Saint Rocco (1327)

He was the son of a French governor at Montpellier in France. His father and mother died when he was twenty. Though the heir to much wealth and fame, he renounced them all, gave his money to the poor and set off as a pilgrim to Rome, dressed as a beggar. Saint Rocco’s great devotion was to the Sign of the Cross. He cured countless people who were sick simply by making the Sign of the Cross over them. Once when he himself was sick, he withdrew to a cave, and while there a dog used to bring him his food miraculously. He spent the last five years of his life in a prison, completely forgotten by the world. Saint Rocco died when he was only thirty-two years old. When his body was found, the Sign of the Cross, which was miraculously printed on his breast from birth, revealed who he was. The city of Rome and, indeed Italians and numberless French, have great devotion to this young victim of God’s love.

San Roque, by Francisco Ribalta (1565–1628) source

San Roque, by Francisco Ribalta (1565–1628) source