1. Bernardo Strozzi, San Rocco, 1640 c., oil on canvas, 78x67 cm. Scuola Grande - Sala della Cancelleria (on easel).

2. Jacopo Tintoretto, Apparizione di San Rocco, 1588, oil on canvas, 495x246 cm. Scuola Grande - Altare della Sala Superiore. Detail of the Cardinal with the mark of the cross on his forehead.

The historical facts regarding the life of Saint Roch (fig.1) are few, uncertain and have been mixed with popular hagiography which made Saint Roch one of the most invoked and prayed to of the miracle-working saints. According to the Venetian tradition derived from The Life of Saint Roch by Francesco Diedo, the Podestà of Brescia in 1478, Roch was born in 1295 to a noble and powerful family from Montpellier. Despite his high birth, he didn’t wish to take advantage of the enormous riches which he possessed, but – like Saint Francis and Saint Dominic – decided to devote them and himself to the service of the needy, gaining spiritual sustenance from the Sanctuaries of Christianity, which – once freed from his goods and reduced to poverty – he proposed to visit the holy sites, starting with Rome. Before he got half way on his journey, he paused at Acquapendente and, in accordance with the evangelical principles of charity and overcoming the opposition of the guardian of the leper colony, dedicated himself to the curing of the sick. Once in Rome, he was received by Pope Urbano V, recently returned from Avignon, and cured a Cardinal of the plague by tracing the sign of the cross on his forehead (fig.2).
After a three year stay in Rome, he began his return journey, passing Cesena and Rimini. However, he was forced to stop at Piacenza, when he too was struck by the plague. Retiring to solitude, he was helped by a dog who brought him food and by the dog’s master, a certain Gottardo. Along with the sick, animals also require his aid. Healed and on the exhortation of an angel, he took his way home once more. When he arrived in Montpellier, Roch was not recognised, and was thrown into prison, by mistake, from where he could have easily procured his release, if, revealing his true identity, he had asked for help from one of his powerful relatives. But, to be closer to the suffering of Christ, he preferred to choose the way of suffering and remained voluntarily in prison for five years, until his death, in 1327. Immediately after his death, he was recognised and buried with all the honours of a native of Montpellier.