Though he was just a poor shepherd boy, St. Bénézet was responsible for a huge public work—the building of a massive bridge.

Bénézet grew up in southeastern France in the middle ages watching his mother’s sheep. He was thoughtful and pious, and seems to have reflected upon the dangers faced by those who wanted to cross the Rhône river.

One day, during a solar eclipse, Bénézet heard a voice that told him to build a bridge over the river at Avignon, a place where the current flowed strong and rapid.

At the time, the building and care of bridges was considered a magnificent public work, and the wealthy often provided for bridges in their wills. Bénézet was an uneducated, poor boy, but he obeyed the voice he had heard.

He traveled to Avignon and addressed the bishop in that city to tell him of his mission. The bishop did not take him seriously, of course, and legend has it that the boy miraculously carried a huge stone himself to begin the foundation.

Soon Bénézet gathered much attention because of miracles attributed to him: blind people could see, disabled people walked, deaf people could hear again. The bishop and civil authorities granted him power to oversee the construction of the bridge, which began in 1177.

Bénézet supervised construction for seven years before he died—by that time the bulk of the difficult work had been accomplished. A chapel was built into the bridge itself and Bénézet’s body was buried there. It lay there for some 500 years until a flood washed part of the bridge away. His tomb was recovered and it was discovered that his body had not decayed; it was moved to a monastery for veneration. What remains today of the Pont Saint-Bénézet is shown here; it is still a pilgrimage site.

In 1189, the Order of Bridge Brothers was established as a society of wealthy sponsors who provided for the construction and maintenance of bridges, and they adopted St. Bénézet as their patron. He remains the patron saint of those who build bridges, and also of bachelors, and his depiction above is used with permission from Catholic.org.

St. Bénézet, you were the poor shepherd boy who followed a call to build a massive bridge—pray for us!