Benedict Joseph Labre
French mendicant and saint
Feast: 16 April (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Benoît-Joseph Labre was born at Amettes in France on 26 March 1748, the first of fifteen children. He tried the Carthusians and then the Trappists, but left both, the second time through serious illness.
Taking the road as his monastery, he made long pilgrimages to great shrines in a single ragged garment, living on alms and giving everywhere an example of piety and penance, and made Rome the last goal of his journeys. He was called 'God's vagabond'.
The miracles
He was canonised by Leo XIII. The biography does not describe the miracles approved in his cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A pilgrim beggar who owned nothing and lived only for God, in penance and prayer.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Benedetto Giuseppe Labre
- Wikidata Q451907 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Benedict Joseph Labre (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.