A Novena to Saint Peregrine
Patron of the gravely ill
Forlì, 1260
The Novena Prayer
O great Saint Peregrine, thou who hast been called the mighty, the wonder-worker, on account of the numerous miracles which thou hast obtained from God for those who have had recourse to thee: for so many years thou didst bear in thine own flesh a cancerous sore that defied all human cure, and hadst recourse for help to the crucified Lord.
Ask of God and of our Lady the cure that we so ardently desire, and the grace to bear our sufferings with the patience thou didst show. Aid us, we beseech thee, and obtain for us the strength to accept whatever answer is given.
Peregrine Laziosi was born on 1 November 1260 at Forlì in the Romagna, the only son of a wealthy family. The city was under papal interdict and his family belonged to the party opposing the Pope, which is the setting for everything that follows.
The Blow
The Novena Prayer
O great Saint Peregrine, thou who hast been called the mighty, the wonder-worker, on account of the numerous miracles which thou hast obtained from God for those who have had recourse to thee: for so many years thou didst bear in thine own flesh a cancerous sore that defied all human cure, and hadst recourse for help to the crucified Lord.
Ask of God and of our Lady the cure that we so ardently desire, and the grace to bear our sufferings with the patience thou didst show. Aid us, we beseech thee, and obtain for us the strength to accept whatever answer is given.
In 1283 Philip Benizi, prior general of the Servite order, was sent to Forlì to attempt a reconciliation. He was heckled while preaching, and Peregrine, then among the crowd, struck him in the face.
The Other Cheek
The Novena Prayer
O great Saint Peregrine, thou who hast been called the mighty, the wonder-worker, on account of the numerous miracles which thou hast obtained from God for those who have had recourse to thee: for so many years thou didst bear in thine own flesh a cancerous sore that defied all human cure, and hadst recourse for help to the crucified Lord.
Ask of God and of our Lady the cure that we so ardently desire, and the grace to bear our sufferings with the patience thou didst show. Aid us, we beseech thee, and obtain for us the strength to accept whatever answer is given.
Philip is said to have offered his other cheek rather than answer the blow. Peregrine went to find him afterward and asked his forgiveness, and the account has Philip give it without conditions.
Siena
The Novena Prayer
O great Saint Peregrine, thou who hast been called the mighty, the wonder-worker, on account of the numerous miracles which thou hast obtained from God for those who have had recourse to thee: for so many years thou didst bear in thine own flesh a cancerous sore that defied all human cure, and hadst recourse for help to the crucified Lord.
Ask of God and of our Lady the cure that we so ardently desire, and the grace to bear our sufferings with the patience thou didst show. Aid us, we beseech thee, and obtain for us the strength to accept whatever answer is given.
Peregrine joined the Servites at Siena some years later and was in time ordained a priest, then sent back to Forlì, the city where he had made himself notorious, to found a house of the order there.
Thirty Years Standing
The Novena Prayer
O great Saint Peregrine, thou who hast been called the mighty, the wonder-worker, on account of the numerous miracles which thou hast obtained from God for those who have had recourse to thee: for so many years thou didst bear in thine own flesh a cancerous sore that defied all human cure, and hadst recourse for help to the crucified Lord.
Ask of God and of our Lady the cure that we so ardently desire, and the grace to bear our sufferings with the patience thou didst show. Aid us, we beseech thee, and obtain for us the strength to accept whatever answer is given.
Tradition holds that Peregrine imposed on himself the penance of not sitting when it was possible to stand, and kept it for around thirty years. It is commonly offered as the explanation for the ulcerated sore that eventually opened on his right leg.
The Leg
The Novena Prayer
O great Saint Peregrine, thou who hast been called the mighty, the wonder-worker, on account of the numerous miracles which thou hast obtained from God for those who have had recourse to thee: for so many years thou didst bear in thine own flesh a cancerous sore that defied all human cure, and hadst recourse for help to the crucified Lord.
Ask of God and of our Lady the cure that we so ardently desire, and the grace to bear our sufferings with the patience thou didst show. Aid us, we beseech thee, and obtain for us the strength to accept whatever answer is given.
By about 1325 the sore on Peregrine's right leg, described in the sources as a cancer, had spread and was not responding to treatment. A surgeon was engaged to amputate the limb, and the operation was set for the following day.
The Night Before
The Novena Prayer
O great Saint Peregrine, thou who hast been called the mighty, the wonder-worker, on account of the numerous miracles which thou hast obtained from God for those who have had recourse to thee: for so many years thou didst bear in thine own flesh a cancerous sore that defied all human cure, and hadst recourse for help to the crucified Lord.
Ask of God and of our Lady the cure that we so ardently desire, and the grace to bear our sufferings with the patience thou didst show. Aid us, we beseech thee, and obtain for us the strength to accept whatever answer is given.
The night before the surgery Peregrine spent in prayer before a fresco of the crucified Christ in the chapter room, and fell asleep there. He reported dreaming that Christ came down from the cross and touched the diseased leg.
The Morning
The Novena Prayer
O great Saint Peregrine, thou who hast been called the mighty, the wonder-worker, on account of the numerous miracles which thou hast obtained from God for those who have had recourse to thee: for so many years thou didst bear in thine own flesh a cancerous sore that defied all human cure, and hadst recourse for help to the crucified Lord.
Ask of God and of our Lady the cure that we so ardently desire, and the grace to bear our sufferings with the patience thou didst show. Aid us, we beseech thee, and obtain for us the strength to accept whatever answer is given.
The surgeon, arriving to operate, is recorded as having found no trace of the disease. Peregrine was then in his sixties, and lived a further twenty years.
Forlì, 1345
The Novena Prayer
O great Saint Peregrine, thou who hast been called the mighty, the wonder-worker, on account of the numerous miracles which thou hast obtained from God for those who have had recourse to thee: for so many years thou didst bear in thine own flesh a cancerous sore that defied all human cure, and hadst recourse for help to the crucified Lord.
Ask of God and of our Lady the cure that we so ardently desire, and the grace to bear our sufferings with the patience thou didst show. Aid us, we beseech thee, and obtain for us the strength to accept whatever answer is given.
Peregrine died at Forlì on 1 May 1345, aged eighty-four. He was beatified in 1609 and canonized on 27 December 1726, and is invoked by those with cancer and other grave illness.
The prayer that opens each day is the traditional novena prayer to Saint Peregrine, of unknown authorship and long in circulation, given here as it is commonly printed. ⚠ This novena is prayed overwhelmingly by people who will not be cured, and some of the devotional literature around it has been careless about that, coming close to promising an outcome. What the eighth day records is what is said to have happened to Peregrine in 1325. It is not a promise made to anyone else, and the novena is not less worth praying for that. What follows each day is a fact, one per day.
