by Chrissy Grace

You hear the "snap, snap" of broken shoes on the work floor of the homeless shelter. It doesn’t smell nice in here, and the conversation is loud. But these shoes are different. "Snap, shuffle, stop, snap, shuffle." What is he doing? He places his bowl of soup in front of a younger, hungrier man. Doesn’t Benedict remember he’s hungry too? Then he snaps and shuffles outside. Benedict has been homeless since he was 22. He has visited shrines in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, all on foot.

Next, you follow Benedict’s shoes as they carry him slowly to a nearby church. He prays for such a very long time before he goes back outside to sleep in the Coliseum (the ancient amphitheater where the first Christians were martyred). He likes to sleep there because it is such a holy place and the arches provide shelter.

You might say Benedict is a "burden," a problem on the Roman streets, because he is homeless.

Then one day, a lot of little shoes begin to click in the streets, "tap, tap, tippety-tap" to a song the children sing: "The Saint is dead!" Worn and poor, Benedict had died.

Wow! One never knows the saints you might meet on the street. Help me remember this the next time I see someone in the same shoes.

Benedict Joseph Labre was born in 1748.

Benedict didn’t have the health to become a monk, although that was always his dream.

From 1770 to 1774 he walked all over Europe to pray at shrines and holy places.

In 1783 he died in Rome.

Benedict Joseph Labre was canonized in 1883.