Glorification of St. Roch, after Tintoretto

A King, an Empress, and a Pilgrim

Well, anyway, while I sweep up the crumpled confetti off the floor and try to wash away the stale beer smell out of the Shrine after the wild and crazy Assumption party we had here last night (yeah right, as if), let's have a look at the saints of the day. Today's most important feast is that of King St. Stephen of Hungary, who was baptized by St. Adalbert (or Voitech) of Prague in 985. He grew, surprisingly, into a devout Christian and converted his nation, gaining the title of Apostolic Majesty from Pope Silvester II, used by his descendents and subsequent dynasties ruling Hungary well until 1918. The Holy Crown of St. Stephen, another gift of the Pope, is Hungary's most prized relic, and even today, a thousand years later, remains a sign of the Hungarian people's sovereignty and independence. Interestingly enough, it sat out much of the Cold War in a vault in Fort Knox (along with Indiana Jones's ark of the covenant, probably...I'm kidding) but now is displayed proudly in Budapest after being returned in 1978. St. Stephen was married to Bl. Gisele (the sister of St. Henry II, the Holy Roman Emperor), and their son was St. Emericus (also known as Americus, Imre or Emeric), the namesake of Amerigo Vespucci and a minor patron of the Americas.

I wore a red shirt and green socks to remember St. Stephen today. Hungarian colors, and all that. Hey, it works for me.

Today is the feast, also, of St. Uguzo of Milan, whose origins are obscure, and seems to have been an alpine shepherd killed by his employer who grew jealous of his virtues. The Roman Martyrology also tells us today of St. Serena of Rome, the sometime wife of the Emperor Diocletian, though this information derives from the spurious acta of St. Cyriacus. We can also find reference in the Martyrology to St. Roch of Montpellier (or Rock, or San Rocco in Italian) whose feast remains popular with Italians in their native land or abroad. He had a long and rather melodramatic history which revolves around his adventures as a pilgrim as well as his work as a healer during the plague. Arriving home, unrecognizably transformed by the ravages of disease, his uncle, the local governor, mistook him for a spy and had him arrested. Only after his death did a birthmark vindicate his identity. St. Roch is the patron of plague victims and cancer survivors, as well as physicians, surgeons, cattle, prisoners, Istanbul, street-pavers, old clothes dealers, cooks, and invoked against all contagious disease,. He is portrayed in art as a pilgrim with an open wound on his leg. He has a marvellous Scuola Grande named after him in Venice with some of the finest paintings of him extant as well as numerous scenes of salvation history, done by Tintoretto. The story goes that there was a contest held to have the paintings done, and each artist was given a small stretch of wall, but Tintoretto broke the rules and painted the entire space of the room. Fortunately, he won and his work was not painted over!

In San Rocco and his Scuola's honor tonight, we're eating risotto and saltimbocca (strictly speaking, Roman, not Venetian, but we do what we can), and listening to Music for San Rocco, 1608 by the inimitable Gabrieli Consort, actually recorded on site at the Scuola! I love feast days!