Cancer. The word strikes an array of emotions into many people’s hearts: sadness, compassion, and concern for a specific loved one. Marian is a powerful community of prayer and love for those with cancer or other serious ailments. The Saint Peregrine Ministry aids in that very purpose.

Sr. Linda Hess directs the min- istry for the Servants of Mary via their website. She has lost a brother, grandmother, and other loved ones to cancer, and has used her experi- ences to bring comfort to others.

“Cancer had touched my life. I guess [the ministry] was an opportunity to be able to walk with others, to be with others, to extend the whole area of healing, compassion, and presence,” she said.

Sr. Linda has been running the program since January of last year. The ministry has been growing since its conception in the late 1980s. Sr.

Mary Eleanor began the program after seeing a statue of Saint Pere- grine at a mission chapel in Califor- nia. Now, the program has grown
to include a daily prayer list and a monthly Mass said for those on the list. The ministry is a program of
the Servite Center of Compassion in Omaha and is part of an internation- al ministry for the sick established by the Servants of Mary. Sr. Linda said that though the prayer program is nationwide, it has become something special for the Marian community.

“I’ve had families call me and say, ‘Our loved one died, but what we experienced as a family brought us closer together.’ You can’t tell me that’s not grace, that’s not blessing,” she said.

The Ministry is varied, according to Sr. Linda. Members’ prayers help many people, such as those who have cancer, other serious ailments, or those in gangs. “[Peregrine] is also known as the patron saint of gangs, because he was in a gang growing up, and I think that’s very appropriate for today,” Sr. Linda said. This aspect of Peregrine makes him even more relatable to Omaha teens. Saint Peregrine was born in Forli, Italy, in 1265. He joined the Servants of Mary after feeling remorse about being part of a gang. Later in his life, he encountered a huge challenge.

“Saint Peregrine himself had cancer,” Sr. Linda said. “He had a cancerous tumor on his leg, and story has it that through prayer, he was cured, and that’s what gave him the impetus of being with the sick, and he served 20 years after his own healing.”

The Saint Peregrine Ministry greatly impacts Sr. Linda’s vocation and Marian’s community. “So for me, Peregrine is just almost a way of life, rather than a program or ministry. He has shown me how to live my life as a healer, as a lover, as a friend, as a minister,” she said.