With his parents' blessing, he decided to be come a priest but ill health and a poor education kept him from being accepted in a seminary. Finally at age 16, he gave up that dream.
Instead, Benedict became a pilgrim, living on alms, traveling from one religious site to another, to Loreto, Assisi, Naples, and other parts of Europe. He carried his possessions in a sack, and often was unwashed. He survived on handouts or what he could find along the road.
He had a special devotion to the Blessed Mother and to the Blessed Sacrament. In Rome, he would spend hours in Eucharistic adoration in the city's various churches. Whenever he heard there was a 40 Hours Devotion, he would rush to attend.
St. Benedict Joseph Labre died as a beggar in Rome on this day in 1783 at the age of 35. He was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1881 and is known as the patron saint of the homeless.
- Little White Book, Diocese of Saginaw