Novena to St. Peregrine (Patron of Cancer Patients)

St. Peregrine Laziosi (1265-1345) is the Catholic patron saint of cancer patients and the chronically ill, particularly those facing diseases of the limbs or skin. Born to a wealthy Italian family in Forlì, the young Peregrine was an anti-papal political activist who struck the future St. Philip Benizi during a Servite Order preaching mission to the Forlì faction. According to hagiography, when Philip turned the other cheek, Peregrine was so struck by his witness that he abandoned the anti-papal cause and eventually joined the Servites himself. He was ordained, returned to Forlì, and lived a life of severe penance — including a vow to stand whenever it was not necessary to sit, which he kept for thirty years. In his sixties, his right leg developed an advanced cancer — likely an aggressive metastatic cancer based on the historical descriptions — and the local physician scheduled an amputation. The night before the surgery, Peregrine spent the entire night in prayer before a crucifix in the chapter house. He fell into a kind of trance; when the surgeon arrived in the morning, the leg was completely healed, with no trace of the cancer that had been there the previous evening. Peregrine lived another twenty years and died at age eighty in 1345. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. Hundreds of documented healings have been attributed to his intercession in the centuries since, particularly for cancer patients. The novena to St. Peregrine is appropriate for: any cancer diagnosis (the patron use case), severe chronic illness, illness affecting the limbs or skin specifically, before a major surgery, for the family of someone facing a poor prognosis, and for anyone whose suffering has the character of a long wait without resolution.