Saint Roch of Montpellier

His father, seeing himself near death, had him approach his bed and said to him: "The time has come, my son, when I must leave this life full of troubles and miseries, to go and render an account to God and to go and enjoy, if He shows me mercy, the eternal kingdom with Him: I did not believe I should depart without giving you some advice that will be very useful to you for spending your days in innocence and piety. Study above all things to serve God. Represent to yourself very often the labors and the torments that Jesus Christ suffered for our salvation. Flee avarice, which is a source of all kinds of sins. Help with all your power the widows, the orphans, and other persons deprived of all assistance. Be the eye of the blind, the foot of the lame, and the father of the poor, and persuade yourself that by applying the great goods that I leave you to these works of mercy, you will draw upon yourself the grace of God and the blessing of all men."

Roch promised to faithfully execute what his father recommended to him, and, after having closed his eyes, he took care to have him buried with all the honor that his rank and merit required. His mother was so afflicted by the death of her husband that she survived him only for a very short time. Thus our Saint, who was their only son, not yet being twenty years old, found himself the possessor and master of a great fortune. He did not then forget the promise he had made; but, having before hi s ey Rome Birthplace of Maximian. es the words of Our Lord: "Sell your possessions and give alms," he distributed to the poor, as secretly as he could, all that he could draw from his goods, and left the administration of the rest in the hands of his paternal uncle; then he left all alone, on foot and in the habit of a pilgrim, directing his steps toward Rome.

When he arrived at a town in the patrimony of the Church, named Acquapendente, he learned that the plague was very violent there. He went immediately to the hospital and offered himself to the administrator, named Vincent, to assist him in this office of mercy. This charitable man, seeing him so young and so well-built, replied that he could not praise his zeal enough, but that he believed him too delicate to endure such great work and suffer such an infection. "Does God not assure us," the Saint replied, "that nothing is impossible for us with His help, and that this help does not fail us when we have no other design than to please Him?" Vincent admired his fervor; but, fearing to be guilty of his death if he let him enter among the plague-stricken, he resisted him for some time longer. He finally yielded to his repeated entreaties and permitted him to visit the sick. Roch touched them with his right hand and made the sign of the cross over them, and, by this salutary sign, he restored health to them all, without a single one being deprived of this grace. He then went throughout the entire town and healed in the same way all those who were struck by this cruel disease: he was looked upon as an angel sent by God for the relief of so many unfortunates. Immediately afterward, having learned that the plague was causing similar ravages in the city of Cesena, in Lombardy, he went there and delivered it in the same manner.

As his first intention, upon leaving Montpellier, had been to go to Rome, this inclination increased greatly when he learned that the plague was causing great ravages there. He went there in all haste and found the city and the people in extreme desolation.

To the noise and agitation of a great city had succeeded silence, something as motionless as death. One could barely hear, here and there, the complaints, the groans, and the sobs of mourning, or the sinister cries of despair!

Carts circulated in the streets. A bell, with a mournful sound, announced their passage and warned the inhabitants that the moment had come to bring down their dead. The corpses were then piled upon other corpses: the carts were barely enough to contain them all!

And when the contagion began to rage even more cruelly, they no longer even waited for the passage of the funeral cart; they exposed the corpses before the doors, they threw them from the windows into the streets. The city offered these spectacles of horror everywhere!

The mortality had reached such frightening proportions, the evil that brought death was so violent that, in the morning, the living did not expect to see the end of the day, and in the evening, when lying down, they despaired of seeing the following day.

In the midst of this mourning, of this universal terror, very different scenes of greatness or abjection occurred on this stage of so much pain! In the impossibility of often procuring food, one saw oneself reduced to the last necessity, to the most cruel famine, or else one had to expose oneself to the danger of an almost inevitable death. When the moment had come to separate from those beings who are like half of ourselves, so dear are they to us, one saw weeping mothers bringing down their children themselves, placing them with their own hands on the filthy cart, as if to make a place for them more worthy and more honorable, then kissing them on the forehead, paying a high price for a private burial for them, for themselves, when the next day one would come to take their sad remains, not wanting to be separated from them, even in death!

Hardly a few generous citizens, a few intrepid magistrates had the courage to devote themselves to remedying so many evils; fear and selfishness had hardened all hearts. Hardly a few courageous doctors dared to face the danger. Most, seeing the impotence of their art, moved away from the place of contagion and death.

Saint Roch, at the sight of this people of Rome desolate, decimated by the contagion, lying in mourning and in death, was inspired by the greatness and the enormity of their misfortunes, and resolved to save them or die for them. He immediately set to work, visited the hospitals, and penetrated into the most infected corners of the lazarettos where so many unfortunates struggled in vain against death. His heroic charity did not recoil before any obstacle, did not stop before any danger.

Everywhere Saint Roch set his steps, the evil subsided, the contagion disappeared. One saw the most desperate sick return to life as soon as the powerful hand of our Saint had marked them with the sacred sign of our salvation.

Confidence was soon revived in the minds: the streets, the public squares ceased to be deserted. One heard only of the miraculous doctor raised up by heaven to remedy so many misfortunes. One recounted, one repeated in all places the prodigious healings that he performed everywhere.

In this expression of public joy that was already bursting forth on all faces as on all lips, one saw the sick dragging themselves here and there, or having themselves carried into the path of our Saint, seeking to see him, to touch him, to feel on their flesh the impression of that powerful hand which gave health and life.

And when the unfortunate, too mistreated by the venom and the malignity of the plague, could not be carried from their bed of suffering, the holy wonder-worker went to them and healed them.

Saint Roch's zeal was tireless, his hand did not tire of touching the plague-stricken, of restoring them to life by the virtue of the sign of the cross. He multiplied himself, he wanted to be everywhere the evil was with its victims. "His charity was finally stronger than death": the contagion was conquered, Rome was saved.

However, the plague was still infecting the Roman countryside. Abandoned herds grazed here and there in the middle of the fields; in the Rome Birthplace of Maximian. evening, they returned without a shepherd and sadly to deserted or abandoned houses. The fruits hung from the trees, the harvests were ripe, and no one was gathering these treasures of the earth.

Saint Roch rushed to the aid of these unfortunates. Scarcely had he brought healing and life to one place, he disappeared immediately and flew toward another place afflicted by the contagion, and there, as everywhere, he performed the same wonders. It is thus that he saved from the epidemic many cities of Italy, and particularly of Piedmont, the Milanese, Montferrat, and the duchies of Mantua, Modena, and Parma.

Having learned that the city of Piacenza was extremely afflicted by this contagious disease, he went there, shut himself in the hospital, dressed the sick according to custom, and, being overcome with sleep, he fell asleep. Then he heard a voice that said to him in a sweet and pleasant tone: "Roch, you have endured until now very great labors for the love of me, it is now necessary that you also suffer extreme pains in view of those that I endured for you." He awoke at this voice, and, seized by a burning fever, he felt as if his left thigh were being pierced, with a pain so violent that it was almost unbearable. In this state, he raised his eyes to heaven, and testified to Our Lord much gratitude and satisfaction for this harsh visitation. His illness then increased in such a way that he could not help but cry out, and, because this inconvenienced the other sick people, he left the hospital and lay down on the ground, near the door. They tried to make him come back in; but as he refused to do so, for fear of being a nuisance, they took him for a madman and drove him out of the city. He therefore dragged himself as best he could, leaning on a staff, to the nearby forest, and after resting a little under a cornel tree, he retired into a small hut, where, recognizing himself as worthy of all the pains and humiliations he was enduring, he nevertheless prayed to Our Lord not to abandon him and to extend his helping hand to him. His prayer was followed by a great miracle; for, at that same time, a cloud descended from heaven and formed, near his hut, a spring of water that one can still see today, from which he drank and washed himself: which somewhat softened the stinging pains by which he was tormented.

When Divine Providence had, by this means, quenched the thirst of its servant, it employed another no less miraculous one to feed him, so that no one should be discouraged in their troubles and that one might be persuaded that God cares for those who endure something for His love. There was near this forest a large village, filled with beautiful country houses, where the principal people of the city had retired because of the plague, and, among others, one named Gothard, who was very rich and h ad many Gothard A wealthy nobleman converted by Roch in the forest of Piacenza. servants and even a pack of dogs that he fed for hunting. One day, as he was at the table, one of his dogs came to him and took with its mouth a bread that he had in his hand. The lord smiled, believing that it did so out of familiarity or necessity, and let it be; this dog carried this bread to Saint Roch. The next day, it did the same thing at dinner and supper. The master then believed that his servants were letting it die of hunger; he became angry with them and reprimanded them. But, having recognized that nothing was missing, and that it was not stealing this bread to eat it, but to carry it to some place, he resolved to notice where it was going and to follow it. Indeed, this dog having again come to take a bread from his table, he ran after it, and having followed it into the forest, he saw that it was carrying it into the hut of Saint Roch; that it was presenting it to him by bowing its head, and that the man of God, upon receiving it, was blessing it. Gothard, surprised by this prodigy, hurried as soon as possible to this poor hut, and having found the Saint lying against the ground and in great languor, he begged him to tell him who he was and by what illness he was tormented. He answered him that it was the plague, and that he begged him to withdraw, for fear of catching it himself. This gentleman, having returned to his house, made a serious reflection on what he had just seen, and, reproaching himself that his dog seemed to have more compassion and mercy for the afflicted than he did, he resolved to return to Roch to offer him all his services. He therefore begged him to allow him to assist him, and protested to him that he would not leave him until he saw him entirely cured. The Saint, not doubting that his resolution came from God, permitted him to remain.

However, the dog no longer bringing bread, this man began to worry about how he would live and how he would feed his patient. Roch advised him to take his pilgrim's habit and go in that attire to beg in the surrounding places. He had difficulty in yielding to this advice, because he was known everywhere: but, being encouraged by the Servant of God, who made this action appear to him as a great means of perfection, he resolved to do so, and even went into Piacenza to ask for alms. Some were content to rebuff him; others mocked him and loaded him with insults; others made great reproaches to him as to a bad manager, who, having eaten his own property, sought to fatten himself on the property of others. Finally, in the whole city, he could find only two loaves of bread. Upon his return, Saint Roch consoled him, and wishing to return good for evil to the inhabitants of Piacenza, he went there, and cured by the sign of the cross not only the plague-stricken who were in the hospital, but also those who were in the houses. When he returned in the evening to his hut, he was followed by several people who could not sufficiently admire the wonders that God was doing through him. During the journey, a voice came from heaven, which said: "Roch, Roch, I have heard your prayer, and I have restored your health; return now to your country, and practice there the exercises of penance, so that you may have a place in the company of the Saints." This voice astonished them all extremely; one of them, who was a man of great piety, came to throw himself at the feet of Roch, and, calling him by his name which he had not yet discovered to anyone, he begged him to favor the city and the whole country with his protection. Roch promised him, on the condition that he would not reveal during his life what he had seen and heard. To which he agreed.

On the other hand, Gothard, seeing that the Servant of God had passed all of a sudden from the deplorable state in which he was to perfect health, held him in even greater esteem than before, and easily allowed himself to be persuaded, by his fiery discourses, to renounce all the goods and honors of the world, to end his life in that desert. Roch remained with him for some time longer to train him in the exercises of penance and prayer, and to make him a holy hermit. Then, wishing to obey the voice of heaven, he took his leave of him and returned to France. The Spirit of God who led him inspired him to return to Montpellier, the place of his birth, to Montpellier Birthplace and rear base of Pierre's mission. lead a hidden and suffering life there, in the very city where he should have received the greatest honors. The whole country was then devastated by great wars, and everyone lived there in great fear of being surprised by the enemy. Thus, the Saint having entered in pilgrim's garb into a town of his former domain, and having begun to pray in the church, was taken for a spy. He was therefore arrested and led to Montpellier to his uncle, who, not recognizing him, had him put in a dungeon as a secret enemy. The Saint, instead of being afflicted by this, praised God for the grace He granted him to be able to suffer opprobrium and pain for the love of Him, and prayed to Him, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, not to abandon him, but to sustain him with His assistance.

This dungeon was not only dark, but also dirty, foul-smelling, damp, and full of scorpions: which made dwelling there extremely terrifying. However, not content with the torment he received from it, he added extraordinary austerities; for he ate nothing cooked; he bruised his stomach with blows, tore his body with whips, and spent days and nights in almost continuous vigils and prayers. He remained for five years in such a suffering and humiliated state, without anyone having pity on him or thinking of his deliverance. At the end of this time, God having made known to him that the end of his life was approaching, he asked the jailer to bring him a priest. One was brought to him, who, upon entering this dungeon where there was no opening through which daylight could pass, found it all illuminated by a celestial light, and saw rays of glory coming from the eyes of this blessed prisoner; which astonished him so much that he could barely ask him what he desired of him. The Saint threw himself at his feet, confessed, and asked him to give him Holy Communion. The priest, upon leaving, went to find the governor and told him, with tears in his eyes, that God had been greatly offended by keeping in an obscure prison a man who was not only innocent, but also very just and very holy. He then told him what his austerities and patience were, and how he had found the dungeon filled with divine splendor. The governor took time to think about it, and, meanwhile, the news of this wonder having spread throughout the city, the inhabitants came in crowds to the prison to have the honor of seeing this good man.

He fell ill immediately after, and, while he slept, he heard a voice that said to him: 'The time has come, my beloved Roch, for me to carry your soul into the bosom of my Father; if therefore you have anything to ask for yourself or for others, ask for it as soon as possible, and it shall be granted to you.' He thanked Our Lord for such an advantageous offer, and prayed to Him by grace to forgive his sins, to bring him into the enjoyment of His happiness, and to preserve or deliver from the plague those who would implore his assistance. Our Lord let him know that He had granted his prayer. Thus, having lain down on the ground in a very modest posture, he raised his eyes toward heaven, and peacefully rendered his spirit to God, on August 16, 1327, at the age of 32. One immediately saw appearing, through the cracks of this place, a great light, which gave admiration and terror to the jailer. He opened the door, and found the body of the blessed Confessor stretched out on the ground and lamps lit at his head and at his feet, with a small board at his side, where these words were written: 'Those who, being struck by the plague, shall have recourse to the intercession of Roch, shall be delivered from this cruel disease.' The matter having been reported to the governor, he was extremely surprised. His mother, who was the grandmother of our Saint, told him that this prisoner whom he had so mistreated was his nephew who had left him so many goods when leaving for Italy, and that it would be easy to recognize him by a red cro ss that he croix rouge Birthmark on the saint's stomach that allowed for his identification. must have on his chest. They looked and found this cross, which left no doubt that he was truly the son of Jean, governor of Montpellier, and of Libérie. His uncle, covered in confusion and touched with sorrow for the cruelty he had exercised against his benefactor and his own blood, tried to make amends with a most magnificent funeral. All the inhabitants came to see this venerable body, kissed his feet, and watered them with their tears. He was first buried in the main church, which was not yet a cathedral, the see of Maguelonne not yet having been transferred to Montpellier. Since then, his uncle had a temple built in his honor, where his precious relics were transported.

In the sanctuary of the church of San Rocco i n Veni Venise Final location of the transfer of relics in 1200. ce, one can see the four great scenes of the Saint's life. He is depicted: 1st, healing the plague-stricken in a hospital; 2nd, fortified in his prison by an angel; 3rd, healing animals; 4th, taken for a spy and led to prison. — He is also seen presenting the confraternity under the emblem of a woman dressed in white, with charity illuminated by the torch of religion. — The dog is the ordinary attribute of Saint Roch along with the pilgrim's staff. An angel is sometimes depicted as his companion. These signs summarize, in effect, the wonders and glories of his life: The dog was the faithful minister whom God used to relieve the extreme misery of His servant; the heavenly messenger fortifies our Saint in his solitary sufferings; the staff, finally, recalls the long journeys of this heroic apostle of charity. — In images of Saint Roch, one sees an angel touching the wound on his thigh; at other times, an angel bringing him from heaven the certain promise that upon his invocation the plague will cease. In a painting by Rubens representing this event, the angel holds a tablet on which one reads: *Ei vis in peste patronus*.

[APPENDIX: CULT AND RELICS.]

Devotion to this great Saint has always increased since his death. In the year 1414, a general Council having assembled at Constance, in Germany, to stifle a great schism with which the Church had long been afflicted, the plague broke out in all the surrounding country and ravaged that city: the prelates were resolved to withdraw, to the great prejudice of the public good and of all Christendom, but a young German, being inspired by God, told them to address themselves to Saint Roch, whose name was invoked in France, in times of plague, with marvelous success, and that they would be preserved by him. They followed this advice, and, after a universal fast which they ordered for the whole city, they carried the image of Saint Roch in great pomp in a general procession, and implored his help through fervent prayers. It is impossible to conceive how quickly these vows and groans were answered. The contagion disappeared instantly, and, by this means, Saint Roch was canonized more solemnly than if all the ordinary forms of this holy ceremony had been observed for him. The bishops, who were present at the Council, subsequently carried the esteem and devotion toward Saint Roch into their dioceses; and, since then, an infinity of temples, chapels, and oratories have been built in his honor, and one can hardly find a church where his image is not seen. Toward the end of the 15th century, Pope Alexander VI authorized a Confraternity of Saint Roch already established in Rome, under his patronage, and permitted it to build a church in honor and under the title of this Saint. In 1500, Pius IV renewed the privileges and exemptions granted to this same Confraternity by Alexander VI and by Leo X. Pope Urba n VIII proc Urbain VIII Pope who beatified Josaphat. laimed him a Saint before the face of the Church and ordered that his feast be celebrated on the day of his death.

Regarding his relics, the Roman Martyrology and the authors who wrote his life state that, in the course of time, they were transferred to Ve nice: Venise Final location of the transfer of relics in 1200. which happened in the year 1485, through the theft by some pilgrims from Tortona. But this should only be understood as referring to a portion; for it is certain that, as early as the year 1399, the Marshal of Boucicaut, who tenderly loved the Trinitarian Fathers for the Redemption of Captives, known in France as Mathurins, pr ocure Arles Ecclesiastical metropolis of the province to which Constantine belonged. d for their convent in Arles the principal members of this glorious Confessor. It was from there that Pope Alexander VI, in 1501, had a bone taken to be carried to the Kingdom of Granada, in Spain, so that it might serve as a defense and protection against the irruptions of the Saracens and the Moors. It was the bone called nucha dorsi. It was from there that Guillaume le Vasseur, surgeon to Francis I, in 1533, obtained another bone called the sponzègle, which he later gave to the church of the town of Villejuif, two leagues from Paris, where it is honored every year by a great concourse of pilgrims on the first Sunday of May. In 1557, a part of the head was transferred to Marseille and deposited with honor in the Trinitarian church dedicated to him. In 1617, another fragment of the head was transferred to Boxai and deposited in a vermeil reliquary. Frequent miracles occurred there. A solemn procession was held every year in that city on August 16. A bone was transported to Rome in 1575, and another to Turin in 1620; various churches in Paris, such as that of the Grands-Carmes and the parish bearing his name, received some portions of this treasure. It is well known that there are, in many places, Confraternities of Saint Roch, and that many cities have taken him as one of their patrons and protectors, such as Venice, Arles, Montargis, Salon, Vermanton, and other places. In Rome, a finger of Saint Roch is venerated at Santa Maria in Publicolis. The city of Antwerp, in Belgium, possesses a fragment of the Saint's spine, which is enclosed in a silver reliquary.

Particles of Saint Roch's relics are found: in Brussels, in the church of Saint-Gaugerie; in Prague, in Bohemia; in Dueren, a city in the Duchy of Juliers, in Germany; in Dendermonde, in Flanders; in several regions of Germany and Austria; in Cologne; at Saint Lawrence of the Escorial, in Spain; at the port of Cesena in Italy, where a molar tooth of the Saint is possessed. The Trinitarians of Montpellier also had the saintly pilgrim's staff and a particle of a rib bone. This relic was saved from revolutionary rage and returned, in 1589, to the Bishop of Montpellier, who deposited it in the pedestal of a silver statue of Saint Roch.

The treasure of Saint Roch's relics was kept in Arles before the Revolution. The religious who had custody of them were bound by the threat of excommunication, which forbade them from altering even the smallest particle. They escaped the profanations of 1793, by a particular providence, along with their seals of authenticity. But the vermeil reliquary that contained them fell prey to the revolutionaries: it was surmounted by a vermeil statue representing Saint Roch. Currently, these relics are under the guard and in the possession of both ecclesiastical and civil authorities, who each have a key to the reliquary, so that the concurrence of both is strictly necessary to obtain them. The reliquary was opened on May 23, 1838; eight particles were taken from it and given to the parish priest of Saint-Roch in Montpellier. On May 30, they were received by the Bishop of Montpellier, who transported them to the cathedral church and subsequently deposited them in the church of Saint-Roch.

Venice was less prodigal with its treasure than the city of Arles. In 1640, Urban VIII having affiliated the Confraternity of Saint Roch of Venice with that of Rome, the members of this corporation sent a notable part of the Saint's arm to their confreres in Rome. In 1663, Cardinal de Bouzi, Bishop of Béziers and ambassador of the King of France to Venice, obtained a fragment of the head and a particle of a rib of th e Saint. In 1856 M. l'abbé Reclus Parish priest of Montpellier and historian of the saint in the 19th century. , Father Reclus, parish priest of Saint-Roch in Montpellier, obtained from the Patriarch of Venice an illustrious relic of the Saint: it was a tibia of the left leg. On August 14, the Bishop of Montpellier received this illustrious relic at the door of the cathedral and deposited it on the altar of Saint Roch, and the following day it was carried amidst an immense concourse of people into the parish church of Saint-Roch.

We have drawn what we have said about him from Pierre Maldure, reported by Surius, and from the History of Saint Roch, by Abbé Reclus.