Saint Roch
Roch | |
|---|---|
Saint Roch by Francesco Francia | |
| Confessor | |
| Born | c. 1348 (trad. 1295) Montpellier, Kingdom of Majorca |
| Died | 15/16 August 1376/79 Voghera, County of Savoy (trad. 1327, Montpellier) |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church Anglican Communion Aglipayan Church |
| Canonized | by popular fervour; added to the Roman Martyrology by Pope Gregory XIV |
| Feast | 16 August 17 August (Third Order of Saint Francis) |
| Attributes | Wound on thigh, dog offering bread, Pilgrim's hat, Pilgrim's staff |
| Patronage | Invoked against: cholera, epidemics, knee problems, plague, skin diseases
Patron of: bachelors, diseased cattle, dogs, falsely accused people, invalids, Istanbul, surgeons, tile-makers, grave-diggers, second-hand dealers, pilgrims, apothecaries
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Roch (lived c. 1348 – 15/16 August 1376/79; traditionally c. 1295 – 16 August 1327), also called Rock in English, was a Majorcan Catholic confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August and 9 September in Italy; he was especially invoked against the plague. He has the designation of Rollox in Glasgow, Scotland, said to be a corruption of Roch's Loch, which referred to a small loch once near a chapel dedicated to Roch in 1506. It is also the name of a football club, St Roch's in Glasgow.
He is a patron saint of dogs, invalids, falsely accused people, bachelors, and several other things. He is the patron saint of Dolo (near Venice) and Parma, as well as Casamassima, Cisterna di Latina and Palagiano (Italy). He is also the patron saint of the towns of Arboleas and Albanchez, in Almería, southern Spain, and Deba, in the Basque Country.
Saint Roch is known as "São Roque" in Portuguese, as "Sant Roc" in Catalan, as "San Roque" in Spanish (including in former colonies of the Spanish colonial empire such as the Philippines), as "San Rocco" in Italian and as "Sveti Rok" in Slovenian and Croatian.