SAINT ROCH | PATRON OF BACHELORS, PILGRIMS, FALSELY ACCUSED, AGAINST EPIDEMIC AND PROTECTOR OF DOGS.
Our saint for today is San Roque, or St. Rock, also known as St. Rocco and a few similar names according to the countries where he is honored. Did you ever wonder why among all the saints, San Roque is among the few we call on for prayer and protection against today’s pandemic? It is because he was such a holy person that the Lord gave him the power to cure illnesses, particularly the plague. St. Rock was such gifted by God to be a healer of serious diseases.
St. Rock was born in Montpellier, France in the year 1295. His father was a governor and his mother was descended from the nobility. His birth was miraculous, since his mother was barren, and she prayed to the Virgin Mary, in order to have a child. When the child was born, he had a red cross on his breast, a sign of God’s predilection, and he grew up with it. Surprisingly, even from infancy, the child was already strictly ascetic. He did not cry so much to seek his mother’s attention. When his mother fasted, as a devotional practice, the child would also fast, by sucking his mother’s milk only once during the day. And certainly, the child grew up to be a very virtuous and well-behaved boy.
Rock was 20 years old when his parents died, one after the other. Rock’s father, at his deathbed, ordained him to be the next governor, but he did not follow his father’s wish. He distributed his wealth to the poor and set out as a mendicant pilgrim to Rome. When he arrived Rome in 1316, the Black Death epidemic or Bubonic plague had just broken out. He volunteered to tend to the sick, not only in Rome but in other Italian provinces. Already, he was performing miracles: through his prayers, the Sign of the Cross, and the touch of his hand. In the long run, however, he also got ill and because he was poor and a stranger, he was expelled from the city of Rome. He went to a forest and built a small hut for himself made of leaves and twigs. Miraculously, a spring arose near his hut to supply him with water. Then a dog, who belonged to a certain nobleman, came every day to bring him some bread and food. The dog’s master, one day, followed his dog to see where it was bringing the food and discovered Rock in his hut. He became a friend of Rock and later a follower. Since Rock was still healing from the epidemic, he had a wound on his thigh. The dog would lick his wound and it got healed. This is why St. Rock is represented in art showing his wounded thigh and a dog beside him with bread in its mouth.
After sometime, Rock returned to Montpellier, still as a mendicant. Being poorly clad and begging for alms, he was accused as a spy. Unfortunately, he was imprisoned by his own uncle for five years, at the basement of their own mansion. Rock did not reveal his true identity because he shunned worldly glory. He spent those years in prayer and penance. Towards the end of those years of imprisonment, in 1327, he got sick and died. When the people saw the red cross on the breast of the dead body, they immediately recognized him as the son of the former governor. His relatives came to give him a fitting funeral. The people acknowledged him at once as a holy man and miraculous healings happened. Soon, a church was built in his honor and his fame spread throughout Europe and to other parts of the world. In the Philippines, there are about 80 churches with St. Rock as patron saint, not counting the barangay chapels that have him also as patron.
Today, St. Rock is venerated throughout the world as Confessor, patron of bachelors, pilgrims, falsely accused, sick and invalid, against epidemic, protector of dogs, and many others.
