Benedict Joseph Labre

Benedict Joseph Labre, TOSF (, 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.

Life Labre was born on 26 March 1748 in the village of Amettes, near Arras, in the former Province of Artois in the north of France. He was the eldest of fifteen children of a prosperous shopkeeper, Jean-Baptiste Labre, and his wife, Anne Grandsire.

Labre had an uncle, a parish priest, living some distance from his family home, who received Labre and undertook his early education for the priesthood. At the age of 16, he approached his uncle about becoming a Trappist monk, but was rebuffed by his parents, who wanted him to wait until he was older to do so.

When he was about 18, an epidemic struck the city. Labre’s uncle took care of the sick people, while Labre cared for the city's cattle. Among the last victims of the epidemic was Labre's uncle.

Following the epidemic, Labre set off for La Trappe Abbey to apply to the Trappist Order, but was refused on grounds of being under age, too delicate, and having no special recommendations. He later attempted to join the Carthusians and Cistercians, but each order rejected him as unsuitable for communal life. He was, for about six weeks, a postulant with the Carthusians at Neuville. In November 1769 he obtained admission to the Cistercian Abbey of Sept-Fonts. After a short stay at Sept-Fonts his health gave way, and it was decided that his vocation lay elsewhere. He lived on what little he was given, and often shared the little he did receive with others. He is reported to have talked rarely, prayed often, and accepted quietly the abuse he received.

In so doing, Labre was following in the role of the mendicant, the "Fool-for-Christ," found more often in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Labre spent many hours in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. A cult grew up around him very soon after his death; he was declared Blessed by Blessed Pius IX in 1860, and canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1881. Benedict is patron saint of the homeless. His feast day is observed on April 16.