This Prayer to Our Lady for Those Suffering with Cancer asks the Mother of Sorrows, through the intercession of St. Peregrine, the patron of cancer patients, to present our petition to her Son. A prayer to St. Peregrine follows.
My dearest Mother, Virgin Mother of God and Mother of Sorrows, behold me, your child, in prayer before you. I plead for a special favor through the intercession of your faithful servant, Saint Peregrine, who was so devoted to you. (Mention your favor.) Sorrowful Mother, I beg you to present my petition to your Divine Son. I know you want me to seek God’s Will in all things, as you always did. Therefore, with childlike trust I abandon myself to God’s Holy Will concerning my request. If what I ask for should not be granted, pray that I may receive that which will be of greater benefit to my soul. Dear Mother of Sorrows, I love you! I put all my confidence in you, because your prayers before God are most powerful. For the sake of Jesus who suffered for my soul as you also did, and through the intercession of Saint Peregrine, hear and grant my prayer. Amen.
Mater Dolorosa, by Titian (c. 1554), Museo del Prado. Public domain.
St. Peregrine, whom Holy Mother Church has declared Patron of those suffering from Cancer, I confidently turn to you for help in my present sickness. I beg your kind intercession. Ask God to relieve me of this sickness, if it be His Holy Will. Plead with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Sorrows, whom you loved so tenderly and in union with whom you have suffered the pains of Cancer, that she may help me with her powerful prayers and loving consolation. But if it should be God’s Holy Will that I bear this sickness, obtain for me courage and strength to accept these trials from the loving hand of God with patience and resignation, because He knows what is best for the salvation of my soul. St. Peregrine, be my friend and patron. Help me to imitate you in accepting suffering, and to unite myself with Jesus Crucified and the Mother of Sorrows, as you did. I offer my pains to God with all the love of my heart, for His glory and the salvation of souls, especially my own. Amen.
Pray at any stage of illness: while awaiting test results, before surgery or treatment, during recovery, or while caring for someone who is suffering. Name the person where the prayer invites it, and you may pray it for nine days as a novena. Keep seeking good medical care and ask a priest for the Sacraments, especially the Anointing of the Sick. Both prayers are from Fr. Lawrence Lovasik’s booklet on St. Peregrine, published by EWTN.
St. Peregrine Laziosi (1265–1345) was a Servite friar of Forlì, Italy. When a cancerous wound on his leg was to be amputated, he spent the night in prayer before the crucifix and, by tradition, awoke healed. He was canonized in 1726, and his feast is May 4.
Mary stood at the foot of the Cross and shared her Son’s suffering. Catholics ask the Mother of Sorrows to stay close to them in pain and fear and to lead them to Jesus, the Divine Physician.
No prayer guarantees a physical cure. We may ask boldly for healing while also praying, as the prayer itself does, for whatever will be of greater benefit to the soul, and for courage and trust in God’s holy will.
