Title: "San Roque - Invoked Against Cancer, Wounds, Plague, Smallpox." St. Roque, also known as St. Roch, was born into a nobleman's family in France in 1295, marked with a red cross on his chest. During his twenties, he lost his parents, gave away his riches to the poor, became a disciple of St.Francis, and began to serve victims of the plague in Northern Italy. He cured them with the sign of the cross. Everywhere he went, the terrible scourge disappeared before his miraculous power. He fell victim to the plague and retreated to the woods where at the brink of death, he was saved by a dog who brought him bread daily and licked his wounds. One day, the dog's owner followed the dog, found Roch, brought him to his home and nursed him back to health. When Roch eventually returned in disguise to his native France during wartime, he was arrested as a spy and thrown into a dungeon. Five years later, abandoned and captive, he lay dying. A radiance surrounded him and an angelic hand wrote on the wall of his cell in golden letters the name of Roch, and the prediction that all who would invoke his intercession would be delivered from the plague. After his death, during an outbreak of the plague in Rome during the 1400s, the people processed in his honor and the plague ceased.
St. Roch is the patron saint of dogs, dog owners, knee problems, surgeons, invalids, bachelors, and against plague, skin rashes and diseases, contagious diseases, pestilence and epidemics. "May St. Roch watch over us and protect us by the same miraculous power which he so often used, and protect and preserve us from the plague of both body and soul."
Artist: Lynn Garlick, Taos, New Mexico. The artist reserves all copyrights.
Media: High quality folk art print decoupaged onto pine board.
Dimensions: 9 1/2" x 5 1/2 " x 3/4"
Condition: New.
Speaking of her work, Lynn Garlick says, "The diverse cultures and the landscape of this part of the country deeply and yet unintentionally influenced me both artistically and spiritually. I am nourished by Northern New Mexico's rugged wildness and rawness. The profound devotion found in the different traditions and faiths here are unusual and inspiring."
Moved by the sacred art of the retablos (paintings) and the santeros (saint makers) who made them, Lynn started creating them herself. Lynn hand carves and paints her original designs on the traditionally used Ponderosa pine planks. Then she decoupages high quality prints of her originals onto pine boards in an old school technique used for the Italian altar screens of medieval Europe.
The saints and angels are ready to hang or rest about your home. On the back of each retablo is an inspiring story about the angel or saint. Many of the descriptions also include a prayer. "The saints, angels and prayers have changed and blessed my life. My hope is that they touch and bless others as well."