote was as good an excuse as any to present my latest hobby! I’ve never been that confident with watercolor as a medium, but I was so inspired by this little travel set of my daughter’s…that I just had to get me one. The Sakura XNCW-18N 18-Piece Koi Assorted Water Colors Field Sketch Set with Brush* is an awesome travel set of water color paints, complete with a water-refillable brush you can take anywhere! I find it so much easier to control than a regular paint brush and you can clean the brush between colors just by squeezing out a little water through the brush on a paper towel. The washable palette can move around and even the extra refillable paintbrush (I bought separately) fits neatly in the kit.

(*Amazon Affiliate link: thanks for your support!)

I had fun over the Christmas holidays…painting the Kelly Saints from templates from the Saint Scripts Craft Kits.

By scribbling on the back of each black and white template with pencil, I was able to transfer the drawings to my new sketchbook, by drawing on the (front of the template) outline with pen, allowing the pencil smudge to mark the clean page underneath.

(Old school pencil transferring: see The Virtual Instructor for more instructions.)

I went to town…making watercolor images of the Kelly Saints! Here are just a couple of them!

The reference Kelly Saints cards have the images from the color postcard templates within the Saint Scripts Craft Kits. We already have 44 Kelly Saints across these 2 Saint Scripts Craft Kits…and we’re working on Series Three for release later this year!

I really liked the way St Juan turned out! I couldn’t bring myself to outline the edges on St Juan with a marker, as I did with most of the other paintings. I like the texture of this one!

…and here’s my St André Bessette!

St André loved St Joseph and always relied on intercession through this great saint for all those miraculous healings! We can learn a lot from St Joseph and learn more about him through some great books out there!

My favorite book so far on St Joseph is The Life of Saint Joseph as manifested by Our Lord, Jesus Christ to Maraia Cecilia Baij, O.S.B. , but I hope to review Joseph, the Man Who Raised Jesus, a book I received from Servant Books!

(yes, these are also affiliate links through Amazon: thank you for your support!)

“…when you say the Our Father, God has His Ear near your lips.”

I love the tenderness and humility of St André Bessette. I want to pray like him.

I’ve started to share prayer and reflections from my prayer journal as scary as that seems. Here’s my secret portal to what I’ve been pondering in my heart. This is kind of an experiment. If you actually go check it out and read the post…I hope you’ll leave a comment!

If you ever get a chance to go see St Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, along with the little chapel built beside it, please do!

You will be blown away by the presence of this awesome saint as you walk through this beautiful Oratory and visit his tomb. The view of the walls of crutches and canes left behind by hundreds of people cured by the intercession of St André (through St Joseph) will stick with you forever!

Do you have your own family activities, traditions, crafts or celebrations to share for this special Feast Day? Don’t forget to add it at the Celebrate the Saints Link-Up…or pick up an idea or two for your family to enjoy!