St. Peregrine Laziosi
Posted on April 30, 2020 by admin No comments
Born: c. 1260, Forlì, Italy
Died: May 1, 1345
Venerated: in Roman Catholic Church
Canonized: December 27, 1726, by Pope Benedict XIII
Feast: May 1
Patronage: persons suffering from cancer, AIDS, or other illnesses
Saint Peregrine Laziosi (Pellegrino Latiosi) (c. 1260 – 1 May 1345) is an Italian saint of the Servite Order (Friar Order Servants of Mary). He is the patron saint for persons suffering from cancer, AIDS, or other illness.
Life
Peregrine Laziosi was born in 1260, the only son of an affluent family in Forlì, in northern Italy. At that time Forli was part of the Papal States. Peregrine’s family supported the anti-papal faction. In 1283 the residents of Forlì were under interdict. St. Philip Benizi, Prior General of the Friar Servants of Saint Mary, was sent to try to reconcile the divided community. While trying to preach in Forlì, Philip was heckled and struck by the 18-year-old Peregrine. He was driven from the city with insults and violence. Peregrine repented and asked Philip for forgiveness. St. Philip received him with kindness. The moment had a profound effect on Peregrine. Filled with remorse, he began to pray more and to channel his energies into good works. A few years later, he joined the Servites in Siena and went on to be ordained a priest.
After some years he was sent back to Forlì, where he founded a new Servite house there and became well known for his preaching and holiness as well as his devotion to the sick and poor. It is said that he miraculously multiplied grain and wine during a severe shortage in his area. People took to calling him the “Angel of Good Counsel”, so grateful were they for his wise advice so freely given.
One of the special penances he imposed on himself was to stand whenever it was not necessary to sit. When tired he would support himself on a choir stall. At the age of 60, he developed an infection in his right leg. His condition deteriorated to the point that the physician decided to amputate his leg.
The night before the operation Peregrine spent time praying before a fresco of the Crucifixion in the chapter room. He fell into a deep trance-like sleep and seemed to see Jesus descend from the cross to touch his leg.
The following day, the doctor arrived to perform the amputation and finding no sign of the cancer, news spread of the miraculous cure throughout the town. This only increased the people’s regard for Peregrine. The saint died of a fever on May 1, 1345, at the age of 85. An extraordinary number of people from the town and countryside honored his death. Some of the sick who came were healed through his intercession.
Veneration
His body rests in the Servite church of Forlì, the Basilica of Saint Pellegrino Laziosi. Pope Paul V declared him blessed in 1609 and Pope Benedict XIII canonized him in 1726. The liturgical feast of Saint Pellegrino/Peregrine is on May 1.
Peregrine is considered the patron saint of those suffering from cancer. The National Shrine of Saint Peregrine is located at Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica in Chicago, Illinois, as a ministry of the Friar Servants of Mary. There is a St. Peregrine Shrine at The Grotto, at The National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother, in Portland, Oregon. A St. Peregrine Mass is celebrated at The Grotto on the first Saturday of each month at 12 noon in the Chapel of Mary. and there is also a St. Peregrine Laziosi Parish and Diocesan Shrine in Muntinlupa City in the Philippines. It houses a relic taken from St. Peregrine himself, a rib. It is currently on display in the church’s Relic Chapel. There is a Saint Peregrine Cancer Shrine with Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration at Christ the King Catholic Church in Mesa, Arizona. The mission of this St. Peregrine Shrine is to promote perpetual adoration of Jesus Christ and to pray for those affected by cancer. In the midst of suffering, a sanctuary for spiritual healing and emotional peace is offered. There also is a statue of St. Peregrine in the mission church of San Juan Capistrano in southern California.
Prayer to St. Peregrine Laziosi
St. Peregrine, whom Holy Mother Church has declared Patron of those suffering from Cancer, I confidently turn to you for help in my present sickness. I beg your kind intercession. Ask God to relieve me of this sickness, if it be his Holy Will. Plead with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Sorrows, whom you loved so tenderly and in union with whom you have suffered the pains of Cancer, that she may help me with her powerful prayers and loving consolation.
But if it should be God’s Holy Will that I bear this sickness, obtain for me courage and strength to accept these trials from the loving hand of God with patience and resignation, because he knows what is best for the salvation of my soul. St. Peregrine, be my friend and patron. Help me to imitate you in accepting suffering, and to unite myself with Jesus Crucified and the Mother of Sorrows, as you did. I offer my pains to God with all the love of my heart, for his glory and the salvation of souls, especially my own. Amen.
Prayer to St. Peregrine is for others’ intentions
O great St. Peregrine, you have been called “The Mighty,” “The Wonder-Worker,” because of the numerous miracles which you have obtained from God for those who have had recourse to you. For so many years you bore in your own flesh this cancerous disease that destroys the very fiber of our being, and who had recourse to the source of all grace when the power of man could do no more. You were favored with the vision of Jesus coming down from His Cross to heal your affliction. Ask of God and Our Lady, the cure of the sick whom we entrust to you. (Pause here and silently recall the names of the sick for whom you are praying) Aided in this way by your powerful intercession, we shall sing to God, now and for all eternity, a song of gratitude for His great goodness and mercy. Amen.
Prayer to St. Peregrine
O God, who gave to St. Peregrine an Angel for his companion, the Mother of God for his Teacher, and Jesus as the Physician of his malady, grant we beseech You through his merits that we may on earth intensely love our Holy Angel, the blessed Virgin Mary, and our Savior, and in Him bless them forever. Grant that we may receive the favor which we now petition. We ask this through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Novena to St. Peregrine
(Please recite this novena for 9 consecutive days)
Glorious wonder-worker, St. Peregrine, you answered the divine call with a ready spirit and forsook all the comforts of a life of ease and all the empty honors of the world to dedicate yourself to God in the Order of His holy Mother.
You labored manfully for the salvation of souls. In union with Jesus crucified, you endured painful sufferings with such patience as to deserve to be healed miraculously of incurable cancer in your leg by a touch of His divine Hand.
Obtain for me the grace to answer every call of God and to fulfill His will in all the events of life.
Enkindle in my heart a consuming zeal for the salvation of all men. Deliver me from the infirmities that afflict my body, especially
(name any ailments you may have).
Obtain for me also a perfect resignation to the sufferings it may please God to send me, so that, imitating our crucified Saviour and His sorrowful Mother, I may merit eternal glory in heaven. Amen.