Prayer to St Peregrine

The prayer people with cancer say to St Peregrine, the friar his order tells was healed of cancer in his leg.

Picture: Francesco Trevisani, The Glory of St Peregrine Laziosi, early 1700s, Basilica of San Pellegrino, Forlì

O great St. Peregrine, you have been called “The Mighty,” “The Wonder-Worker,”because of the numerous miracles which you have obtained from Godfor those who have had recourse to you.

For so many years you bore in your own fleshthis cancerous disease that destroys the very fibre of our being,and who had recourse to the source of all gracewhen the power of man could do no more.You were favored with the vision of Jesus coming down from His Crossto 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.

As printed by Prayer to Saint Peregrine, Catholic Culture.

His story

He was 18 years old in 1283, when he joined a crowd in Forlì that drove out the visiting friar Philip Benizi with blows and insults. Philip prayed for the men who had attacked him, and Peregrine went to ask his forgiveness, then joined Philip’s order and later founded its house in Forlì. He lived a life of hard penance, resting against a choir stall or a stone when he was worn out and sleeping on the bare ground. He died in 1345, nearly 80 years old, and was declared a saint in 1726.

San Peregrino Laziosi, the Servite Order (Order of Servants of Mary); “St. Peregrine Laziosi”, Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911

His feast days

1 May: His feast in the Catholic Church.
4 May: His feast in the Servite Order.

The Roman Martyrology, 1916, 1 May; San Peregrino Laziosi (4 May), the Servite Order

Why people ask St Peregrine

Cancer

The Servites, his order, tell that Christ healed the cancer in his leg the night before the doctor was to cut it off. He had prayed before a crucifix, fallen asleep and dreamed that Jesus came down from the cross to heal him, and in the morning the doctor found no trace of the disease. The Servites call him their protector against cancer.

San Peregrino Laziosi (protector against cancer), the Servite Order