Bulto of Saint Roch

“Born into nobility and wealth, Roch (c. 1348–1376/79) distributed all his worldly goods to the poor on the death of his parents and then set out as a mendicant pilgrim for Rome. Arriving in Italy during an epidemic of plague, he tended the sick and was reputed with effecting many cures by prayer, the sign of the cross, and the touch of his hand. Eventually falling ill himself, he was forced to withdraw into the forest, where he made himself a hut of boughs and leaves and was miraculously supplied with water by a spring that arose in the place. Roch would have perished had not a dog belonging to the nobleman Count Gothard Palastrelli supplied him with bread and licked his wounds, healing them. Following his hunting dog that carried the bread, Gothard discovered Roch and became his acolyte. In art, Roch is often depicted showing his wounded leg and sometimes with his dog.” (Rev. Joseph F. Chorpenning, O.S.F.S., S.T.L., Ph.D., notes in curatorial file for 12.SP.473)