![[Saint Roch]](ncd07129.jpg "??kb New Catholic Dictionary illustration of Saint Roch; please do not write to ask about the image")
Confessor of the faith.
Born in 1295 in Montpellier, France; died there in 1327.
He is said to have been miraculously marked at birth with a red cross on his breast.
Left an orphan at twenty, he distributed his fortune among the poor.
Visiting Italy as a mendicant pilgrim, he devoted himself to the care of the plague-stricken, effecting miraculous cures by making the sign of the cross.
He himself was stricken with the plague, and lying in a deserted forest, was discovered by a dog; for this reason he is generally portrayed with a dog.
Returning to Montpellier he was arrested as a spy and cast into prison, where he died.
He is reputed to have belonged to the Third Order of Saint Francis.
Patron of invalids.
Emblems: angel, dog, bread.
Relics at Venice, Rome, Arles.
Feast, 16 August.
New Catholic Dictionary
