A small and frail-looking boy, he was not cut out physically to be a farmer, but his enrollment in a Christian Brothers school at Riom led him to his calling as a teacher.

For the next twenty years he worked quietly and effectively as teacher and principal to educate the boys in the village and some from the neighboring farms, many of whom were in their teens and had never been to school before.

"[3] In time the little school became the center of the social and intellectual life of the village, with evening classes for the adults and tutoring for the less gifted students.

[2] Brother Benilde's extraordinary religious sense was evident to everyone: at Mass with the students in the parish church, teaching catechism, preparing boys for first communion, visiting and praying with the sick, and rumors of near-miraculous cures.

Benildus was beatified on 4 April 1948 by Pope Pius XII, who mentioned that his sanctification was attained by enduring "the terrible daily grind" and by "doing common things in an uncommon way".