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Patron saints

Patron saints of healing

Catholics and Orthodox both ask St Raphael and St Panteleimon, and Catholics also ask Our Lady of Lourdes.

Picture: The Archangel Raphael and Tobias by Titian dated about 1512−1514. Public domain.

East and West ask him

St Raphael the Archangel

Prayer to St Raphael for healing

Glorious Archangel Saint Raphael,great prince of the court of heaven,famed for your gifts of wisdom and grace,guide of those who travel by land and by sea,comfort of the unfortunate and refuge of sinners,

I beg you to help me in all my needsand in all the troubles of this life,as you once helped young Tobias on his journeys.

And since you are the medicine of God,I humbly ask you to heal my soul of its many sicknessesand my body of the ills that afflict it,if this grace is for my good.

Above all I ask you for a purity like the angels’,so that I may be worthy to bethe living temple of the Holy Spirit.Amen.

Traditional wording, 1900

Glorious Archangel, S. Raphael, great prince of the heavenly court,illustrious by thy gifts of wisdom and grace,guide of travellers by land and sea,consoler of the unfortunate and refuge of sinners,

I entreat thee to help me in all my needs and in all the trials of this life,as thou didst once assist the young Tobias in his journeying.

And since thou art the “physician of God,”I humbly pray thee to heal my soul of its many infirmitiesand my body of the ills that afflict it,if this favor is for my greater good.

I ask, especially, for angelic purity,that I may be made fit to be the living temple of the Holy Ghost.Amen.

His name means “God has healed”. The Orthodox call him “the curer of human infirmities”, and on his old feast day in the West, 24 October, the Gospel read was the healing at the pool of Bethesda.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Italian. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: an unnamed translator, The New Raccolta, 1900.

More about St Raphael the Archangel His story, his feast days and where his prayer comes from

East and West ask him

St Panteleimon

Troparion of St Panteleimon

Holy victor and healer Panteleimon,pray to the merciful Godthat He may grant our soulsforgiveness of sins.

Traditional wording, 1894

Thou holy pain-enduring one, physician too,O Pantelimon, mediate with God the merciful,that He may grant our souls remission of iniquities.

His name means “all-merciful”, and the Orthodox Church calls on him when it blesses water and in its prayers for the sick.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek, with Shann’s 1894 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: G. V. Shann, Book of Needs of the Holy Orthodox Church, 1894.

Shann has “pain-enduring one” where the Greek has “victor”.

More about St Panteleimon Why people ask him, his feast days and where his prayer comes from

Catholics ask her

Our Lady of Lourdes

Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes

Immaculate Virgin, Mother of mercy,health of the sick, refuge of sinners,comfort of the afflicted,you know my needs, my troubles and my sufferings.Turn a kind look on me.

When you appeared in the grotto of Lourdes,you wished it to become a chosen placefrom which you would pour out your favours,and many in distress have already found therethe cure for their sicknesses of soul and body.

I come full of trust to ask for your motherly favours.Answer my humble prayer, gentle Mary,and, filled with your blessings,I will try to imitate your virtues,so that one day I may share in your glory.Amen.

Traditional wording, 1904

O ever immaculate Virgin, Mother of mercy,Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners, Comfort of the afflicted,thou knowest my wants, my troubles, my sufferings;deign to cast upon me a look of mercy.

By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes,thou wert pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary,whence thou didst dispense thy favors,and already many sufferers have obtained the cure of their infirmities,both spiritual and corporal.

I come, therefore, with the most unbounded confidence,to implore thy maternal intercession.Obtain, O loving Mother, the grant of my requests.Through gratitude for thy favors, I will endeavor to imitate thy virtues,that I may one day share thy glory.Amen.

Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appeared 18 times in 1858 in the grotto at Lourdes, in the south of France, and a spring she pointed out there has flowed ever since. Pilgrims drink it and bathe in it, and the Church has recognised 72 cures at Lourdes as miracles, the latest in 2025. Pope John Paul II set up the Catholic Church’s World Day of the Sick in 1992, and it is kept every year on her feast, 11 February.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the French. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: an unnamed translator, F. X. Lasance, Prayer-book for Religious, 1904.

More about Our Lady of Lourdes Her story, her feast day and where her prayer comes from

East and West ask them

Sts Cosmas and Damian

Troparion of Sts Cosmas and Damian

Holy wonderworkers who took no payment,visit us in our sicknesses.Freely you have received;freely give to us.

Traditional wording, 1906

O sainted Unmercenaries and Wonderworkers,visit ye our infirmities.Freely ye have received,freely give ye unto us.

They head the list of healing saints in the Orthodox prayer over the oil when the Church anoints the sick. The emperor Justinian put his own cure from a dangerous illness down to their prayers.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek, with Isabel Hapgood’s 1906 translation beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: Isabel F. Hapgood, Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church, 1906.

More about Sts Cosmas and Damian Why people ask them, their feast days and where their prayer comes from

Other saints people ask

The Orthodox ask him

St Luke of Crimea

Troparion of St Luke the Surgeon

Herald of the way of salvation,confessor of the faith and chief shepherd of the land of Crimea,true keeper of what the Fathers handed down,pillar that cannot be shaken, teacher of the Orthodox faith,doctor wise in God, holy bishop Luke,pray without ceasing to Christ the Saviourto give the Orthodox a faith that cannot be shaken,and salvation, and great mercy.

The kontakionLike a star full of light, holy bishop,you shone with virtuesand made your soul like an angel’s.So you were honoured with the rank of bishop.In exile you suffered much from the godless,yet you stood firm in the faith,and with a doctor’s wisdom you healed many.And so the Lord has now wonderfully glorified your honoured body,found deep in the earth,so that all of us who believe cry out to you:Rejoice, father and holy bishop Luke,praise and strength of the land of Crimea!

Traditional wording

Herald of the path of salvation, Confessor and Archpastor of the Crimean Land,True Guardian of Patristic Tradition, unshakable pillar, teacher of Orthodoxy,divinely-wise physician, and Hierarch Luke,pray unceasingly to Christ the Savior to grant unshakable faith to the Orthodox, salvation, and great mercy.

Like a star shining with light, O Hierarch, you shone with virtues,and you led a blameless life, like the Angels;therefore, you were honored with the rank of a Bishop,but suffered much persecution from the atheists,yet you remained unshakable in your faith,healing many with your medical wisdom.Therefore, your revered relics were found in the bowels of the earth,and the Lord has glorified you, so that all the faithful may cry out to you:"Rejoice, Father and Hierarch Luke,the boast and bulwark of the Crimean land."

He was a surgeon who became an archbishop, and he kept treating the sick through prison and exile under the Soviets. Greeks healed through his prayers gave 300 kilograms of silver for a reliquary to hold his relics.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Church Slavonic, with the Orthodox Church in America’s English beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: Orthodox Church in America, Troparia and kontakia for 11 June, on its website.

The Slavonic kontakion says he suffered in exile. The OCA’s English leaves out the exile.

More about St Luke of Crimea Why people ask him and where his prayer comes from

The Orthodox ask them

Sts Cyrus and John

Kontakion of Sts Cyrus and John

Holy ones, you received the gift of miracles from God’s grace,and you work wonders without ceasing.By unseen surgery you cut away all our passions,Cyrus, wise in God, together with holy John,for you are physicians of God.

Traditional wording

Having received the gift of miracles through divine grace, O saints,you work wonders in the world unceasingly.You remove all of our passions through your invisible surgery,divinely-wise Cyrus and glorious John,for you are truly divine physicians.

Cyrus was a doctor and John a soldier, martyred together in AD 311, and from AD 412 their shrine near Alexandria was a place where the sick were healed.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek, with the Orthodox Church in America’s English beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: Orthodox Church in America, Troparia and kontakia for 31 January, on its website.

The Greek says they cut away our passions, as a surgeon cuts. The OCA’s English says they remove them.

More about Sts Cyrus and John Why people ask them and where their prayer comes from

Catholics ask him

St John of God

Prayer to St John of God for heart patients

Dearest Saint John of God,I come before you on behalf of those suffering from diseases of the heart,especially (name).

I ask that you fervently praythat if it is God’s willthat their hearts be healed of every ailmentand that they enjoy fullness of health.

If it is not, please praythat they have the grace and strengthto bear their sickness with patience and dignityand ask God to bless them with caretakerswho are wise and who can alleviate their suffering.

Thank you Saint John for your love and intercession.Amen.

He founded a hospital for the poor in Granada, and Pope Leo XIII named him, with St Camillus de Lellis, the heavenly patron of hospitals and the sick. Many Catholics also ask him for those with heart disease.

As printed by Prayer to St John of God for healing, Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, Chattanooga, Tennessee, 2022.

More about St John of God His story, his feast day and where his prayer comes from

A prayer to God for this

A short hymn, with their name

Troparion for the sick

O Christ, You alone are quick to help.Come quickly from on highand visit Your suffering servant (name).Free them from sickness and bitter pain.Raise them up to sing to Youand glorify You without ceasing,through the prayers of the Mother of God,O only Lover of mankind.

O Christ, You alone are quick to help.Come quickly from on highand visit me, Your suffering servant.Free me from sickness and bitter pain.Raise me up to sing to Youand glorify You without ceasing,through the prayers of the Mother of God,O only Lover of mankind.

Traditional wording, 1894

Thou that alone art quick to help, O Christ,make manifest from on high a speedy visitation to Thine ailing servant:deliver him from sicknesses and bitter pains,and raise him up, that, without ceasing, he may praise and glorify Thee,through the God-bearing one’s entreaties,O Thou sole Lover of mankind.

The short hymn Orthodox Christians say at home for someone who is ill. It comes first under “Prayers for the sick” in Russian prayer books.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Greek. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: G. V. Shann, Book of Needs of the Holy Orthodox Church, 1894.

Where it comes from, and the Greek
Orthodox prayers for the sick and for healing Every prayer for this, with the Bible passages for it.

Scripture for this

14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.

James 5:14-15 James tells the sick to call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the Lord’s name.

The LORD will sustain him on his bed of illness and restore him from his bed of sickness.

Psalm 41:3 A psalm of David says the Lord sustains on his sickbed the one who cares for the poor.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

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