St. Roch

Roch, also called Rock or Rocco, became one of the best-loved patrons of the sick and of communities threatened by plague. The traditional account makes him the son of the governor of Montpellier. Orphaned while young, he distributed his goods, took the pilgrim's habit, and set out for Rome. Finding Italian towns stricken by plague, he stopped to tend the sick rather than pass them by. The same charity eventually cost him his own health.

Tradition remembers Roch withdrawing when he became ill and receiving food through the providential care of a dog that brought him bread. The details of his life vary, and the earliest written account came well after his death, so this life does not force an exact chronology. The firm devotional fact is the early strength of his cult in France and Italy and the enduring confidence with which Christians invoked him in times of epidemic. Roch's feast therefore keeps its attention on mercy: he approached sufferers others feared, shared their danger, and became a patron for the sick and for those who care for them.