#saint roch

Doorway with Figures of Saints, possibly Saints Roch and Anthony, French, 1450-1500

Saint Roch

1295-1327

Feast day: August 16

Patronage: dogs, invalids, skin rashes, invoked against the plague and pestilence

Saint Roch was a French noble, orphaned at 20. Legend claims that he had a red cross birthmark on his chest. He gave all his possessions away and made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he cared for plague victims. When he contracted the disease himself, he retired to a woods to die. It is said that a dog befriended him, brought him bread and licked his wounds. A spring arose where he laid. He recovered and traveled back to France where he was imprisoned as a spy and died. It was then that he was identified as Roch because of the red cross on his chest. An archconfraternity of St. Roch still is active today.

Marseille, dans le petit musée de Notre-Dame de la Garde, deux expos.

La seconde : "Faïence et Dévotion". A noter qu'au XVII et XVIIIe s., Marseille était un haut lieu de la faïence, dans le quartier de Saint-Jean-du-Désert.

plaque, "Saint Joseph tenant un lys" - fabrique de Joseph Fauchier, Marseille, 1740 (c'est peut-être un autoportrait)

plaque, "Saint Roch" (et son chien tenant un pain dans sa gueule !) - Marseille, 1740

plaques, "Sainte Claire adorant le Saint-Sacrement" et "Saint Joseph tenant un lys" - fabrique de Joseph Fauchier, Marseille, 1740

voir 2

In the town of Serra (València, Valencian Country) they have an interesting way of celebrating Saint Roch's Day (16th of August).

The tradition starts in some moment of August 15th, when people organize in secret to find a moment of distraction to steal the statue of Saint Roch from the town's church and take it hidden to the chapel at the top of the hill behind the town.

Back in the day, this robbery used to be done during the procession dedicated to the Virgin of August, when everyone was distracted there offering basil (like in nearby towns). Nowadays, that procession isn't done anymore, but the stealing tradition is so loved that there are two statues: the normal one for adults, and a little version for kids.

The stolen statues in the chapel.

Once they've sneakily taken the statues to the chapel, the organizers prepare a string of loud firecrackers that go from the chapel down the path to the town. At midnight, they light them to signal that the act is about to start.

At that point, they begin to return Saint Roch to the church, parading down the hill. Other organizers stand throughout the path, and light their firecrackers when Saint Roch crosses in front of them.

The procession downhill.

When the procession reaches the town, the crowd gathers to welcome it and all kinds of firecrackers are thrown. The groups take the statues to the house of one of the organizers, who will keep it until next morning. The tradition ends when the statues (and the crowd that goes with it) reach this house, and the family of the house offer a drink or a snack to the people who are present.

On the 16th (Saint Roch's Day), there are parades, more firecrackers, music concerts, and food contests, among others.

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT ROCH The Patron of the Falsely Accused and Dogs Feast Day: August 16

Roch (or Roque) was the only son of a wealthy nobleman in France, who seems to have been governor of the town of Montpellier. In answer to the persevering prayers of the parents, this child was granted to them. His future career was indicated by a birthmark in the form of a red cross that was deeply marked on his breast.

The parents raised St. Roch in a devout manner. Proof was given when, at the age of 20, he lost both parents. He did not use the immense fortune he inherited for his personal benefit, but he sold all the personal property and distributed the proceeds among the poor while he transferred the ownership of the real estate to his uncle. This done, he joined the Third Order of St. Francis, put on a pilgrim's garb, and journeyed to Rome to visit the tombs of the Apostles.

When he arrived at Acquapendente in northern Italy about the year 1315, he found that an epidemic had broken out there and was making fearful ravages. St. Roch did not hasten on, as many another person, fearful for his life, would have done, but according to the example of Christ and the admonition of the beloved disciple (1 John 3:16), he offered his life in the service of his brethren in Christ.

St. Roch went to the hospital of St. John, which was filled with the plague stricken, and offered his services to the brothers there. He also went to individual homes and sought out the sick, serving them without rest by day and by night.

God rewarded his heroic charity by causing many to be cured at the mere Sign of the Cross which St. Roch made over them. When the plague abated, Roch proceeded on his journey to Rome.

In Rome, too, an epidemic had broken out. Besides visiting the holy places, Saint Roch again devoted himself to the care of the sick, many of whom were miraculously cured by him. He performed the same services in many other towns of Italy until he arrived in Piacenza and was himself stricken with the dread disease. In the very hospital where he had cured so many sick, he was now looked upon as an intruder, who as an outsider had no right to claim a place there.

In order not to be a burden to others, he arose, left the house, and with the support of a staff dragged himself wearily to a neighboring woods. There, he came upon a dilapidated hut with a bit of straw, where he lay down, thanking God for the quiet lodging.

God Himself provided for his nourishment. As He once took care of Elijah (a prophet from the Old Testament), sending him bread by means of a raven, so He now sent bread to Roch, by means of a dog from a neighboring country house.

The sick man gradually recovered. When he had regained sufficient strength, he was divinely inspired to return to his native town. There, furious warfare was raging. The soldiers whom he encountered thought he was a spy. He was led before the governor of Montpellier, his own uncle, who, however, did not recognize his nephew in the emaciated prisoner, and had the supposed spy cast into prison.

St. Roch did not say a word in his defense; he wished, like Christ, to accept in silence whatever heaven had ordained for him.

Because of the disturbances of the war, he was almost completely forgotten, and languished in prison for 5 years. Then death put an end to his trials on August 16, 1378.

When he felt that his end was drawing near, St. Roch asked that a priest might come and administer the last sacraments. The priest, on entering the prison, beheld it supernaturally lighted up and the poor captive surrounded with special radiance. As death claimed its victim, a tablet appeared on the wall on which an angelic hand wrote in golden letters the name of Roch, and the prediction that all who would invoke his intercession would be delivered from the plague.

Informed of all that took place, St. Roch's uncle came to the prison and, shortly after, also the governor's mother, that is, Roch's grandmother. She identified the dead man as her grandson by the birthmark of the red cross on his breast. They gave him a magnificent funeral and had a church built in his honor, in which his body was entombed. His veneration was approved by several popes and soon spread throughout Europe. He was canonized by Pope Urban VIII. He is the patron against contagious diseases.