Saint Peregrine Laziosi

Saint Peregrine Laziosi was a religious of the Order of Servants of Mary, the Servites, and spent almost all his religious life in his native Forlì in northern Italy. The Roman Martyrology says that, serving the Mother of God, he excelled in devotion to her Son, Jesus, and in care for the poor. The faithful invoke him as the patron of people with cancer. His memorial falls on May 1.

He was born in Forlì around 1265 into the noble Laziosi family; the exact year is not known. At that time the city rose against papal rule, and Pope Martin IV placed it under interdict. The prior general of the Servites, Saint Philip Benizi, who was staying there, urged the citizens to return to obedience to the Apostolic See and for this was insulted, beaten, and driven out of the city. According to tradition, among the attackers was the eighteen-year-old Peregrine, who struck him in the face. Philip prayed for those who had wronged him, and the young man, moved by his gentleness, came to ask his forgiveness.

From then on, as tradition relates, he sought a way of life given to God. At about the age of thirty he entered the Order of Servants of Mary and made his novitiate in Siena. He then returned to Forlì and remained there until his death. He stood out for his faithfulness to the rule, his prayer, his meditation on Sacred Scripture, and his love for the poor. He led a life of strict penance: according to the accounts, for many years he avoided sitting down, and when weariness overcame him he leaned against the stalls in the choir. The sources do not agree on whether he was ordained a priest.

When he was about sixty, a wound caused by varicose veins opened on his right leg and in time turned into a serious illness; the tradition of the order describes it as gangrene or as cancer. The physician decided that the leg had to be amputated. According to tradition, on the night before the operation Peregrine dragged himself to the chapter room of the friary and prayed before an image of the Crucified. When sleep overcame him, he saw Jesus come down from the cross and heal his leg. In the morning the physician found no trace of the disease, and news of the healing quickly spread through the city.

He died in Forlì on May 1, 1345, worn out by fever, at nearly eighty years of age. Crowds came to his funeral, and the accounts speak of sick people who were healed at that time. His body rests in the Servite church in Forlì, and the city honors him as its co-patron. As the order grew, his veneration spread throughout Italy and the world.

On April 15, 1609, Pope Paul V confirmed the veneration long given to him and granted him the title of Blessed, and Benedict XIII declared him a saint on December 27, 1726. He is usually depicted supported by angels as Christ comes down from the cross to heal him.