How a relic of St Peregrine became a Rossnowlagh Friary favourite

It is a typical wet and windy Friday afternoon. I am sitting in a special room where people get some precious moments with the relic of St Peregrine at the Rossnowlagh Franciscan Friary.
These are now on individual appointments, around 80 a day on Saturdays. It is a room where one feels immediately at peace.
It could be the absence of traffic noises outside, the non Elon Musk ‘tweets’ of the birds when the windows are open or a feeling of quiet spiritual contemplation that abounds.
Later the relic is placed there for my benefit after being taken from a secure location.
For many, they see it as a last chance of intervention on a journey which has challenged the individual sufferer, in myriad ways.

Fr Vincent Finnegan OFM holding the relic of St Peregrine at the altar of the Rossnowlagh Friary Church

(Photos: Michael McHugh)

For others, it is an interaction with a saintly person, to whom they can share their life’s troubles.
St Peregrine is the patron saint for persons suffering from cancer, AIDS, and other life-threatening illnesses but in reality, there is no line on the sand in what his believers say he is capable of.
Two days later, over 2,000 will descend upon the Friary for an open day for blessing with the Relic of St Peregrine. When the news was posted on social media, 75,000 either liked or shared the news, I was told.
As before, “it was a very moving day on so many levels,” Fr Vincent Finnegan OFM revealed.
This year is a special one for the order as they celebrated their 70th anniversary at Rossnowlagh, although in truth their association goes back many hundreds of years to the O’Donnells and the creation of the annals of the Four Masters.
My host is the genial and engaging Fr Vincent Finnegan OFM, who officially is the Vicar of the local community, a position which was given to him when he moved from the south of the country to Donegal, during Covid.

The room of quiet contemplation where pilgrims and visitors can come to see the relic

Any trepidation that he felt on moving to a new location quickly evaporated, he is quick to point out, as he speaks of the wonderful warmth of the people who come to the friary and the great pride the local community have in the friary and its future role.
The obligatory cup of tea and a tantalisingly tasty slice of apple pie is presented on a plate, made by Trish, the ‘amazing’ cook at the friary.
And Fr Vincent’s high praise for the apple pie should not be taken with a grain of salt as in a previous incarnation, he trained as a chef and that journey alone is a wonderful story in itself, which may require another visit to the table.
“This is the room in which I meet people, it could be stage 4 cancer, people that are dying or with another prognosis and they are in a bad state. They spend time holding the relic and that is a hugely significant part of it.”

Religious persuasion
He says that people who visit are from every religious persuasion which is not an issue in any way and possibly the first time that they have been able to sit in quiet contemplation for a while, “just allowing themselves to be, in the presence of our Creator, whoever that may be, that is for them”.
“They are touching something that goes 800 years to a time when St Peregrine himself had cancer, his leg was to be amputated and he was praying all night at the church, fell asleep, and had this dream where Jesus had touched his leg and healed him. He woke up and uncovered his bandage and realised that he had been healed.”
Thus began a lifelong ministry by St Peregrine where he helped those in a similar situation.

Fr Vincent outside the Friary standing beside the statue of St Francis of Assisi (Photo: Michael McHugh)

Fr Vincent learns a bit of history about the person who comes, their situation and why they have come, their hopes, their fears and their worries.
He hands them the relic, they quietly make their prayer, be it loud or quietly, but often in the handing over of that relic, something profound happens, he says.
“Most of the time, the tears will flow and that is perfectly understandable and natural. The tears come, they quietly make their prayer. If there is a loved one with them, they will also hold the relic and they will make their prayer for their loved one.
“Then it is handed back to me, I say a prayer, I bless them, I anoint them with the oil of the sick and I take their name. When everyone is gone at the end of the day I will say a Mass for all their intentions. I also give them a prayer card with all my details, so they have direct contact with me personally.”
Fr Vincent also asks them if they are going for a scan or surgery or whatever the next step is for them to let him know, so that he can say a prayer.

The Franciscan Friary in Rossnowlagh. (Photo Michael McHugh)

How it started
Fr Vincent also admits that his journey and interactions with the relic of St Peregrine was something that had been totally unplanned.
“I came here over two and a half years ago. We were in the middle of a lockdown, the church was closed and I wondered what am I doing in this place, the last place I expected to be.
“I didn’t know anyone, but slowly we reopened and I was wondering what I was going to do. It was the last thing on my mind.
“I got involved in the ministry across the road. I was involved in the church here and had also made myself available to the church in Ballyshannon.
“A lady I knew suddenly contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in having the relic for the weekend. I knew nothing about St Peregrine, other than he was the saint with the wound on his leg and that his statues showed him with him pulling his habit to show that same injured leg.”
Fr Vincent then did some research on the saint and this was a Friday morning. He told the lady who had contacted him that he did the Mass for St Anthony at the friary and it was like a healing Mass.
There was an anointing of the sick at that and he pointed out that a lot of people had asked him to pray for them who have cancer at the moment.
He explained: “I said that I would put it up on Facebook and have it available over the weekend Saturday and Sunday for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I thought if I got a hundred, I would be doing well. This was in May of that year.
“By supper time of that Friday, something like 45,000 people had liked, shared and posted it.
“And then over the weekend, over 4,000 people came. It was unbelievable. It was profound. It was beautiful to be part of it, in sharing the suffering of others, but the logistics were not good in the sense that we were simply not ready for those kinds of numbers with queues going out to the road which was far from ideal, especially because of the nature of some of the illnesses that people had.”
The weekend ended and Fr Vincent decided that he needed a relic for Rossnowlagh to continue the ministry some way in Donegal.

The relic of St Peregrine (Photo:Michael McHugh) 

He did that eventually, about four months ago, from America, despite being extremely difficult to get and having to go through the proper channels and to vouch for its authenticity.
He started the visitations on a Wednesday but soon realised that it caused hardship due to its being midweek and he changed it to Saturday.
“About 80 people will come between 11 and 5 on pre-appointment for a ten minute slot, which I feel is just about right. For those that need longer I see them out of hours,” he added.
And so it has continued over the months, with messages and visits at all times in truth, sometimes in the middle of the night.
As for its success, interpretation, understanding, non-belief or otherwise for readers Fr Vincent concludes by telling me that since he started the weekly relic visits, eleven people have claimed some sort of divine intervention in their prognosis “which is amazing”.