Turned away by the Trappists and by the Carthusians, he made the road his rule: Rome, Loreto, Compostela, on foot, in rags, sleeping in doorways. In Rome he spent his days in the churches and his nights in the Colosseum. He died at thirty-five in the back room of a butcher's shop, and the street proclaimed him a saint before the Church did.
In their own words
The good Lord, whom I received before leaving, will help me and lead me in the undertaking he himself inspired in me. I shall always keep the fear of God before my eyes, and his love in my heart.
Letter to his parents, Montreuil-sur-Mer, 2 October 1769, in F. M. J. Desnoyers, Le bienheureux Benoît Joseph Labre, Lille, 1862, vol. I, p. 116
I shall not fail to send you news of me; I should dearly like to have news of you and of my brothers and sisters, but that is not possible at present, because I am not settled in any fixed place.
Letter to his parents, Chieri in Piedmont, 31 August 1770, in F. M. J. Desnoyers, Le bienheureux Benoît Joseph Labre, Lille, 1862, vol. I, p. 128-129
I do not fail to pray to God for you every day. […] It is by the order of his providence that I have undertaken the journey I am making.
Letter to his parents, Chieri in Piedmont, 31 August 1770, in F. M. J. Desnoyers, Le bienheureux Benoît Joseph Labre, Lille, 1862, vol. I, p. 129