Webster, Belle’s only friend, is a yellow Labrador. Recently he was very ill with pneumonia and thanks to his mistress’s good care and loving attention and the vet’s advice he recovered. I also may have helped a little. I had a word with Saint Roch.
This French noble who early developed a sympathy for the poor and sick is reported to have been born with the image of a red cross on his breast. Orphaned at the age 20, he gave his fortune to the poor, and became a mendicant pilgrim. While on pilgrimage Roch encountered an area afflicted with plague. He stayed to minister to the sick, and affected several miraculous cures, usually by making the sign of the cross over them, but contracted the plague himself. He walked into a forest to die, but was befriended by a dog. The dog fed him with bread stolen from his master's table, and Roch eventually recovered. When Roch returned to Montpellier where he was born in 1295, he was arrested for being a spy. He languished in jail for five years, never mentioning his noble conections, cared for by an angel until his death.
Saint Roch is usually represented in the garb of a pilgrim, with a wound in his thigh, accompanied by a dog carrying a loaf of bread in its mouth.
It is said that: “that who that calleth meekly to S. Rocke he shall not be hurt with any hurt of pestilence."
He has become the patron saint of dogs and in Bolivia his day – 16th August - is celebrated as the "birthday of all dogs", in which the dogs around town can be seen with colourful ribbons tied to them.
This French noble who early developed a sympathy for the poor and sick is reported to have been born with the image of a red cross on his breast. Orphaned at the age 20, he gave his fortune to the poor, and became a mendicant pilgrim. While on pilgrimage Roch encountered an area afflicted with plague. He stayed to minister to the sick, and affected several miraculous cures, usually by making the sign of the cross over them, but contracted the plague himself. He walked into a forest to die, but was befriended by a dog. The dog fed him with bread stolen from his master's table, and Roch eventually recovered. When Roch returned to Montpellier where he was born in 1295, he was arrested for being a spy. He languished in jail for five years, never mentioning his noble conections, cared for by an angel until his death.
Saint Roch is usually represented in the garb of a pilgrim, with a wound in his thigh, accompanied by a dog carrying a loaf of bread in its mouth.
It is said that: “that who that calleth meekly to S. Rocke he shall not be hurt with any hurt of pestilence."
He has become the patron saint of dogs and in Bolivia his day – 16th August - is celebrated as the "birthday of all dogs", in which the dogs around town can be seen with colourful ribbons tied to them.
2 comments:
That's a lovely story, eurodog. I didn't know anything about this saint but he seems a very kindly one. I'm glad Belle's friend recovered and am sure your intercession had something to do with it!
wonderful
I like the idea of the ribbons!
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