Saint Benedict-Joseph Labre, patron saint of tramps, of all those who want him and of others

Chronic

Every week

The chronicle of Jean de Saint-Cheron

Mgr Pie, Bishop of Poitiers, annoyed by those who were alarmed by the beatification of a pestilential being, said in 1860: “Vermin for vermin, is that of the body more shameful than that of the spirit? » So on this Pentecost Monday, Mgr Leborgne had the excellent idea of ​​declaring Saint Benedict-Joseph Labre co-patron of his diocese of Arras. More than 5,000 people gathered in Saint-Omer for a day of prayer and celebration marked by the confirmation of 300 adults during a mass presided over by Cardinal Aveline. Catechumens, neophytes or old sheep are therefore thrown under the stinking mantle of the vagabond who lived by begging while walking the roads of Europe, lost in an incomprehensible mysticism, only to die at the age of 35, exhausted, on the steps of a church in Rome.

This article is reserved for subscribers

Would you like to read more? Subscribe without obligation to our digital offer

I subscribe