Wowwzers! We are a Day LATE! St. Roch’s Day

 

 

What a week! Mom is so far behind because of all the STUFF that jumped up and demanded attention! But I Marvelous shall rectify that by posting Today this afternoon and write tomorrows post too! We can't forget tomorrow...it is black cat appreciation day and we appreciate our Black Cat (well hes a tuxie but he's mostly black....)

Furst who was this guy and what did he do to become a saint?

His birth was considered a miracle, for his noble mother had not been able to have children until she prayed to the Virgin Mary. Miraculously marked from birth with a red cross on his breast that grew as he did. He was very devout, even as a baby and strictly adhered to all the fasting rituals that they did way back then.

He was born at the time of plagues sweeping through Europe and it is said he cured lots of people with prayer and the sign of the cross and the touch of his hand. He finally caught the plague and went into the forest and lived in a stick hut and he would have died except a dog belonging to a nobleman named Gothard Palastrelli brought him bread and licked his wounds, healing them. Count Gottardo Pallastrelli, followed his dog, discovered Roch and brought him home to recover.

After he got better, he figured he should go home incognito,  and he was arrested at Voghera as a spy (by orders of his own uncle) and thrown into prison, where he languished five years and died on 16 August 1327, without revealing his name.

He is a patron saint of dogs, invalids, falsely accused people, bachelors, and several other things.

When the Black Plague began to affect Europe, St Roch was one of the guys everyone prayed to and that is when he became a famous and venerated saint. The sight of Roch scarred by the plague yet alive and healthy must have been an emotionally-charged image of a promised cure. Here was literal proof that one could survive the plague, a saint who had triumphed over the disease in his own flesh. He became important again during Covid. 

 

Now here is a gratuitous image of me, Marv and look forward to KOZMO tomorrow!