Description
Saint Benoît is one of Lille's humblest neighborhood churches, with its simple brick mantle and small campanile. This Romanesque-style church was blessed by Canon Carton on November 22, 1889. Initially used as a private chapel by the Sisters of Sainte-Enfance, it was gradually taken over by local children and churchgoers. It is dedicated to St. Benoit Labre, a saint born in Amettes in the Pas-de-Calais, and considered a "wanderer of God", or a "pilgrim hermit". At the age of twenty, he decided to return to the solitude of a cloister, but no one wanted him. He was criticized everywhere for his young age and "uncultivated, unclean savagery". Rowing in the wrong direction, he dedicated his life to God, making pilgrimages all over Europe.
