Everyone who come to Assumption has seen St. Peregrine, though many may not know who he is. His shrine occupies the rear cubicle on the east side of the church. Though Peregrine lived eight hundred years ago, his story is as fresh as today. Peregrine can be an inspiration to all of us who have never thought of ourselves as “Saint material.”

Peregrine was born in Forli, Italy in 1265. The thirteenth century was a time of tremendous social and cultural change in Italy.  Lots of people from the countryside were migrating to the cities, where there was no work and no place to live. This led to a sharp divide between the haves and the have-nots and, consequently,  a  rise in crime and violence. Peregrine came from a very strong anti-church family and, being one of the have-nots, joined what we would now call a street gang. When a Servite friar, the future St. Philip Benizi, came to Forli preaching peace and reconciliation with the Church, Peregrine rushed up to Philip and struck him. This incident proved to be a turning point in Peregrine’s life. Instead of striking back at his attacker, Philip very calmly and deliberately said, “I forgive you.” What inner power did this man possess? Could faith in Jesus really begin joy and tranquility? This was a window on God and the Church that Peregrine had never before witnessed. He then spent ten years searching—searching for healing with God, the Church, and his past. Eventually he entered the Servite Order and spent the rest of his life ministering to the poor and the sick, At the age of sixty he was diagnosed with cancer and was scheduled to have his leg amputate. He spent the night before the operation in front of an image of Christ crucified. He dreamed that Christ had reached down and healed in cancer. When he awoke the next morning, he found that the dream was real!  The cancer was gone. Peregrine died twenty years later. He was canonized a saint by Pope Leo XIII in 1726.

In 1953, Fr. John Bosco, O.S.M., pastor of St. Dominic Church (a closed parish staffed by the Servite Friars about a mile north of Assumption on Locust Street) established The National Shrien of St Peregrine. He obtained a wood carving of S.t Peregrine from Italy as the centerpiece of the shrine. His dream was not just to offer a place of prayer and devotion to those living with cancer, but to establish a St. Peregrine Hospital for research and treatment of cancer. The hospital never happened, but the shrine endured; and when St. Dominic closed in 1990, the statue of St. Peregrine beneath the cross was moved to Assumption. During a church renovation in 1995, Fr. Augustine Kulbis, O.S.M., added the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows that came from another part of the church.  Although the title of National Shrien was transferred to Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica, we continue to pray a brief devotional service to St. Peregrine following the 12:10 Mass on Mondays.

1726 marks the three hundredth anniversary of St. Peregrine’s canonization, and Servites have obtained Vatican permission to celebrate this as a Jubilee Year. From May 1, 2026 until St. Peregrine’s Feast Day on May 4, 2027, those who visit Servite churches and shrines may obtain a Plenary Indulgence. Every sin has consequences for us and for the world. A Plenary Indulgence brings about a healing of our soul and removes temporal punishment due to our sins. To obtain this indulgence, pilgrims must spend “a meaningful amount of time in Eucharistic adoration and meditation, including praying the Our Father, the Creed, and invocations to the Blessed Virgin Mary and S.t Peregrine.” In announcing the Jubilee Year, Servite Prior General Sergion Ziliani wrote, “In order for the Jubilee Yar to be more than just an opportunity to gain an indulgence, I would like to remind everyone that commemorating St. Peregrine Laziosi, especially this year, should inspire spiritual renewal, deepen our life of grace, and support us on our journey to become more like Christ. We all invoke St. Peregrine especially in times of cancer. However, we know that even before the miracle, St. Peregrine’s journey was marked by an inner transformation and a realization that violence, whether expressed or repressed, only begets more violence. Thus, the invitation extended to us by the figure of S.t Peregrine offers various perspectives: self-knowledge as a means to attain peace of heart and become peacemakers, courageously acknowledging one’s own mistakes and learning how to ask for forgiveness, as Peregrine did with Philip Benizi; and commiting to a deep relationship with the Lord through listening to the Word of God and personal and communal prayer.”

                                                                     Fr. Joe