The Feast of St Roch

Saint Roch was born into a wealthy family in Montpellier, at the end of the 13th century or beginning of the 14th.

Orphaned at a very early age, he gave away his worldly belongings and set out on a pilgrimage to Rome. On the way he cured victims of the plague by making the sign of the cross.

After catching the disease himself, he took refuge in a forest, where a dog brought him food stolen from the table of its aristocratic master. St Roch recovered and returned to Montpellier, but he was arrested for vagrancy and died in abject poverty in prison.

Since that time, Montpellier has marked his memory every year in mid-August. The high point of the feast-day is the opening of the well and the distribution of water at La Maison de Saint Roch, in the town centre.