STERLING HEIGHTS — Nestled among the trees on the grounds of St. Rene Goupil Parish in Sterling Heights sits the St. Peregrine Prayer Garden.

Separated from the hustle and bustle of Ryan Road by a line of trees, it offers parishioners and visitors alike a place to walk, sit, pray and meditate.

The garden is adorned with a statue of St. Peregrine Laziosi, a 14th century Italian Servite priest who is the patron saint of persons suffering from cancer, AIDS and other illnesses.

The statue was gifted to the parish by parishioner Gerald Scott, in honor of his son, Kenneth Joseph Scott, who died of cancer in 2000.

Known as a place of public devotion to St. Peregrine in the Archdiocese of Detroit, the garden is maintained by volunteer Marie Stapel, who is glad to see its resurgence after years of neglect.

“With the help of my husband, we’re renovating the garden by pulling out all the dead plants and re-establishing it as a perennial garden,” Stapel told The Michigan Catholic. “I’ve been a parishioner for several years here, and we used to have a prayer service here on St. Peregrine’s feast day, May 1. But the garden has since fallen into disrepair.”

Stapel approached St. Rene Goupil pastor Fr. Steven Koehler about improving the garden. For the better part of two years, she’s planted peonies, coreopsis, anemones, lilacs and daylilies, turning the garden into an attraction for passersby.

One morning, she even came across Scott, without knowing the origins of the garden.

“I was working out here and an elderly gentlemen pulled up and introduced himself,” Stapel said. “He explained the history of the garden and that he was the father of a man honored with the statue. He said his wish is that people take the time to pray and offer devotions to St. Peregrine.”

Stapel, a registered nurse retired from the St. John Health System, said there will be 1.7 million people affected by cancer in the U.S. in 2018, so there is much need for prayer to St. Peregrine.

“What we know of cancer is just a small fraction; treatment has pretty much remained the same with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, but there really is no cure,” Stapel said. “So we invite people to pray for victims, pray for patients and pray for a cure.

“I think when you are closer to nature, you are closer to God, and you’re never closer to nature than in a garden,” Stapel said.