Patron Saint of Cancer
Patron saint: St. Peregrine Laziosi · Feast day:
St. Peregrine Laziosi is the patron saint of cancer patients. He experienced cancer personally, faced amputation, and was miraculously healed the night before the scheduled surgery through a vision of Christ. His intercession has been sought by cancer patients for over seven centuries.
Who Is St. Peregrine Laziosi?
St. Peregrine Laziosi (1260–1345) was an Italian Servite friar from Forlì who developed cancer of the leg and was scheduled for amputation. The night before the surgery, he spent hours in prayer before a crucifix in the chapter room. He fell asleep and had a vision of Christ descending from the cross and touching his cancerous leg. When the surgeon arrived in the morning the leg was completely healed — no trace of cancer remained. Peregrine lived to age 85. He was canonized in 1726 and his incorrupt body remains enshrined at the Servite basilica in Forlì, Italy. His feast day is May 4.
Why Is St. Peregrine Laziosi the Patron Saint of Cancer patients, those with aids, those with serious illness, the incurably ill?
St. Peregrine's patronage of cancer patients is the most directly experiential of any patronage — he did not become patron through association or legend but through personal suffering. He carried cancer in his own body, faced the prospect of losing a limb, and spent the night before that surgery in prayer that was answered with complete healing.
His patronage extends to every stage of the cancer experience: the shock of diagnosis, the waiting for results, the exhaustion of treatment, the fear of recurrence, and the particular courage required to face a disease that does not always resolve. He is invoked for those seeking physical healing, for those enduring treatment, and for those whose cancer is not curable — asking not only for healing but for the courage he was given to face what came with faith intact.
Catholics wear the St. Peregrine medal throughout cancer treatment as a sign of placing their illness under his intercession. Many cancer centers with Catholic affiliations have chapels or shrines dedicated to him, and his novena is one of the most widely prayed novenas in Catholic healthcare settings.
His patronage extends to every stage of the cancer experience: the shock of diagnosis, the waiting for results, the exhaustion of treatment, the fear of recurrence, and the particular courage required to face a disease that does not always resolve. He is invoked for those seeking physical healing, for those enduring treatment, and for those whose cancer is not curable — asking not only for healing but for the courage he was given to face what came with faith intact.
Catholics wear the St. Peregrine medal throughout cancer treatment as a sign of placing their illness under his intercession. Many cancer centers with Catholic affiliations have chapels or shrines dedicated to him, and his novena is one of the most widely prayed novenas in Catholic healthcare settings.
Prayer to St. Peregrine Laziosi
Saint Peregrine, servant of God,
you carried cancer in your own flesh
and placed it at the foot of the cross.
You were healed when no healing seemed possible.
Intercede for all who face this illness —
for those awaiting results, for those in treatment,
for those exhausted by its length and its cost.
Ask for healing where healing is possible.
And where it is not,
ask for the courage you were given:
to endure what comes with faith still intact.
Saint Peregrine, pray for us. Amen.
San Peregrino, siervo de Dios,
llevaste el cáncer en tu propia carne
y lo pusiste a los pies de la cruz.
Fuiste sanado cuando ninguna sanación parecía posible.
Intercede por todos los que enfrentan esta enfermedad —
por los que esperan resultados, por los que están en tratamiento,
por los que están agotados por su duración y su costo.
Pide la curación donde la curación es posible.
Y donde no lo sea,
pide el valor que a ti se te dio:
soportar lo que viene con la fe intacta.
San Peregrino, ruega por nosotros. Amén.
Original composition by Rosarycard.net. Biographical information sourced from Butler's Lives of the Saints.
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