St. Roch (St. Rocco)

Saint Roch (St. Rocco) is the patron of dogs, bachelors, diseased cattle, surgeons, and Balzola, Italy. He was orphaned at the age of twenty and responded by giving his noble fortune to the poor. St. Roch then devoted himself to ministering to the sick in a plague afflicted area. This activity resulted in numerous miraculous cures, usually by the sign of the cross, as well as Saint Roch's eventual acquisition of the plague. In response to the sickness he moved to the forest to die but a stray dog befriended him and stole food for him to eat which eventually nursed him back to health. St. Roch's feast day is August 16th.