St. Francis and St. Rocco

[Rosina Lila]

Hello you all,
    Last week I returned from Italy where I wondered about for a month.  My
intention was, (as it has been for some time), to walk from Rome to Assisi
and such  intent had progressed to the point of securing a companion from
Spain who came from Seville to walk with me.
    Alas, one proposes and, in our case, the Pope disposes.  We were going to
commence our walk on Monday, January 21, but the Pope was having a meeting of
about 200 church leaders, from all over the world, and of all religions
(Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Confucians, etc.), in, of all places,
Assisi, on January 24th.
Consequently there were no accommodations to be had within 100 kms of Assisi,
and the security measures were incredible.  Further, I presume that some of
those church leaders combined the meeting with a vacation because the whole
area was unavailable for the entire week.
    Nevertheless, I did get some information in Florence about St. Francis
and Santiago.  Florence has a very active St. James confraternity, the
"Confraternita di San Jacopo D'Oltarno, Firenze", and an administrative
member told me that there exists, in fact, a writing which St. Francis
received from some Santiago prelates in Santiago itself.  The document is
reportedly either in the ecclesiastical library at Assisi or in the Vatican
library, probably at the latter for security reasons since over the last ten
years or so malfeasants have stolen documents and other things of value from
Italian churches and monasteries.
    This is an intriguing piece of information which certainly merits further
sleuthing.
    As per dear San Rocco. (San Roque, St. Roche, etc.),  although it is not
impossible that he may have gone to Santiago, as so very many young European
men of his time did, it is not likely that he may have done so.  He did make
a pilgrimage from his native France to a Sanctuary in Rome, was suspected of
being a spy by some warring factions in the region, was beaten up and left
for dead, and survived only thanks to the graces of a dog who brought him
food and licked his wounds until he got better; this is the reason why most
images of San Rocco show him with his leg wounds exposed and a dog by his
side bearing some bread in its mouth.  (On August 15th, Ferragosto, St.
Rocco's feast day, in the church that bears his name in Rome, next to the Ara
Ceolis and the tomb of Augusto, there is a day-long celebration and they have
a dog dispensing bread to the parishioners, duly wrapped in paper.... it is
quite touching).  At any rate, on his way back to France St. Rocco came
across a colony of lepers and remained to assist them founding a shelter for
them.  I was told that St. Rocco is depicted as a pilgrim because he
reflected the ideal values of inspired pilgrimages.
    Incidentally, most of the churches which are now dedicated to San Rocco
had been previously dedicated to San Sebastian who had been, theretofore, the
patron of those seeking cures for physical illnesses; he appears to have been
replaced by San Rocco.
    I am going back to Venice tonight, for a week, and will return to the
Scuola di San Rocco to see what else I can find out..... but in the Venitian
Carnival glorious madness I doubt that I will get any new meaningful
information...But.. who knows?
    Affectionate regards,
Rosina.