BENEDETTO GIUSEPPE LABRE, SANTO

BENEDICT JOSEPH LABRE, Saint. — Born at Amettes (Artois) on 26 March 1748. At the age of twelve he was sent to Erin, to stay with a priest uncle, and there he formed the idea of entering the Grande Trappe at Mortagne in Normandy. Opposed by his uncle and family, he asked the Carthusians of Artois to accept him on probation, but was refused. Returning to his first intention, in the autumn of 1767 he walked to the Grande Trappe in Normandy, but was not accepted there either. After further refusals he was finally admitted as a probationer to the Cistercian abbey of Sept-Fontaines in Bourbonnais. He had to leave after a few months, assailed by unbearable spiritual torments and in a state of exhaustion that gave rise to fears for his life. After recovering somewhat, in July 1770 he set out for Italy, with Rome as his goal. It was then that his vocation as a pilgrim to the shrines of Italy and Europe was clearly and firmly revealed to him. Entering Piedmont, he wrote from Chieri a letter to his parents, which constitutes his last will and testament and contains his final farewell. He went to Loreto, then to Assisi, and reached Rome on 3 December of that year. After leaving Rome following the Easter festivities, he returned to Loreto, then travelled south to Apulia, the Kingdom of Naples, and Sicily. Crossing the Alps, he passed through Germany, the

BENEDICT OF THE GRAZZINI