Contact Saint Benedict Joseph Labre for help on mental illness

Within a few months of his death on April 16, 1783, there were 136 miracles attributed to the intercession of Saint Benedict Joseph Labre.
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We tend to think of the saints as never having suffered from depression, phobias, bipolar disorder or other mental illness, but the truth is that people of all kinds of difficulties have become saints.

With mental illness in my family, I was interested in getting to know a patron for those who were so afflicted: Saint Benedict Joseph Labre.

Benedetto was the eldest of 15 children, born in 1748 in France. From an early age he was devoted to God and disinterested in typical childish interests.

Considered strange, he turned to the Blessed Sacrament, to our Blessed Mother, to the Rosary and to the Divine Office and prayed that he would be admitted to a monastery. Despite his dedication, he was rejected over and over again partly because of his eccentricity and partly because of his lack of education. His profound disappointment was directed in traveling from one sanctuary to another, spending days in adoration in several churches.

He suffered from scrupulousness and bad health, but knowing that he was seen as different did not prevent him from his great love for virtue. He practiced virtuous acts that would "make his soul a perfect model and a copy of that of Our Divine Savior, Jesus Christ", according to his biographer, Father Marconi, who was the saint's confessor. Eventually he became known throughout the city as the "beggar of Rome".

Father Marconi underlines the profound spirituality of his life as someone who has embraced Jesus Christ. Benedict said that “we should somehow found three hearts, proceeding and concentrating on one; that is to say, one for God, another for his neighbor and a third for himself ".

Benedict said that "the second heart must be faithful, generous and full of love and inflamed by love of neighbor". We must always be ready to serve it; always be concerned about the soul of our neighbor. He turns again to Benedict's words: "employed in sighs and prayers for the conversion of sinners and for the relief of the faithful departed".

The third heart, said Benedict, "must be stable in his first resolutions, austere, mortified, zealous and courageous, continually offering himself in sacrifice to God".

A few months after Benedetto's death, at the age of 35 in 1783, there were 136 miracles attributed to his intercession.

For anyone suffering from a mental illness or having a family member with that illness, you may find comfort and support in the Guild of St. Benedict Joseph Labre. The guild was founded by the Duff family whose son Scott suffers from schizophrenia. Pope John Paul II blessed the guild ministry and Father Benedict Groeschel was his spiritual director until his death.