St. Guy of Anderlecht

St. Guy of Anderlecht (c. 950 – 1012), known also as the "Poor Man of Anderlecht," was a Belgian layman born of a humble peasant family near Brussels. Devout from childhood, he lived a life of poverty, prayer, and charity to the needy, and for a time served as sacristan of the church at Laken, caring for the sanctuary and giving to the poor whatever he could spare.

Persuaded to invest his small means in a commercial venture that promptly failed — a loss he accepted as a providential rebuke to worldly ambition — he returned to his life of penance and undertook a seven-year pilgrimage on foot to Rome and Jerusalem. Worn out by his travels, he died back home at Anderlecht. Miracles reported at his tomb spread his cult, and he became a beloved patron of laborers, farmhands, and those who work with horses and draft animals, honored especially in Belgium.