Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: St. Roch

  • Prayer to St. Roch, patron of plague sufferers  

    Jack CoulehanStony Brook, New York Please take your work to the next step, St. Roch, beyond being a friendly ghost to the lost. Bring us back from the edge. Pour out the healing grace of your touch at a distance, if possible. We beg you. Believe me, the people are skeptical. Continue making the sign of the cross to heal us, but add Islam’s crescent, David’s star,…

  • Faith and patron saints during the Black Death

    Mariella ScerriMellieha, Malta The Black Death of 1348 was the greatest biomedical disaster in European history. Although it was not the first plague epidemic, the Black Death swept through Europe, killing millions indiscriminately and affecting society like no other natural calamity.1 Attempts to understand the plague began with science, but the search for answers was…