San Rocco may also be invoked against or help with: plagues, epidemics, cholera, infectious diseases, knee problems, skin diseases (hives, acne, eczema, chicken pox, and some skin cancer). This list should probably include pandemics.
Many towns in different regions of Italy have Saint Rocco as a patron. There are devotional processions also held for Saint Rocco in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. According to his Acta and his vita in the Golden Legend, he was born at Montpellier, at that time "upon the border of France," as the Golden Legend has it, the son of the noble governor of that city. Even his birth was accounted a miracle, for his noble mother had been barren until she prayed to the Virgin Mary. Miraculously marked from birth with a red cross on his breast that grew as he did, he early began to manifest strict asceticism and great devoutness; on days when his "devout mother fasted twice in the week, and the blessed child Rocke abstained him twice also when his mother fasted in the week and would suck his mother but once that day."
He is properly known as "San Rocco" in Italian. He is known as “Sanctus Rochus” in Latin, "São Roque" in Portuguese, as "Sant Roc" in Catalan, "San Roque" in Spanish (including in former colonies of the Spanish colonial empire such as the Philippines) and as “Saint Roch” or “Saint Rock” in English.
On the death of his parents in his twentieth year he distributed all his worldly goods among the poor like Francis of Assisi — although his father on his deathbed had ordained him governor of Montpellier — and set out as a mendicant pilgrim for Rome.
Coming into Italy during an epidemic of plague, he was very diligent in tending the sick in the public hospitals at Acquapendente, Cesena, Rimini, Novara, and Rome, and is said to have effected many miraculous cures by prayer and the sign of the cross and the touch of his hand. At Rome, according to the Golden Legend, he preserved the "cardinal of Angleria in Lombardy" by making the mark of the cross on his forehead, which miraculously remained. Ministering at Piacenza, he himself finally fell ill. He was expelled from the town; and withdrew into the forest, where he made himself a hut of boughs and leaves, which was miraculously supplied with water by a spring that arose in the place; he would have perished execpt a dog, belonging to a nobleman named Gothard Palastrelli, supplied him with bread and licked his wounds, healing them. Count Gothard, following his hunting dog that carried the bread, discovered Roch and became his acolyte.
The cult of San Rocco gained momentum during the bubonic plague that passed through northern Italy in 1477–1479.
To honor San Rocco, follow these health tips to prevent infectious skin disorders:
Wash your hands with soap and warm water frequently.(The 102nd Anniversary of the Feast in honor of Saint Rocco di Simbario in Chicago’s Chinatown/Bridgeport neighborhood was celebrated during the third weekend in August 2022.)
Avoid sharing eating utensils and drinking glasses with other people.
Avoid direct contact with the skin of other people who have an infection.
Clean things in public spaces, such as gym equipment, before using them.
Don’t share personal items, such as blankets, hairbrushes, or swimsuits.
Sleep for at least seven hours each night.
Drink plenty of water.
Avoid excessive physical or emotional stress.
Eat a nutritious diet.
Get vaccinated for infectious skin conditions, such as chickenpox.
www.loc.gov/item/afc1981004.139