Talk:André Bessette

Renaming Article
As I understand it, the WP Naming Conventions would have this article named "Andre Besette." Religious titles such as brother, saint, blessed belong in the first mention of the person's name. --Vaquero100 13:18, 30 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Is there a reason for keeping the spelling "Besette" in the title when it is not used in the article? Chonak 05:44, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Largest church?
Is Saint Joseph's Oratory the largest church outside Rome? Is there a reference for that? Its own page says 3rd largest dome only. And the Basilica in Our Lady of Aparecida claims to be the 2nd largest, with Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe also in the running, along with a few others. Does anyone have a tape measure here? And based on List of largest church buildings in the world Aparecida seems to be the 2nd largest, from what I can see. History2007 (talk) 03:16, 5 October 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm removing the claim. I think it is a bit grand to have there, without a source having been supplied for at least 3 mos. Carl.bunderson (talk) 21:48, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

In External links section, useful detailed links to serve (maybe) as references...
When improving an article such this one, some participants are very fast (why?) to remove all the detailed links that could be useful, in the while, to constructive working people. For instance : with text sections for almost each one: "Thousands line up to pay their respects after Brother André dies. (true silent film; not CBC material)" "A priest [Bill McGinnis] who worked with Brother André shares his memories." "St. Joseph's Oratory hosts a multicultural celebration for the year 2000." Why fast removing such details ? — 66.36.146.251 (talk) 06:21, 11 March 2010 (UTC)
 * The Miracle on Mount Royal: 100 Years of St. Joseph's Oratory from the CBC Digital Archives, 9 television clips, and 5 radio clips,
 * The Story
 * Did you know?
 * Credits;
 * ... among these clips:
 * 1. An unlikely hero (Television: May 23, 1982 — 2:26 min:sec duration)
 * 2. Building a shrine to St. Joseph (Radio: Sept. 12, 1972 — 4:16)
 * 3. A pilgrim's tour (Radio: March 28, 1957 — 6:10)
 * 4. The miracle man (Television - the audio only now avalaible: Aug. 8, 1967 — 10:45)
 * 6. The case for sainthood (Television: Sept. 12, 1978 — 18:21); Reporter: Adrienne Clarkson
 * 7. The beatification of Brother André (Television: May 23, 1982 — 2:21)
 * 9. Newsreel footage: funeral of Brother André (Television - silent clip: Jan. 12, 1937 — 4:37)];
 * 10. Long road to canonization (Radio: April 18, 1958 — 5:47)
 * 12. Remembering the man behind the miracles (Television: May 23, 1982 — 2:40)
 * 13. Millennium on the mountain (Television: Dec. 17, 1999 — 3:06); Reporter: Patty Kim;
 * 14. A century at the Oratory (Television: Oct. 19, 2004 — 2:32)
 * Detailed links are not easy to find, their title is more useful to the reader for selection, their address should not change. 66.36.157.249 (talk) 17:43, 11 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Because of the external links guidelines. See WP:ELPOINTS, explicitely number 4: "In the "External links" section, try to avoid separate links to multiple pages in the same website; instead, try to find an appropriate linking page within the site." These are explicit guidelines. All the links are accessible through the main one, this is giving undue weight to the CBC webpages. Which is why I am removing the redundant links again.--137.122.49.102 (talk) 16:46, 11 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Are you willing to so fast apply the final rules without using your full brain, even if it could not facilitate the improving of the article by other people ? 66.36.157.249 (talk) 17:43, 11 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Speaking of "UNDUE WEIGHT TO THE CBC", let's laugh ! The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is not the last small source of quality information. 66.36.157.249 (talk) 18:24, 11 March 2010 (UTC)
 * In addition, there is no need to repeat the biographi.ca link in the External links section since it is cited no less than 7 times in the text and thus prominently featured in the references section as footnote 2.--137.122.49.102 (talk) 16:53, 11 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Try improving the data and finding the needed references, rather than just playing the policeman so soon ! 66.36.157.249 (talk) 17:50, 11 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Just adding my $0.02 here, but I think (talk)  is correct, especially since these are just external links and not references used inthe article. A single portal to the data base shouls suffice.Wkharrisjr (talk) 17:57, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: Speedily moved as uncontroversial Sh i r ik  ( Questions or Comments? ) 16:19, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Saint André Bessette → André Bessette — Standard practice is to omit titles/honorifics in article names. See also WP:NCCL. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 01:19, 24 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Support - General article naming principles would not support an article about a recently canonised saint including "Saint" in the article's name. Afterwriting (talk) 11:36, 24 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Speedy move - The moves log discussions are supposed to be used for moves that might be controversial. This one isn't, so just do it. D O N D E groovily   Talk to me  15:42, 24 October 2010 (UTC)
 * At the time, it was being used as an example to support another move, so it would have been controversial for me to move it. Since that other move request has been withdrawn (see Talk:Mary MacKillop), I wouldn't see a problem with someone else doing a speedy close of the discussion. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 15:47, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

in French?
I notice the opening line has "Saint André Bessette, C.S.C., (French: Frère André; ..." What is given as the French is not a translation of the English.  Should it be?  If not, what is it suppose to be?  Because in French - I live near the Oratory - he is called Saint Frère André (and in English "Saint Brother André), which is the style of the Oratory. --184.163.149.163 (talk) 01:16, 22 July 2012 (UTC)

Feast Day
Since his feast would be on January 6, in Canada they move the feast to January 8 (Because the Feast of the Epiphany is the 6th). But what would happen in a country like the US (which transfers Epiphany to the next Sunday), if Epiphany was celebrated on a different day? Would St. Andre get celebrated the 6th? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gideon.judges7 (talk • contribs) 17:08, 4 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes. Daniel the Monk (talk) 06:33, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

Why is his feast listed only for Canada and the States? Isn't he on the Roman Martyrology (if not the universal liturgical calendar) for Jan. 6? --Richardson mcphillips (talk) 20:23, 9 January 2016 (UTC)


 * That's a good question. I looked at this article: General Roman Calendar.  In that article, he is listed under the "Canada" and the "United States" calendars for January 7 and January 6, respectively.  However, he is missing altogether from the "General Calendar".  Whatever all this means, I have no idea.   Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 21:31, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

I would presume that if someone is on a particular calendar, he or she is also on the martyrology. The fact that St Andre gets a memorial might not be significant enough for the universal calendar, but I would assume he is still on the martyrology. This would apply, I would assume, for anyone on the national calendar of a particular country or region, but not on the universal calendar. But I would need a linkable source for that to make changes here I presume. Richardson mcphillips (talk) 19:54, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

naming after canonization
The article says "... known ... since his canonization as St. André of Montreal." It would be great to have a reference for this. The Canadian Missal has him named St Andre Bessette, and the website of the Oratoire-St-Joseph, where his body is, calls him St Brother Andre. The first reference includes the statement "Saint André Bessette, CSC (French: Frère André; August 9, 1845 – January 6, 1937), born Alfred Bessette and since his canonisation sometimes known as Saint André of Montreal." First, this itself indicates that the statement in our article misrepresents the reference, and second, the reference itself is just a parish bulletin without any authority. I consider that the Canadian Missal and the website of the Oratory are more authoritative. --Richardson mcphillips (talk) 18:11, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

Number of children
The article states: Bessette was the eighth of 12 children (four of whom died in infancy). So, this means that there were eight surviving children. The article then states: His mother found herself widowed at the age of forty with ten children in her care. (Emphasis added by me.) So, is this an error? Or can someone please explain the discrepancy. Were there eight children or ten? Was his mother caring for other children, in addition to her own? The latter seems unlikely as she was in poverty and had so many of her own children to begin with. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 06:09, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 1 one external link on André Bessette. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added tag to http://www.zenit.org/article-30674?l=english
 * Added tag to http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2012/04/20/196607
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120929081536/http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/saint-andre to http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/saint-andre

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 13:21, 13 October 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 5 external links on André Bessette. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20161114191016/http://www.saint-joseph.org/en/sanctuary/saint-brother-andre/his-canonization to http://www.saint-joseph.org/en/sanctuary/saint-brother-andre/his-canonization
 * Added archive https://archive.is/20080907062226/http://www.saint-joseph.org/en_1386_index.asp to http://www.saint-joseph.org/en_1386_index.asp
 * Added archive https://archive.is/20080907062226/http://www.saint-joseph.org/en_1386_index.asp to http://www.saint-joseph.org/en_1386_index.asp
 * Added archive https://archive.is/20080907062226/http://www.saint-joseph.org/en_1386_index.asp to http://www.saint-joseph.org/en_1386_index.asp
 * Added archive https://archive.is/20080907062226/http://www.saint-joseph.org/en_1386_index.asp to http://www.saint-joseph.org/en_1386_index.asp

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 13:00, 9 December 2017 (UTC)

"Andrew bessette" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Andrew bessette. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. signed,Rosguill talk 19:54, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

Removal of unfounded information
Particularly of issue is item 10 (Foley, McCloskey) which is a reference to a religious web page which presents stories of André Bessette as if fact without providing any sort of citation to the source of the information, nor does it provide the evidence directly in the form of any first or secondhand account.

Being as the site is meant to serve as an encyclopedia, editors should take appropriate steps to ensure the information which is presented as factual in the article is backed by appropriate evidence to the claim. Otherwise, stories such as the one mentioned here, which likely exaggerate or sensationalize events from a figure's life (if not flat-out fabricating the story) can become sources of misinformation--and only serve as a tool for discrediting Wikipedia as a whole. Althrayn (talk) 19:11, 17 February 2022 (UTC)