SAINTS OF THE DAY
THURSDAY, 1 MAY, 2025
1. SAINT JOSEPH THE WORKER
2. SAINT PEREGRINE LAZIOSI
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1. SAINT JOSEPH THE WORKER
(FOSTER FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST)
Apparently in response to the “May Day” celebrations for workers sponsored by Communists, Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955. But the relationship between Joseph and the cause of workers has a much longer history.
In a constantly necessary effort to keep Jesus from being removed from ordinary human life, the Church has from the beginning proudly emphasized that Jesus was a carpenter, obviously trained by Joseph in both the satisfactions and the drudgery of that vocation. Humanity is like God not only in thinking and loving, but also in creating. Whether we make a table or a cathedral, we are called to bear fruit with our hands and mind, ultimately for the building up of the Body of Christ.
COMMENT: “The Lord God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it” (Genesis 2:15). The Father created all and asked humanity to continue the work of creation. We find our dignity in our work, in raising a family, in participating in the life of the Father's creation. Joseph the Worker was able to help participate in the deepest mystery of creation. Pope Pius XII emphasized this when he said, “The spirit flows to you and to all men from the heart of the God-man, Savior of the world, but certainly, no worker was ever more completely and profoundly penetrated by it than the foster father of Jesus, who lived with Him close to Christ, we again today repeat, ‘Go to Joseph'” (see Genesis in closest intimacy and community of family life and work. Thus, if you wish to be c41:44).
QUOTE: In Brothers of Men, René Voillaume of the Little Brothers of Jesus speaks about ordinary work and holiness: “Now this holiness (of Jesus) became a reality in the most ordinary circumstances of life, those of work, of the family and the social life of a village, and this is an emphatic affirmation of the fact that the most obscure and humdrum human activities are entirely compatible with the perfection of the Son of God....this mystery involves the conviction that the evangelical holiness proper to a child of God is possible in the ordinary circumstances of someone who is poor and obliged to work for his living.”
PATRON: Universal Church, families, fathers, expectant mothers, travelers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers, craftsmen, engineers and working people.
ST. JOSEPH'S PRAYER FOR EMPLOYMENT
This novena is very powerful to find employment (it has worked several times).You can say this novena anytime.
Saint Joseph, foster-father and protector of Jesus Christ, spouse of the blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God, powerful protector of the Holy Church, to you do I raise my heart and hands to implore your powerful intercession. You searched nothing else in this world but the glory of God and the good of others. You gave yourself completely to the Savior, it was cause for joy to pray, to work, to sacrifice yourself, to suffer, to die for him. You were unknown in this world even though Jesus knew you very well, he would look at your simple and hidden life with complacency. Saint Joseph, you have helped so many people so I come to you with great trust. In the light of God you can see what misses me, you know my worries, my difficulties, my sorrow. I commend to your fatherly solicitude this specific task...
(Find employment for example)
I am placing it in your hands that saved the child-Jesus. Ask for the grace to never separate me from Jesus by the mortal sin, to know him and love him even more and his blessed Mother, to always live in the presence of God, to do anything for his glory and the good of other souls, and one day to reach the beatific vision of God to praise him eternally with you. Amen.
St. Joseph the Worker: Pray for us!
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2. SAINT PEREGRINE LAZIOSI
PRIEST AND CONFESSOR
(1265 - 1 MAY, 1345)
Peregrine Laziosi was born in Forli, Italy, the only son of well-to-do parents. In his teens he joined the enemies of the Pope in his hometown and soon became a ringleader of rebels.
Pope Martin IV had placed Forli under a spiritual interdict which closed churches in the city, hoping to bring its citizens to their senses. That failing, he sent Philip Benizi, of the Order of Servites (Servants of Mary), as his personal ambassador to try to bring peace to the angry rebels.
No welcome mat was spread for the papal delegate. While addressing crowds of malcontents one day, he was dragged off the rostrum, beaten with clubs and pelted with rocks. Peregrine knocked him down with a vicious blow to the face. Moments after, stricken with remorse, the youth cast himself at the feet of the bruised and bleeding priest and asked for his forgiveness, which was granted with a smile.
Peregrine became a staunch champion of Philip Benizi. He heeded Philip's suggestion and often prayed in Our Lady's chapel in the Cathedral. While kneeling there he had a vision of the Blessed Mother holding in her hands a black habit like the one the Servites wore. “Go to Siena,” Mary told the astonished Peregrine. “There you will find devout men who call themselves my servants. Attach yourself to them.”
The Servites gave him a warm welcome. He was clothed ceremoniously in the religious habit by Philip Benizi himself.
One of Peregrine's slogans as a Servite may well have been: “Better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today!” Daily he sought to become a more fervent religious man. To atone for past misdeeds he treated himself harshly and worked hard for the poor and afflicted.
People took to calling him the “Angel of Good Counsel,” so grateful were they for his wise advice so freely given.
After being ordained a priest he went to Forli to found a Servite monastery. A few years later a cancerous growth appeared on his right foot. It was so painful that he finally agreed with the surgeon who wanted to amputate.
The night before the scheduled surgery, Peregrine spent hours in prayer. Then he dozed off and dreamt that Christ was touching him and healing his foot. The thrill of it woke him up. In the dim moonlight he saw that his foot, carefully bandaged a few hours earlier was completely healed.
The Forlineses appreciated him still more after learning of the miraculous cure. When they were sick they appealed to his prayers. Some were cured when he whispered “Jesus” into their ears.
Peregrine died on May 1st, 1345 and was ranked with the saints in 1726. Thousands of clients pay him special honor on May 1st each year.
PATRON: cancer, foot ailments, or any incurable disease.
PRAYER TO ST. PEREGRINE FOR HEALING OF CANCER
O great St. Peregrine, you have been called "The Mighty," "The Wonder-Worker," because of the numerous miracles which you have obtained from God for those who have had recourse to you.
For so many years you bore in your own flesh this cancerous disease that destroys the very fibre of our being, and who had recourse to the source of all grace when the power of man could do no more. You were favoured with the vision of Jesus coming down from His Cross to heal your affliction. Ask of God and Our Lady, the cure of the sick whom we entrust to you.
(Pause here and silently recall the names of the sick for whom you are praying)
Aided in this way by your powerful intercession, we shall sing to God, now and for all eternity, a song of gratitude for His great goodness and mercy. Amen.
PRAYER FOR SKIN DISEASES TO ST. PEREGRINE
O glorious wonder worker, Saint Peregrine, you who answered the divine call with a ready spirit, forsaking all the comforts of a life of ease and all the empty honors of the world, to dedicate yourself to God in the Order of His most Holy Mother; you who labored manfully for the salvation of souls, merting the title Apostle of Emilia; you who in union with Jesus crucified, endured the most painful sufferings with such patience so as to deserve to be miraculously healed from an incurable wound in your leg by Him with a touch of His divine hand: obtain for us, we pray, the grace to answer every call from God; enkindle in our hearts a consuming zeal for the salvation of souls; deliver us from the infirmities that so often afflict our bodies; and obtain for us the grace of perfect resignation to the sufferings which may be sent to us; so may we, imitating your virtues and tenderly loving our crucified Lord and his sorrowful Mother, be enabled to merit glory everlasting in paradise. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.