Four Saints and Blesseds: Saint Roch

Saint Roch was no ancient martyr. He was a man of the 14th century, a pilgrim from Montpellier in southern France. The story told of him is that on his way through Italy he nursed victims of the plague, then caught it himself and went off alone into the woods to die. A hunting dog, the legend says, brought him bread each day until he recovered. Crivelli gives him the staff and heavy cloak of a pilgrim and shows him lifting the hem of his robe to uncover the plague sore high on his thigh. That gesture, more than any label, is what tells a viewer who he is.