Prayer:Prayer to St. Benedict Joseph Labre
Stored: Prayer to St. Benedict Joseph Labre
| Prayer to St. Benedict Joseph Labre | |
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| Author | Unknown |
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| Language | English |
| Approval | None |
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| Added on | 2026-08-13 |
Introduction
St. Benedict Joseph Labre (1748–1783) is one of the most singular figures in the gallery of Catholic sanctity — a French-born pilgrim who renounced every earthly comfort to wander the roads of Europe in radical poverty, spending his days in prayer before the great shrines of Christendom and his nights among the destitute in the ruins of Rome. Rejected by multiple religious orders who deemed him unsuitable for community life, he accepted this humiliation as the particular will of God for his soul and embraced instead a life of homeless mendicancy, continuous prayer, and profound mystical union with Christ crucified.
He died on the steps of a church in Rome in 1783, and the children of his neighborhood — who had long recognized in this ragged wanderer something more than an ordinary beggar — cried out through the streets: Il santo è morto — "The saint is dead." He was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1860 and canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1881. His feast is celebrated on April 16.
The prayer of intercession addressed to St. Benedict Joseph Labre draws upon the particular graces of his vocation: detachment from worldly comforts, perseverance in humility and poverty, and a burning love for God sustained amid suffering and rejection. It is especially prayed by those struggling with homelessness, marginalization, spiritual dryness, or the temptation to seek worldly esteem.
The Prayer
- O God, who led Blessed Benedict Joseph Labre to the glory of Your saints
- by the path of penance, self-contempt, and poverty,
- grant, we beseech You,
- that through his intercession and example,
- we may despise the things of this world
- and seek only those of heaven.
- Through Christ our Lord.
- Amen.
Extended Intercession Prayer
- O glorious St. Benedict Joseph Labre,
- who found your vocation not in cloister or cell,
- but upon the open roads of the world,
- kneeling before the altars of the great shrines of Christendom
- and lying among the poorest of the poor —
- look upon us with compassion.
- You who were rejected by men and embraced by God,
- who wore poverty as a royal garment
- and carried humility as your only treasure,
- intercede for us who are so easily entangled
- in the snares of comfort, pride, and worldly ambition.
- Obtain for us, we pray,
- a spirit truly detached from the passing things of this life,
- a heart fixed upon eternal realities,
- and a persevering love for God
- that no suffering, no rejection, and no desolation can extinguish.
- Pray for all who are homeless, forgotten, and outcast.
- Pray for those who seek God amid spiritual aridity.
- Pray for those whom the world has cast aside,
- that they may know themselves beloved of the Father
- and find in Christ their truest home.
- Amen.
History and Background
The Life That Gave Rise to the Prayer
Benedict Joseph Labre was born on March 26, 1748, in Amettes, in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France, the eldest of fifteen children. From his earliest years he displayed an intense hunger for prayer and solitude, spending long hours before the Blessed Sacrament and devouring the writings of the mystics. He attempted on multiple occasions to enter religious life — including the Cistercians of Sept-Fons and the Carthusians at both Grande Chartreuse and Montrieux — but each time was turned away, either on account of his youth, his health, or what superiors perceived as an unsuitability for institutional community life.
After these repeated refusals, Benedict discerned in prayer that God was calling him not to the monastery but to the road. From approximately 1770 until his death in 1783, he undertook a continuous pilgrimage through the great shrines of Europe — including Loreto, Assisi, Paray-le-Monial, Einsiedeln, Compostela, and Rome — subsisting on alms, sleeping in hospices or the open air, and spending the greater part of each day in the churches he visited in deep contemplative prayer.
He settled eventually in the semi-permanence of Rome, where he lived among the destitute in the ruins of the Colosseum and spent his days in the churches of the city, particularly Santa Maria dei Monti near the Esquiline Hill. Witnesses testified to ecstasies, levitations, and bilocation. The people of Rome recognized his holiness long before the Church formally proclaimed it.
Liturgical Origins of the Prayer
The traditional intercession prayer associated with St. Benedict Joseph Labre is rooted in the language of the Roman Church's liturgical commemoration, drawing upon the collect prayers composed for his feast. The Church's collect for his feast emphasizes the three great pillars of his spiritual life — penance, self-contempt, and poverty — and asks that the faithful be moved by his example toward detachment from earthly things and an ardent seeking of the things of heaven.
Devotion to St. Benedict Joseph Labre spread rapidly after his death, particularly in Rome and France, and numerous prayer cards, novena booklets, and intercession prayers circulated among the faithful throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Many of these prayers follow the structure of the liturgical collect, adding more expansive petitions appropriate to private devotion.
Patron of Pilgrims and the Homeless
St. Benedict Joseph Labre is venerated as a patron of the homeless, of pilgrims, of beggars, of the mentally ill, and of those who feel called to unusual or unrecognized vocations. His intercession is particularly sought by those who have experienced rejection from institutions they hoped to enter — including religious communities — and by those engaged in street ministry, homeless outreach, and apostolates among society's most marginalized members. Several organizations serving the homeless have taken his name as their patron.
How to Pray / Devotional Use
Personal and Private Devotion
This prayer is fittingly prayed as a brief daily intercession, particularly by those seeking grace for detachment from worldly desires, perseverance in a difficult or unrecognized vocation, or solidarity with those who are poor and outcast. It may be incorporated into a morning or evening prayer routine, offered as a closing prayer after the Rosary, or prayed spontaneously at any moment of temptation toward pride, comfort-seeking, or worldly ambition.
Those working with or ministering to the homeless, refugees, migrants, or the marginalized are encouraged to invoke St. Benedict Joseph Labre's intercession before and after their service, asking him to obtain the grace of genuine compassion, effective charity, and humble solidarity.
As Part of a Novena
A novena to St. Benedict Joseph Labre may be prayed over nine consecutive days, particularly in preparation for his feast on April 16. The extended intercession prayer above is suitable for use as the central prayer of each novena day, supplemented by brief meditations on the following themes:
- The grace of a detached heart
- Acceptance of rejection and humiliation
- Perseverance in prayer amid desolation
- Love for the poor and outcast
- The universal call to pilgrimage and seeking God
- Humility as the foundation of the spiritual life
- Trust in Divine Providence for daily needs
- The sanctity of hidden and unrecognized vocations
- Final perseverance and a holy death
Shrine Devotion
Pilgrims visiting Santa Maria dei Monti in Rome, where St. Benedict Joseph Labre is buried beneath the altar, traditionally pray this intercession at his tomb. The church is located near the Colosseum, where Benedict once sheltered, and visiting this site is itself an act of devotion in continuity with the pilgrim spirit he embodied.
Feast Day Observance
On April 16, parishes, religious communities, and individuals devoted to St. Benedict Joseph Labre may offer special Mass, communal recitation of this prayer, and works of charity toward the homeless as an act of devotion in his honor. Some communities organize a shared meal or a collection for those in need as a living celebration of his charism.