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Scenes from the life of St. Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney drawn from various sources.


The parents of the saint, Pierre and Marie Vianney, lived in the village of Dardilly in eastern France.

Benoit Labre desired to join the Trappists, but had been rejected for not fulfilling their requirements. This would not be Benoit's only rejection, he would apply multiple times, to the same and other orders, such as the Carthusians, yet he would become a mendicant friar all his brief life, walking on pilgrimages to the shrines of Europe.

One day, on observing a number of poor persons going to the house of Pierre Vianney, Benoit went with them. Benoit was attired in novice robes, he had been permitted to keep after leaving the monastery. A wallet was suspended from his shoulders, a rosary around his neck, a brass crucifix upon his breast. A breviary and a copy of the Imitation of Christ were all his luggage.

There he was received by the master of the house, who had taught his children to see in them Jesus Christ himself. Given food and a place to sleep, the next day he expressed his thanks and left. But later he would send a rare letter to the family.

This letter, became a treasure the Cure of Ars would later often speak of, and eventually make a gift of to someone who asked for it.

In the future Benoit Labre would be canonized. He is also known as St. Benedict Joseph Labre.