St Peregrine Laziosi, O.S.M. (2023)

Sketched 30 Mar 2023.
Coloured and completed 5 Apr 2023.

Vincent Cavanagh © 2023

[UPDATED — 9 APRIL 2023]
The following text was written after the original post because I was too tired that night to write anything, and then I was caught up in the Paschal Triduum which further drained me of any capacity to string words together. Happy Easter.

​I think that I can safely pin-point the inspiration for this image of St Peregrine to mention of the Latin word “peregrinus” by our bishop in his homily during the mass after the first WYD formation day/session back in March. Peregrinus, meaning “foreigner” or “one from abroad”, is the route word for Pilgrim.

But as much as the bishop was going on about pilgrims and pilgrimages (to be honest, it was a very pilgrim-slanted homily; and the actual readings of the day only got the briefest of mentions) my mind was stuck on another link to the word peregrinus — Saint Peregrine Laziosi.

Adding to this first spark in the ol’ grey matter was the fact that the parish priest where the formation session had been held was himself at the time whizzing around on a medical scooter after having had a suspicious looking growth removed from his foot.
St Peregrine being most famous for being the patron saint of persons suffering from cancer, as well as AIDS and other life–threating illnesses. (The priest has since been given the “all clear” from his doctor, thank God.)

So, as you can tell I had a double confirmation to “get a wriggle on” and paint this particular saint. The only problem being me actually getting started on the picture, hence the long gap between preparatory sketching and actually putting marker to paper.

I had once before painted St Peregrine, back in 2013. And as you can tell below, I’ve progressed quite a ways in 10 years.

Vincent Cavanagh © 2013

Vincent Cavanagh © 2023

The only real problem with creating this painting (apart from the inherent difficulties of achieving fine detail with alcohol markers) was actually starting it. Hence the long gap between preparatory sketching and putting marker to paper as noted at the top of this blog post.

As well as being the patron saint of life–threatening diseases, St Peregrine is also a member of the Servite Order (OSM) who I have already come across earlier this year, here.

For anyone interested in learning more about St Peregrine Laziosi, click here.
 
Vincent Cavanagh
~ 9 Apr 2023