St. Peregrine Devotions

Devotions in honor of St. Peregrine, the patron saint of those who suffer from cancer or any incurable disease or condition, are held on the first Tuesday of each month at 7 pm. 

Peregrine Laziosi was born in 1260 in Forli, Italy to a family of wealth. As a young man, he participated in uprisings against Papal authority. The Pope sent Philip Benizi as his delegate to Forli to quell these protests. The story goes that, being struck viciously on the face by Peregrine, Benizi did as Christ instructed and offered Peregrine his other cheek to be struck also. This moved Peregrine so deeply that he immediately repented, and receiving forgiveness from Benizi, converted to the faith. 
 
Young Peregrine was said to have received instructions in a vision of the Virgin Mary to go to Siena to join the Servite Order. He was later sent back to his hometown to establish a Servite monastery there. At the age of 60, he developed a cancerous tumor in his right leg and foot from many years of practicing the discipline of never sitting if he could serve by standing and praying. It was decided that the only answer would be to amputate the leg. Fr. Peregrine spent the night before surgery devotedly praying at the foot of a cross in his monastery. It was then that he saw a vision of Jesus Christ descending from the cross to touch his leg. The next day the doctor could find no evidence of cancer. His leg was miraculously healed. Peregrine died in 1345 at the age of eighty-five. Pope Benedict XIII canonized him in 1726.