"Are you a dog person or a cat person?" Not to get too philosophical on you, but this is one of the fundamental questions of human existence. A question that, had the Supreme Executive Committee in its infinite wisdom chosen the other Saint Gertrude ("of Nivelles" rather than "the Great"), could have perhaps been decided once and for all. You see today Roch, the patron saint of dogs, takes on Gertrude, the patron saint of...not cats but...the West Indies. Alas.
Of course, there are other criteria on which to base your decision as you seek to choose between a 14th century Frenchman and a 13th century German woman. Like whether you prefer cabernet to beer or croissants to pretzels. But enough of these European stereotypes!
Yesterday, in the most lopsided battle of the year, Joseph trounced Christina Rossetti, sending her into her personal "bleak midwinter," 79% to 21%. He'll face Absalom Jones in the Saintly Sixteen.
This is the last battle of the first full week of Lent Madness 2016. Save your voting energy, folks, and we'll see you bright and early on Monday morning as Columba takes on Kateri Tekakwitha.
Roch
Roch (Rock in English) is known as the patron saint of dogs, falsely accused people, and plagues. Many legends surround the saint, who was born in 1350 in Montpellier, France, to a rich merchant family. According to one legend, God touched Roch at birth, leaving the mark of a red cross on his breast. Rejecting his father’s directive to become a governor of their town following his father’s death, Roch instead sold his possessions and began a pilgrimage to Italy. During his journey, he passed through a town stricken by the plague. Roch miraculously cured the inhabitants with touch and the sign of the cross. Unfortunately, he was unable to prevent himself from contracting the plague, and stories say he fled to the wilderness to die.
As Roch was lying in pain, a dog appeared to him in a clearing. The dog began licking his sores and nurturing him to health. A water source sprang up beside him. Popular iconography of Roch shows him afflicted with sores and a dog by his side.
When Roch healed, he returned home. Unfortunately, his uncle, the governor, did not recognize him and threw Roch in prison as a spy. For five years, Roch lived in the prison without revealing his identity. It was not until he died that people recognized him by the cross-shaped birthmark on his breast. Following his death, the people of the village wept and gnashed their teeth in loss and regret, and a group of followers of Roch sprang up in Montpellier. Seeing the popularity of Roch, the Roman Church built the Church of San Rocco in Venice and entombed his remains.
Collect for Roch
Merciful Jesus, you know our deepest sorrows and aches and offer us comfort through your love and companionship. Thank you for the ministry and miracles of your loyal servant, Roch, who sought to comfort the sick and infirm for the sake of your love. Create in us hearts full of compassion and love that we would be agents of your healing and love in a broken world. Amen.
Gertrude
Gertrude the Great (sometimes called Saint Gertrude of Helfta) was a late thirteenth-century German Benedictine nun, mystic, theologian, and writer.
Little is known of Gertrude’s early life except that she was born in 1256. She entered school at the monastery of St. Mary at Helfta at the young age of four. While some speculate that her parents offered her to the Church as a child oblate (a person dedicated to a life in God’s service), another theory is that she was an orphan. In the monastery school, Gertrude was under the care of Saint Mechtilde, the younger sister of the monastery’s abbess, Gertrude of Hackeborn.
Gertrude joined the monastic community in 1266. Her later writing shows that she was well educated in rhetoric and Latin. Gertrude began to experience visions at the age of twenty-five. She shifted her study from the secular to focus on scripture and theology and devoted herself to a life of prayer and meditation. Wanting to share her experiences and dedication to God, Gertrude began writing spiritual treatises for her monastic sisters and became a spiritual counselor to whom people flocked for advice.
Gertrude produced numerous writings, although only a few survive today. The longest piece still in existence is The Herald of Divine Love. Partly written by Gertrude and partly written by other nuns, The Herald is composed of five books. Book Two, written by Gertrude, forms the core of the work. It includes vivid descriptions of Gertrude’s visions, including details on the veneration of Christ’s heart.
Gertrude died at Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony (Germany) around 1302. While Gertrude is now regarded as one of the great mystics of the thirteenth century, she was not broadly remembered after her death until the Latin edition of her work was published in 1536.
Collect for Gertrude
Almighty God, your Holy Spirit gives to one the word of knowledge, and to another the insight of wisdom, and to another the steadfastness of faith. We praise you for the gifts of grace imparted to your servant Gertrude, and we pray that by her teaching we may be led to a fuller knowledge of the truth we have seen in your Son Jesus, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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273 comments on “Roch vs. Gertrude”
Have had dogs, cats, rabbits, turtles, ducks, a couple of parakeets and who knows what else for as long as I can remember! My first dog was named "Floppy", a cocker spaniel. (Had chickens, too, but not as pets...and even though I was the one who fed them, they pecked at me when I collected their eggs...ungrateful birds!)
Had to go with Roch in honor of Angel, Devuska (Russian for "dog", spelling uncertain), and Daisy. the canines who, along with their mistress, currently rule our home.
Of course, as a Vermonter I had to vote for Roch. The write-up said followers gathered in Montpellier after his death. Just continuing the tradition. Oh, THAT OTHER Montpellier!
A toss up for me, a dog lover, but the mantra in my family is, "if you don't vote, then you can't complain".
Though my middle name at baptism was LaRoche, I voted for Gertrude. Benedictine mystic trumps dog-lover for me. Nice doggie, peculiar story. And he's busted my bracket, too. Bummer.
So wait. The guy who was given a miraculous healing and then used it to sit in prison without revealing his identity until he died...he's more of a doer than someone who counseled and taught and wrote?
If the "thinkers" who write and teach are not also doers, then we are essentially also leaving out all those who wrote the scriptures, and the biographies of these saints, and theological and devotional works, and sermons and prayers, and this website.
I'm sensing a false dichotomy....
This "thinker" (who writes and preaches and teaches and prays) votes for Gertrude, a (rare) well educated medieval woman who wrote and taught and counseled, even though she isn't the cat lady I was hoping she would be. 🙂
Excellent points, Teri!
Hear, hear! I'd hate to have to tell all my writer, teacher, clergy and researcher friends that we have all done nothing with our lives, and nothing for anyone else, either. They were both doers!
I voted for St Roch. Not only did I go to St Roch church as a child but I liked the way he healed the sick like Jesus did.
I love dogs but I love counselors and teachers and writers more. Plus, my mother-in-law's name is Gertrude, and she was so darn nice to me that Gertrude gets my vote. When I once ooked the worst casserole in the world, she struggled hard for something kind to say. And finally, she came up with it: "Why, it's very warm, very warm." What a gem. Gertrude gets my vote.
I vote for Gertrude. As great as a woman who proceeded her - Hildegard of Bingen - women just weren't encouraged to be educated teachers in their eras. She was perhaps also the last in a long line of children in her home and given to the Church as a way of lessening the burden on the family. Either way, she accomplished much more that was to be expected of a young woman in her circumstances.
Gotta be Roch. First of all, patron saint of DOGS! Then there's the incredibly cool name, Roch! And his story has so much drama - ministering to the sick, falsely accused and imprisoned. An inspiring story.
Having worked with therapy dogs for many years I can attest to their healing presence. One of my dogs "helps" during healing prayer and I frequently see the delight in the eyes of people who bo not or cannot have pets when they sit with him before, after, or sometimes during the service.
Our faithful, loving companion for over 13 years died last week. Sadie, our beautiful Golden Retriever, has licked many of our wounds over the years and helped heal some broken hearts. Just like a dog to show up when someone needs a "licking" friend! In memory of Sadie, my vote goes for Roch.
I cast my vote for Roch, not least because of the lovely children's book, 'A dog and his boy', which involves a monastery dedicated to St Roch at which guide dog puppies are bred.
Today's holy collision gives us a chance to pursue a discussion, taken up yesterday by a statement that the person of Joseph was wholly fictional and therefore halo-ineligible, of the place, if any, of legend in our 21st-century faith. Roch's biographer has provided a coherent account that includes many events that smack of, ahem, fancy; but, if one credits the saint's impressively documented Wikipedia article, there are discrepant versions of where and when those events took place. To fully appreciate the riot of confusion in the reported lives of Roch and other saints, refer to his article and follow the copious links where they may lead.
One eminently reasonable approach to such tales, taken by yesterday's gadfly, is wholly to reject them out of what might be unkindly called "rational fundamentalism." Another, taken by today's biographer, is to try to syncretize them by using various techniques to resolve points of conflict. A third, reasonable or not depending on one's point of view, is simply to accept all the stories for the truth they contain and the insights they afford.
I'd suggest that this last is closer to what was in the mind of the people who wrote them down, altered, embroidered and embellished them, and used them as a means of drawing nearer to God. Surely they could tell fact from fiction, but they seem not to have needed to make such distinctions in every case. That does make it difficult for us, living as we do in the Twenty-first Century and not the Eleventh, to succeed in getting into their heads.
So though I feel deeply drawn to Gertrude, and far more secure in my knowledge of her existence and achievements, today my vote goes to Roch (known in Glasgow as "St. Rockle" in a putative conflation of "Roch's Loch," I love it) in celebration of his richly inspiring life stories, fantastic in every sense of the word.
My dogs believe that St. Roch covers the street with garbage cans every Wednesday for all good puppies.
No choice -- my grandmother was Gertrude.
Peg S., you're brilliant.
Another easy choice for me.I chose to try to be a healer for my occupation. How could I not vote for a man who healed people with the plague and had the perfect relationship with a dog, Roch's best friend. Yersinia pestis, you've been bested!
So… my mother and grandmother were both Gertrude's… And German mystics… like Hildegard of Bingen… bring a lot to the table. No brainer here.
Hi Len, you mean that Chippendale poster picture of a quite well fed prisoner with the come hither look didnt move you to vote for him? Hahaha.
Gnashing of teeth! My vote to St. Roch for that alone!
Despite being a totally committed dog lover, I voted for St. Gertrude in fond memory of my best teacher ever, Sr. Ste. Gertrude. She was a strong woman with the gift to inspire her students in many subjects, especially the physical sciences. But it was in a World Lit class in the late 50s when she stunned her good little Catholic high school freshmen while trying to get us to pronounce Goethe: "...you know, a bit like what you call me behind my back." This was north of Boston, and of course the R was not pronounced in Gertie. May she rest in peace and rise in glory!
Our family are dog lovers and have a wonderful dog named Hershey...
However, Most didn't know that Our Lord dictated a prayer to St Gertrude the Great to release 1,000 souls from Purgatory ea time it is said....
Have been praying the prayer for years
so my vote was for Gertrude..u can Google the prayer
I thought purgatory didn't exist any more.
I personally don't believe in Purgatory, but it is the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, and many Anglo-Catholics believe in it as well.
As a dog loving person I have to go with Roch. I really like how even though he go the plague he did the right thing by running away from the area of crises. I also like how the dog licked his sores and healed him back to life.
A true work of god!!!
I had to vote Roch because I love my dog and I have a dear family member who was falsely accused of a crime. But may all our saints help us and bless us.
Love dogs...love mystics. Hard choice today for me. Either way I win.
I have to go with Gertrude on this one. Who doesn't love a woman schooled in Latin and rhetoric.
I voted for St. Roch. Healing the sick during the plague and the patron saint of dogs. Also in honor of the St. Roch Football Club ("the Candy Rock") in Glasgow, Scotland. And I love Roch 'n' Roll! *hums tune*
I suppose I am required to identify myself as a cat person before proceeding, but that said, I voted for St. Roch because he is the patron of the falsely accused, and more than most, they need all the support they can get.
The combination selected here leads me to contemplate "mystical dogs," of which I have had in my lifetime. I now wonder if they were guided by Roch? Then I will also comment that we must be careful that our supreme leaders are not sending us to the to the ___s. I am grateful for today's enlightenment.
Women and Latin studies trumps a a dog tale.
I was impressed by a woman scholar and writer who knew Latin so well. However, I had to vote for Saint Roch because he was a healer...and because he was healed by a DOG! I am a dog-lover, like many voters here. But why, when he was imprisoned, apparently because of a misunderstanding, didn't he reveal his identity. That doesn't make sense to me.
Though I admire St. Roch, I cannot believe that he is beating out the ONLY female saint to earn the designation "The Great." I voted for her as a representative of all the great Christian scholars, teachers, philosophers, clergy, faith leaders and intermediaries on behalf of souls in Purgatory whose accomplishments have gone unrecognized because of their sex.
what? purgatory is a man made "place"
Regardless of whether you feel purgatory is Purgatory or purgatory and whether it is on earth or in the afterlife, this is a beautiful concept, worthy of a saintly doer: "The Prayer of St. Gertrude ... is one of the most famous of the prayers for souls in purgatory. St. Gertrude the Great ... was a Benedictine nun and mystic who lived in the 13th century. According to tradition, our Lord promised her that 1000 souls would be released from purgatory each time it is said devoutly. --http://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/prayers-for-souls-in-purgatory.html