St. Peregrine Laziosi

Peregrine Laziosi was born around 1260 in Forlì, a city in the Romagna region of northern Italy, into a family that was comfortably well off. In his youth he was known for being impetuous and argumentative, and as a young man he became involved in the anti-papal politics that divided much of Italy in the late thirteenth century. According to traditional accounts, he was among a group of citizens in Forlì who publicly insulted and even physically struck Saint Philip Benizi, the prior general of the Servite Order (the Order of the Servants of Mary), when the religious was preaching in the city. Rather than retaliating, Philip is said to have simply embraced Peregrine, a gesture of charity that struck the young man to the heart and led to his conversion.

Deeply moved by the encounter, Peregrine sought reconciliation and was eventually received into the Servite Order. He made his profession and was sent first to Siena and later to other Servite houses, where he earned a reputation for austerity, humility, and prolonged prayer. Accounts of his life describe him as spending long stretches of the night before the Blessed Sacrament, often holding a crucifix against his chest while meditating on the Passion. He served his brothers in various capacities and, in time, became a trusted figure in Forlì itself, where he is said to have helped found or strengthen the local Servite community and worked as a peacemaker among the city's feuding factions.

Around the age of sixty, Peregrine developed a painful condition in his leg that was identified, in the terms available at the time, as a cancer or tumor. The malady grew so severe that, in 1325, surgeons at the hospital in Forlì decided that the leg would have to be amputated. On the eve of the operation, Peregrine dragged himself before the crucifix in his room and spent the night in prayer. By morning the diseased leg was reportedly sound, and the planned surgery was cancelled. The healing was attributed to the intercession of Christ through the cross, and the event became the central miracle associated with his cult.

Peregrine lived another twenty years, continuing his life of penance and pastoral care until his death on May 1, 1345, in Forlì. He was buried in the Servite church of San Pellegrino, and devotion to him grew steadily in the following centuries, especially among the sick. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in 1726 and canonized by the same pope in 1729. Because of the circumstances of his cure, he is invoked as a patron of cancer patients, and later devotion added AIDS patients and those suffering from headaches and other painful ailments. The Servites continue to observe his feast on May 1.

Peregrine's enduring appeal lies in the combination of his rough past and his long life of patient endurance. For a long time he himself was a sufferer who waited years for relief, which gave his later cure a particular weight for the chronically ill. His image is often shown with a wounded or bandaged leg, and a relic of the limb is venerated in Forlì. The Servite tradition preserves stories of his miracles not only for the sick but also for those in disputes, reflecting the peacemaking role he played in his own city.