St. Peregrine, patron saint of persons suffering from cancer

Peregrine Laziosi was born in 1265 in Forli in Italy. As a young man, he led a worldly and dissolute life. In his teens, he joined the enemies of the Pope in his hometown and became a ringleader of rebels.

Pope Martin IV sent Philip Benizi of the Order of Servites (Servants of Mary) as his personal ambassador to try to bring peace to the angry rebels. While addressing crowds of malcontents one day, he was dragged off the rostrum, beaten with clubs, and pelted with rocks. Peregrine knocked down Benizi with a vicious blow to the face.

Young Peregrine was stricken with remorse. He cast himself at the feet of the bruised and bleeding priest and asked for his forgiveness. Benizi granted it with a smile. From that moment, Peregrine became a staunch champion of Benizi. He heeded Philip’s suggestion and often prayed in Our Lady’s chapel in the Cathedral.

While kneeling in the chapel one day, he had a vision of the Blessed Mother holding in her hands a black habit like the one the Servites wore. “Go to Siena,” Mary told the astonished Peregrine. “There you will find devout men who call themselves my servants. Attach yourself to them.”

The Servites warmly welcomed Peregrine, and Benizi himself ceremoniously clothed Peregrine in the religious habit. Daily, Peregrine sought to become a more fervent religious man. To atone for past misdeeds, he treated himself harshly and worked hard for the poor and afflicted. People took to calling him the “Angel of Good Counsel,” grateful for his wise advice so freely given.

After being ordained a priest, Peregrine went to Forli and founded a Servite monastery. A few years later, a cancerous growth appeared on his right foot — so painful that he finally agreed to have the foot amputated. The night before the surgery, Peregrine spent hours in prayer then dozed off and dreamt that Christ was touching him and healing his foot. The thrill of it woke him up and in the dim moonlight he saw that his foot, carefully bandaged a few hours earlier, was completely healed.

From that time forward, when Forli people were sick, they appealed to Peregrine’s prayers. Some were cured when he whispered “Jesus” into their ears. The Church has since appointed him patron of persons with cancer, foot ailments, or any incurable disease.

Peregrine died in the year 1345 at the age of 85 and was canonized in 1926. St. Peregrine’s Feast Day is May 1.