Saint Benedict Joseph Labre "fool for Christ"

This article offers a study of the spiritual figure of Benedict Labre (1748-1783), a French pilgrim canonized in 1881, through the lens of the Orthodox tradition of "fools for Christ" (*yurodivye*). The approach is both hagiographic and comparative: the author confronts the life of Benedict Labre with the great figures of Eastern sanctity and the Desert Fathers, highlighting the deep convergences between Western and Eastern spiritualities. The central idea is that Benedict Labre embodies, within the Catholic context of the eighteenth century, a form of radical holiness — wandering, extreme asceticism, heroic humility, kenosis — structurally analogous to that of the Slavic *yurodivye*. The article also traces the spiritual influences that shaped the saint, notably Bérulle's school of spirituality and the sermons of Father Le Jeune. Its theological contribution lies in demonstrating that this paradoxical holiness, often misunderstood, transcends confessional boundaries and bears witness to a universal mystical experience of divine light.