Saint Benedict Joseph Labre - April 17
Beggar of Perpetual Adoration
Benedetto Giuseppe Labre
Memorial
16 April
Profile
Oldest of fifteen children in a prosperous middle class family. Educated by his uncle, a parish priest. Following his uncle’s death, he tried to join the Trappists, Carthusians, and Cistercians, but was rejected by them all. He spent years wandering Europe, especially Rome, Italy, in complete poverty, spending his days in perpetual adoration in the cathedrals. Given to religious ecstacies when contemplating the crown of thorns; reputed to float, soar, and bilocate when in these swoons. He begged in the streets, and if he was given more than he needed for the day, he would give the remainder to some one he considered more in need than he was. Benedict healed some of his fellow homeless, and was reported to have multiplied bread for them. Noted counselor to people of all walks in Rome. He died in a hospice, exhausted from his life of austerity. His biography, written by his confessor Marconi, describes 136 miraculous cures attributed to him within three months of his death.
Born
25 March 1748 at Amettes, Boulogne, France
Died
17 April 1783 at Rome, Italy
interred at the Church of Santa Maria ai Monti, Rome
Beatified
20 May 1860 by Pope Pius IX
Canonized
8 December 1881 by Pope Leo XIII
Patronage
against insanity
against mental illness
bachelors
beggars
hoboes
homeless people
mentally ill people
people rejected by religious orders
pilgrims
tramps
unmarried men
Representation
beggar in a tri-cornered hat sharing his alms
Benedict Joseph Labre, TOSF (French: Benoît-Joseph Labre, 26 March 1748 – 16 April 1783) was a French Franciscan tertiary, and Catholic saint. Labre was from a well-to-do family near Arras, France. After attempting a monastic lifestyle, he opted instead for the life of a pilgrim. He traveled to most of the major shrines of Europe, subsisting by begging. Labre is patron saint of the homeless.
Instaurare Omnia in Christo
Our Lady of Victories of Saint Mark
–
Arcangelo Canetoli
Benedict Joseph Labre
Bernadette of Lourdes
Contardo d’Este
Drogo of Sebourg
Elias of Cologne
Encratia of Saragossa
Fructuosus of Braga
Herveus of Tours
Joachim Piccolomini
Lambert of Saragossa
Lambert of Saragossa
Magnus of Orkney
Mikel Suma
Turibius of Astorga
Vaise
William Gnoffi
–
Martyrs of Avrillé – 26 beati
Martyrs of Corinth – 8 saints
Martyrs of Saragossa – 18 saints
–
Hugh de Mataplana
Mundus
Tetgaill of Lann-Ela
April 17 St. Benedict Joseph Labre (d. 1783)
Benedict Joseph Labre was truly eccentric, one of God's special little ones. Born in France and the eldest of 18 children, he studied under his uncle, a parish priest. Because of poor health and a lack of suitable academic preparation he was unsuccessful in his attempts to enter the religious life. Then, at 16 years of age, a profound change took place. Benedict lost his desire to study and gave up all thoughts of the priesthood, much to the consternation of his relatives.
He became a pilgrim, traveling from one great shrine to another, living off alms. He wore the rags of a beggar and shared his food with the poor. Filled with the love of God and neighbor, Benedict had special devotion to the Blessed Mother and to the Blessed Sacrament. In Rome, where he lived in the Colosseum for a time, he was called "the poor man of the Forty Hours Devotion" and "the beggar of Rome." The people accepted his ragged appearance better than he did. His excuse to himself was that "our comfort is not in this world."
On the last day of his life, April 16, 1783, Benedict Joseph dragged himself to a church in Rome and prayed there for two hours before he collapsed, dying peacefully in a nearby house. Immediately after his death the people proclaimed him a saint.
He was officially proclaimed a saint by Pope Leo XIII at canonization ceremonies in 1883.
Comment:
In a modern inner city, one local character kneels for hours on the sidewalk and prays. Swathed in his entire wardrobe winter and summer, he greets passersby with a blessing. Where he sleeps no one knows, but he is surely a direct spiritual descendant of Benedict, the ragged man who slept in the ruins of Rome’s Colosseum. These days we ascribe such behavior to mental illness; Benedict’s contemporaries called him holy. Holiness is always a bit mad by earthly standards.
Patron Saint of:
Homeless
www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx