Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Aug;60(4):2324-2330.
doi: 10.1007/s10943-021-01267-w. Epub 2021 Apr 28.

Saint Roch and Social Distancing During Pandemics: Lessons to be Remembered

Antonio Perciaccante  1   2 , Alessia Coralli  3 , Saudamini Deo  4 , Philippe Charlier  4   5
Affiliations

Saint Roch and Social Distancing During Pandemics: Lessons to be Remembered

Antonio Perciaccante et al. J Relig Health. 2021 Aug.

Abstract

Surprisingly, Catholic hagiography can teach us a lot about medicine. As an example, we present here the history of Saint Roch who is considered, along with Saint Sebastian, one of the two main Saints who act as protectors against plagues and have often been invoked by Catholic people during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Whereas Saint Sebastian is associated with plagues only symbolically, Catholic tradition considers Saint Roch to have had real contact with the bubonic plague. Indeed, during his pilgrimage to Rome, Saint Roch helped people suffering from the plague and was, subsequently, himself infected. He was then forced to retire in solitary confinement to avoid the plague's spread and followed scrupulously the necessary restrictive measures. Saint Roch's story provides useful lessons about the importance of social responsibility by respecting the restrictive rules during difficult times such as the COVID-19 epidemic.

Keywords: Catholic hagiography; Epidemics; Social distancing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors have no conflict of interest

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Antonio Gandino. Polyptych of Saint Roch (1590). Collegiata dei Santi Nazario e Celso, Brescia, Italy (image in public domani on Wikipedia)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Attwater, D. (1994). A new dictionary of saints. Edited by John Cumming. A Liturgical Press Book.
    1. Gelpi AP. Saint Sebastian and the Black Death. Vesalius. 1998;4:23–30. - PubMed
    1. Kupferschmidt K, Cohen J. Can China's COVID-19 strategy work elsewhere? Science. 2020;367(6482):1061–1062. doi: 10.1126/science.367.6482.1061. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Voragine, J. (1483). The Golden Legend. Edited by William Caxton. Bronx: Fordham University Internet Medieval Source Book, Vol 5, p. 3–8. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/goldenlegend-volume5.... (Last accessed on March 8, 2021)
    1. Voragine, J. (1483). The Golden Legend. Edited by William Caxton. Bronx: Fordham University Internet Medieval Source Book, Vol. 2, p. 104–109. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/GoldenLegend-Volume2.... (Last accessed on March 8, 2021)