Roman Catholics celebrate Wednesday, Aug. 16, the feast day of San Roque (Saint Roch), the revered patron saint of the sick and the invalid.
Kalookan Bishop and Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president Pablo Virgilio David will celebrate a fiesta mass in his honor at the San Roque Cathedral in Caloocan City at 6 p.m.
Novena masses were held from Aug. 7 to 15. San Roque is the patron of the diocese. The Cathedral of Caloocan and the San Roque de Navotas celebrate his feast day as a solemnity.
At the San Roque Parish in Mandaluyong City, novena masses were offered from Aug. 11 to 19. On Aug. 20, Sunday, Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula will celebrate the fiesta mass at 9:30 a.m.
Holy masses will also be celebrated at 6:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and at 6:30 p.m.
This year’s feast coincides with the 52nd parish fiesta.
Commemorative masses will also be celebrated in other parishes placed under the patronage of San Roque such as at the San Roque de Alabang in Muntinlupa City and at the San Roque de Manila Parish in Blumentritt, Manila.
Venerated as the protector against the plague, local devotion to San Roque started as early as the year 1637 when, according to stories, many were miraculously cured of malaria after holding a procession in honor of the healing saint.
At the height of the pandemic, then Antipolo Bishop Francisco de Leon called on the faithful to pray to San Roque for protection against the Covid-19. Church-run Radio Veritas likewise held a daily nationwide prayer to San Roque for deliverance against the corona virus pandemic at 4 p.m.
The Archdiocese of Manila also designated four parishes under the patronage of San Roque as Archdiocesan Churches of Intercession. The San Roque Parish Churches are located in Blumentritt, Pasay, Mandaluyong, and Sampaloc.
Born in 1295 in Montpellier, France, San Roque was miraculously marked from birth with a red cross on his chest that increased in size as he grew up. He entered the Franciscan Order and cared for the sick and the poor. He was known as a miracle healer as he cured the sick through prayer, the touch of his hand, and by making the sign of the cross. San Roque died at the age of 32 on August 16, 1327 and was buried at the Church of San Rocco in Venice, Italy.