St. Peregrine: Patron Saint of Cancer Patients

The diagnosis came. Maybe it came this week. Maybe the words were said in a small room with a scan on a screen, and you are still hearing them. Or someone you love is in treatment right now and you are the one making phone calls, driving to appointments, sitting in waiting rooms with bad coffee.

Catholics have a saint for this, and he is not a distant figure. St. Peregrine Laziosi had cancer himself. He knew the smell of it, the fear of it, the surgeon's verdict. He also knew what it was to be healed.

This page is not a promise that your story will end the way his did. It is an invitation to pray anyway, with your treatment, with your doctors, and with a man who understands.

Who Was St. Peregrine Laziosi?

Peregrine was born in Forli, in northern Italy, around 1260. As a young man he was not religious at all. He was hostile to the Church, and in that hostility he struck Philip Benizi, the prior of the Servite house in Forli. Philip did not strike back. He turned the other cheek. That moment broke something open in Peregrine. He was ashamed, he repented, and he joined the Servites himself.

He spent the rest of his life in that order, in that town, mostly in quiet work. He was not a famous preacher. He was a friar who prayed, heard confessions, and grew old. He died in 1345 at about eighty-five. The Church canonised him in 1726 under Pope Benedict XIII. His feast is 1 May.

If you have ever done something you regret, and wondered whether God could still use you, his early life is worth sitting with.

The Night Before the Amputation

In his sixties, a growth appeared on Peregrine's right leg. It was a sarcoma. It grew. It became visible and it smelled foul. The doctors of his time looked at it and decided the leg had to come off. There was no other option they could see.

The night before the surgery, Peregrine did not argue with the doctors. He dragged himself into the chapter room and prayed before the crucifix. He asked God for help. Then he fell asleep there on the floor. When he woke, the leg was whole and the cancer was gone.

He lived about twenty more years after that night. He spent them caring for the sick and the poor of Forli. People came to him because they knew he had been where they were. He was canonised centuries later, and his shrine in Forli still keeps a perpetual novena for cancer patients.

Why Cancer Patients Pray to Him

Most saints are asked for help because they were holy. Peregrine is asked because he was sick. He felt the growth. He heard the verdict. He knew what it is to lie awake the night before a procedure and wonder what will be left of his body afterward. There is no need to explain cancer to him.

His shrine in Forli keeps a novena going all year for people with cancer. That means somewhere, at any hour, someone is praying for the sick. You are not praying alone, and neither is the person you love.

If you are looking for company in prayer, you can also turn to St. Raphael, the angel of healing, or read a prayer for a cancer patient to pray when you cannot find words of your own.

The St. Peregrine Novena

A novena is nine days of prayer. The word comes from the Latin for nine. People pray a novena when they are asking for something specific, or when they are waiting, or when they want to keep showing up. Nine days is short enough to finish and long enough to be a real commitment. You can learn more about how to pray a novena for healing if this is new to you.

For one person, keep it simple. Pick nine days. Pick a time you can actually keep, even if it is two minutes before bed. Name the person out loud. Ask Peregrine to pray with you, not instead of you.

The traditional prayer is short: O God, who in your servant Saint Peregrine gave us a witness of patience in suffering and of trust in you, grant, we ask, that through his intercession those who suffer from cancer may receive comfort, strength, and, if it be your will, healing of body. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

You can add the person's name at the end. You can also add a Hail Mary or a moment of silence. What matters is that you come back tomorrow.

What the Church Teaches About Asking Him

Peregrine's intercession is not a guarantee of a cure. The Church does not teach that praying to him will always end in healing. Only God heals, and God heals in ways we do not always see. Sometimes the healing is in the body. Sometimes it is in the person's peace, or in the family, or in a good death.

Catholics ask the saints to pray for us the way you ask a friend to pray for you. It is not magic and it is not a replacement for medicine. Keep seeing your doctors. Keep taking the treatment. Ask Peregrine to pray alongside it.

When someone is seriously ill, the Church also offers the Anointing of the Sick. It is a sacrament of strength and peace, not a last rite only for the dying. If the illness is terminal, there is a prayer for that too: when the illness is terminal. And if you want to know who else the Church turns to, there is a whole company of the other saints Catholics call on when they are sick.

How to Pray with Someone Who Is Sick

Do not say that everything happens for a reason. Do not say that God needed another angel. Do not tell them to be strong. Say instead: I am here. I am praying for you. I can sit with you. Do you want me to bring anything?

If you are praying with them, ask first. Some people want prayer out loud. Some want silence. Some want you to hold their hand and say nothing at all. Follow their lead.

A novena can survive fatigue. If you miss a day, pick it up the next day. If you can only manage one sentence, pray that sentence. If you cannot pray at all, let someone else pray for you. Peregrine fell asleep in the middle of his own prayer, and God heard him anyway.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the patron saint of cancer patients?

St. Peregrine Laziosi, a Servite friar from Forli, Italy, is the patron saint of cancer patients. He had a sarcoma on his right leg in his sixties and was healed the night before his scheduled amputation. He is also the patron of the sick and of those with diseases of the leg or foot.

How do you pray the St. Peregrine novena?

Pray for nine days in a row. Choose a time you can keep. Name the person you are praying for, ask St. Peregrine to intercede, and pray the traditional prayer asking for comfort, strength, and healing if it is God's will. If you miss a day, simply begin again.

What is St. Peregrine the patron saint of?

He is the patron of those with cancer and other serious or supposedly incurable illnesses, of the sick in general, and of people with diseases of the leg or foot. His shrine in Forli keeps a perpetual novena for cancer patients, so prayers are offered there all year.

Can St. Peregrine cure cancer?

No saint cures anyone. Only God heals. Catholics ask St. Peregrine to pray for them, the way you would ask a friend, while continuing medical treatment. Sometimes the healing is physical, sometimes it is peace, strength, or a holy death. His intercession is never a guarantee.

When is St. Peregrine's feast day?

His feast day is 1 May. He died in 1345 at about the age of eighty-five and was canonised in 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII. In art he is often shown holding a bandaged leg or kneeling before the crucifix, which recalls the night he was healed.