www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Patron Saint for cancer

Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen!

Who are patron saints for cancer victims?

Thank you.

Michael

Dear Friend,

In the Eastern Church, this is the miraculous icon of Pantanassa/Vsetsaritsa and there is an akathist on Dave Brown's excellent website in her honour.

In the West, it is St Peregrine.

Alex

Dear Alex,

Thank you so much! I could not locate an Eastern Saint for this. I do very much appreciate your response!

Michael

From an icon shop:
�All- Queen�/Rusian Icon The wonder-working icon of the XVII century "vsetsaritsa" (�All- Queen� All-Holy Mother of God) is located near the eastern column of the cathedral of the Athos Vatopedskoy abode. According to the stories of the old men of monastery, the first proof that the icon has special gift, is the following event: One young person entered into the cathedral and went straight to the icon. Suddenly face of Mother of God flashed, and some invisible force has thrown the young man on the ground. When he has come to the senses, he immediately went to confess to father with the tears on the eyes, that he lived far from the God and was engaged in magic. Wonder-working interference of the Mother of God has convinced the young man to change his life and become pious. Icon miraculously heals the cancerous disease after prayer (acathistus), which they sing to Mother of God Pantanasse. The name of icon � �All- Queen� All-Holy Mother of God - speaks about the special universal force of an image. For the first time icon show the wonder-working force against magic charms � even though the hobby for magic and other occult "sciences" was distributed on the Christian world just like a cancer tumor, - �All- Queen� has good fortune to cure the horrible illness of modern mankind. In newly -Alekseevskogo monastery in Moscow there is a copy from a wonder-working icon from Athos Vatopedskogo monastery. In 1996 - 1997 in this monastery there were a few cases of recovery from cancer. On the bottom there is a writing on old Slavonic language �All-Holy Mother of God �All- Queen�.

[Linked Image]

A GOA page [serfes.org] with prayers for cancer.

And lastly, a ROCOR page [stvladimiraami.org] with prayers for cancer.
"In addition to the Queen of All Icon, another refuge for Orthodox Christians suffering from cancer or similar illness is the Holy St. Nectarios of Aegina. We urge those who are able to pray to St. Nectarios as well � perhaps reading his akathist (below) on a weekly basis as well.

Those who are especially zealous may consider reading also the akathist to the best known of the Unmercenary Physicians, St. Panteliemon."

Dear Friends,

Ultimately, it is longer, more intense prayer that is called for!

Ven Solanus Casey, OFM, would often say this to those coming to get him to pray for them, "You don't have to come to see me, just pray longer than you are used to . . ."

A friend at my old place of work told me about his Methodist uncle who was diagnosed with cancer.

"He would pray, and pray, and pray . . ." he told me. "The whole family believes he prayed the cancer out of himself - he went into remission."

Prayer does warm the body by making the kidneys work and some actually experience a sweat that truly does detoxify.

Who knows? Perhaps God has established long, devoted prayer to Him as a law of nature?

"Could you not watch with Me for one hour?" the Lord said in the Garden to His disciples.

He was giving us all an indication about how long and longer our prayer should last.

Ciao,

Alex

Dear Wondering,

This is perfect!

To all, I am looking now for the Akathist to St. Panteliemon. I found it in Russian, but alas, I am unable to decipher it.

Thank you all. This is very important to me.

Michael (starting to pray uncessingly)

I found a CD that has it in English here [orthodoxmusic.ru] .

One of the links on Wikipedia [orthodoxwiki.org] might take you to it.

It appears to be a popular akathist, so you should be able to find the text without too much searching.

The Latins have a great devotion to St. Peregrine for cancer cures. However, I don't know much about him.

Dr. Alex speaks the truth about prayer and healing. My doctoral paper was on prayer and healing. I interviewed Justin Rigali, then Archbishop of St. Louis now Cardinal Archbishop of Philadelphia, an Archmandrite of the Greek Orthodox diocese of Chicago, a Dominican Sister at SLU, a Rabbi, and a Protestant Seminary Professor, along with scouring journal article after journal article showing the actual health benefits of prayer. Unfortunately most were about pagan meditation but there were a few that even cited rosary praying and how it helps regulate the body's systems by balancing the sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system and the parasympathetic (relaxed) nervous system. Thereby allowing the body to heal itself.

So dig out your chotkis and recite your Akathists. An hour of prayer a day could keep the doctor away!

Dear Friends,

The English akathist to St Panteleimon is in the Jordanville Book of Akathists.

And, Dr Eric, I salute you, sir!

Alex

The Italians are big on St Peregrine. I think he was a Servite Friar.

ICXC
NIKA

St Peregrine Laziosi was born to a well-off family in Forli, Italy in about 1260/1265. His part of Italy was politically dominated by the Vatican, but his family (and many others) were involved in seeking their city's freedom. Back then, opposing the Vatican carried the penalty of interdict -- no religious services were allowed. So, St. Peregrine joined one of the anti-papal parties, and he hated the papacy and the Church.

His conversion began with a visit by a Vatican diplomat, St. Philip Benizi, a member of the Servite order who was sent to calm the situation and reconcile the people. St. Peregrine heckled St. Philip while he preached; at one point, St. Peregrine struck St. Philip in the face, in public. St. Philip calmly turned the other cheek --literally-- and prayed for the young man. St. Peregrine was converted.

He later joined the new Servite order of friars, after receiving a vision of Mary the Mother of Jesus, telling him to do so. As a friar, he practiced much charity for the poor and the outcasts, and he established a friary of the Servites in his home town. He also became renowned for his preaching and as a confessor.

As penance for his youth, he practiced two austerities for the next 30 years. He practiced the austerity of silence unless he was required to speak, and he practiced the austerity of constantly standing.

That second penance eventually led to varicose veins in his legs and feet, some of which opened and became infected. One of these, on his foot, was diagnosed as cancer. The night before his leg was to be amputated, he had a vision of Jesus Christ healing him with a touch. The next morning, the cancer was gone. He lived for another 20 years.

He died in 1345. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. His feast day is 1 May. He is the patron saint of sufferers of cancer and HIV / AIDS.


See online:

http://www.servite.org/pereg.htm

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintp03.htm

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=237

http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.asp?id=1373

http://www.scborromeo.org/saints/peregrin.htm


-- John

"and he practiced the austerity of constantly standing."

I guess Saint Peregrine doesn't like pews either!

Daer Incogneat,

The Ethiopian Saint Abuna Takla Haimonot, their national Saint, stood for such a long time that a leg of his fell off . . .

Ethiopian monks, who formally pray 12 times a day standing sometimes compete to see who can stand the longest.

One monk once stood for 17 hours with his prayer staff (basically, they shift the weight from their legs to the staff).

Alex