Saint Rocco: Patron Against all Contagious Diseases

St. Rocco - Photo by Loci B. Lenar

The following excerpt about the life of St. Rocco (1340-1378) is published by St. Bonaventure Church in the booklet, Franciscan Saints Surround Us.

By Fr. Daniel Grigassy, O.F.M.

St. Rocco is venerated by people from Southern Itlay and Sicily. Still their descendents who came to America hold Rocco in high esteem. During his life and after his death, he protected the people from the ravages of a cholera epidemic that swept across Southern Italy. People still turn to St. Rocco for protection against plagues, illnesses, and other dilemmas in life.

Rocco was born of nobility in France. His parents died when he was twenty years old and left him an orphan under the care of an uncle. Soon he decided to distribute his wealth among the poor and join the Secular Franciscan Order. Rocco had a birthmark on the left side of his chest in the form of a red cross. This blemish served to identify him throughout his life. Exchanging the clothes of a nobleman for those of a pilgrim, he departed for Rome to visit the tombs of the Apostles. Along the way Rocco stopped in plague-stricken towns and attended the needs of victims. Legend has it that everywhere he visited, the dreaded scourge of the plague disappeared with his prayer and the sign of a cross. The stained glass window displays such a scene.

St. Rocco Stained Glass Window
Photo by Loci B. Lenar

During his travels Rocco himself contracted the plague. In most images, though not in this stained glass window, he is shown with an open sore on his leg. He did not want to become a burden to anyone, so he left the city and found refuge in a cave, slept on leaves, and drank water from a stream. Legend has it that a dog refused to eat and brought Rocco his own bread to sustain him. One day a nobleman who owned the dog followed him into the woods and discovered Rocco. He brought Rocco to his castle where he was cared for and cured.

St. Rocco is patron against all contagious diseases.

Prayer for St. Rocco's Intercession

The stained glass window can be seen inside of St. Bonaventure Church, 174 Ramsey Street, Paterson, NJ.

Photographs Copyright 2012 Loci B. Lenar
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St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas

Stained Glass Window - Photo by Loci B. Lenar

The following excerpt is from Catholic Online:

St. Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Feast day-July 15)

 

St. Bonaventure (Giovanni di Fidanza), known as "the seraphic doctor," was born at Bagnorea in Tuscany, in 1221. He received the name of Bonaventure in consequence of an exclamation of St. Francis of Assisi, when, in response to the pleading of the child's mother, the saint prayed for John's recovery from a dangerous illness, and, foreseeing the future greatness of the little John, cried out "O Buona ventura"-O good fortune!

 

At the age of twenty-two St. Bonaventure entered the Franciscan Order. Having made his vows, he was sent to Paris to complete his studies under the celebrated doctor Alexander of Hales, an Englishman and a Franciscan. After the latter's death he continued his course under his successor, John of Rochelle. In Paris he became the intimate friend of the great St. Thomas Aquinas. He received the degree of Doctor, together with St. Thomas Aquinas, ceding to his friend against the latter's inclination, the honor of having it first conferred upon him. Like St. Thomas Aquinas, he enjoyed the friendship of the holy King, St. Louis.

 

At the age of thirty-five he was chosen General of his Order and restored a perfect calm where peace had been disturbed by internal dissensions. He did much for his Order and composed The Life of St. Francis . He also assisted at the translation of the relics of St. Anthony of Padua. He was nominated Archbishop of York by Pope Clement IV, but he begged not to be forced to accept that dignity. Gregory X obliged him to take upon himself a greater one, that of Cardinal and Bishop of Albano, one of the six suffragan Sees of Rome. Before his death he abdicated his office of General of the Franciscan Order. He died while he was assisting at the Second Council of Lyons, on July 15, 1274.

 

*** 

 

The stained glass window of St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas can be seen inside St. Bonaventure Church, 174 Ramsey Street, Paterson, NJ.

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Photograph Copyright 2012 Loci B. Lenar

St. Angela Merici

Photograph by Loci B. Lenar

The following excerpt regarding the life of St. Angela Merici is from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

Foundress of the Ursulines, born 21 March, 1474, at Desenzano, a small town on the southwestern shore of Lake Garda in Lombardy; died 27 January, 1540, at Brescia.

She was left an orphan at the age of ten and together with her elder sister came to the home of her uncle at the neighbouring town of Salo where they led an angelic life. When her sister met with a sudden death, without being able to receive the last sacraments, young Angela was much distressed. She became a tertiary of St. Francis and greatly increased her prayers and for the repose of her sister's soul. In her anguish and pious simplicity she prayed God to reveal to her the condition of her deceased sister. It is said that by a vision she was satisfied her sister was in the company of the saints in heaven.

In 1524, while making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, she became suddenly blind when she was on the island of Crete, but continued her journey to the Holy Places and was cured on her return while praying before a crucifix at the same place where she was struck with blindness a few weeks before. When, in the jubilee year 1525, she had come to Rome to gain the indulgences, Pope Clement VII, who had heard of her great holiness and her extraordinary success as a religious teacher of young girls, invited her to remain in Rome; but Angela, who shunned publicity, returned to Brescia. Finally, on the 25th of November, 1535, Angela chose twelve virgins and laid the foundation of the order of the Ursulines in a small house near the Church of St. Afra in Brescia. Having been five years superior of the newly-founded order, she died.

Her body lies buried in the Church of St. Afra at Brescia. She was beatified in 1768, by Clement XIII, and canonized in 1807, by Pius VII.

The stained glass window can be seen inside St. Bonaventure Church, 174 Ramsey Street, Paterson, NJ.

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Photograph Copyright 2012 Loci B. Lenar

St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata

Photograph by Loci B. Lenar

The following excerpt regarding the stained glass window of St. Francis is written by Fr. Daniel Grigassy, O.F.M. and can be found in the booklet, Franciscan Saints Surround Us, published by St. Bonaventure Church, 174 Ramsey Street, Paterson, NJ:

The image of St. Francis shows him receiving the Stigmata, the five brand marks of Christ on his hands, feet, and side.  From the beginning of his conversion, he had a great devotion to Christ crucified.  He spent most of his life preaching the glories of the cross and the joyful hope of the Resurrection. 

St. Bonaventure tells us that Francis had begun a fast of forty days in honor of the Archangel Michael whose feast is on September 29.  One morning near September 14, the feast of the exaltation of the Cross, as he was in deep contemplation of the mysteries of the cross, he saw what appeared as a seraph with six bright wings brilliant as fire coming down from heaven.  The figure was not only winged but also crucified.  Francis was thrilled at the sight, his heart filled with joy and pain, both at the same time.  This was truly Christ graciously and intimately appearing before him. St. Bonaventure writes: "...the awe-inspiring vision of Christ nailed to the cross aroused in his soul a joy of compassionate love."

After the vision vanished and his encounter with Christ ended, Francis was internally "Aglow with seraphic love in his soul."  Yet externally, marks like those of the Crucified were left onn his body: "The figures of the nails appeared immediately on his hand and feet.  His right side too showed a blood-red wound as if it had been pierced by a lance, and blood flowed frequently from it."

Bonaventure concludes: "Francis came down from the mountain a new man...bearing in his body the image of the Crucified...fashioned in his members by the hand of the living God."

The Stigmata represents the visible conformity to Christ and remains the deepest witness of Francis's intense love for the Passion of Christ.

(The stained glass window of St. Francis can be seen inside St. Bonaventure Church, Paterson, NJ. The window was photographed on August 4, 2012 while attending Mass.   -Loci B. Lenar)

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