St. Peregrine Laziosi

St. Peregrine Laziosi (c. 1260-1345) was born into a prominent anti-papal family in Forlì. As a hot-headed young man he struck St. Philip Benizi, the Servite prior general, who had come to reconcile the city with the pope; Philip turned the other cheek, and the blow became the moment of Peregrine’s conversion. He entered the Servites in Siena, was ordained a priest, and returned to Forlì, where he became known for his preaching, his care for the poor, and an austere penance that, tradition says, kept him from sitting down for thirty years. At about sixty a cancer of the leg had advanced so far that amputation was ordered; praying before the crucifix the night before, he saw Christ touch his leg, and by morning it was healed. He died in 1345 at around eighty-five and was canonized in 1726. He is the patron of those suffering from cancer and other grave illnesses.