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Feast of St. Roch (Rocco)
It is believed that St. Roch was born about 1295 in Montpelier, France, the son of the governor. Roch had a birthmark that resembled a red cross on his chest. Orphaned at around age twenty, he gave his substantial inheritance to the poor, after which he went on a pilgrimage to Rome. Upon his arrival he devoted himself to caring for the victims of a plague that was ravaging Italy. He became known as St. Rocco, the Italian translation of his name. He fell victim to the plague himself but recovered. On his journey back home to Montpelier, St. Rocco traveled through many towns and villages and cured victims of the plague with the Sign of the Cross. Because he was such a sign and agent of God’s healing power, St. Roch (Rocco) was named the patron saint of plagues, cholera, skin and infectious diseases. His feast day is August 16th.
Why are we honoring St. Roch in the South Side/Mt. Washington Parish Grouping? And why is asking his special intercesion is all the more important this year?
People of the South Side have shown a special devotion to St. Roch since 1849. At that time the city of Pittsburgh was ravished by cholera and people died by the hundreds. People gathered in the streets or places of worship to pray for deliverance. The people of St. Michael’s parish, then the only parish on the South Side, remembering that in the 14thcentury the city of Constance was delivered from a similar plague, invoked the aid of St. Roch. They prayed intensively, vowing that if their lives were spared they would keep holy a day within the octave of the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. When the epidemic was spent, those in the parish who had been stricken recovered completely. When a second epidemic struck in 1854, not one parishioner of St. Michael’s fell victim to the disease. Since that time, the Catholic communities of the South Side have celebrated St. Roch’s day with a Mass of thanksgiving to God. They honor Mary and St. Roch as they remember how these faithful disciples stood with them and interceded for them in their hour of need. The day became known as “Cholera Day.”
In Mt. Washington, for the last 83 years there also has been a celebration in honor of St. Roch that was initiated by the Panucci family. As an infant in the 1930s, Vincent Panucci was infected with a unique strain of influenza, so his mother began praying to St. Roch, promising that if God allowed him to live she would honor the saint all her life. The tradition began at St. Justin’s parish, and began with a procession of the family and friends carrying a statue of St. Roch from Grandview Park to the church and culminated in a special Mass of thanksgiving. During the 90s, it expanded to include a spaghetti dinner that Vincent and his sons prepared for the participants as well as the residents of the Just-Inn, a Senior Transition facility next to the church. The statue currently is housed at St. Mary of the Mount church.
This year during the weekend of August 15-16, St. Mary of the Mount and Prince of Peace will continue a Covid-influenced variation of these traditions with Masses of thanksgiving, special music and various opportunities to pray for all of us and our world as we face this new plague of Covid-19. Once again, we will ask St. Roch and the Blessed Mother to intercede for us, pray ing with and for us as we ask for the grace necessary to face the challenges of this time. As we come closer to the actual merger of our two parishes, it seems to be an appropriate and powerful way for us to forge together to help defeat the pandemic.