Church of Saint Roch (Eglise Saint Roch) description and photos - France: Paris (Topic)

Church of Saint Roch (Eglise Saint Roch) description and photos - France: Paris. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Eglise Saint Roch.

Photo and description

The Church of Saint-Roc, located just west of the Palais-Royal, bears the name of Saint Roch of Montpellier, the patron saint of plague and cholera patients, diseases of the legs and skin, as well as livestock and dogs.

Saint Roch is little known in Russia, but it is extremely revered in Catholic countries. He was born in about 1295, at the age of 20 he lost his parents, distributed property to the poor, and went on a pilgrimage. In Italy, he discovered a terrible plague epidemic. The young man began to wander and heal the sick with prayer and the sign of the cross. Soon he himself contracted the plague, lay in a forest hut completely exhausted, but the dog brought him bread. The saint recovered. However, upon returning to his homeland, he was thrown into prison as a spy - here he ended his days.

Many European churches are dedicated to Saint Roch. Saint-Roc is one of them. Its history begins in 1521, in 1645-1722, the building was overhauled according to the plans of the architect Jacques le Mercier. The first stone of the renovated church was laid by the young Louis XIV and his mother Anna of Austria. Since the construction took more than a century, the leading architects of those times had a hand in it: Etienne-Louis Boile, Francois Mansart, Robert de Cotta, his son Jules. At one time, the construction was financed by the Scotsman John Lo, who was the first in the world to realize the idea of paper money in France. The church turned out to be one of the largest in Paris, its facade is an example of expressive Baroque architecture.

In the 18th century, the famous Claude Balbatre played the organ by Aristide Cavaille-Cohl here. His glory was so great that the archbishop of Paris forbade him to play Saint-Roque - there were so many people who wanted to listen to the great organist that there was no room left for the parishioners.

In 1795, during an armed demonstration of the royalists, the church of Saint-Roque turned out to be the place of a fierce battle rebels with the troops of the Convention, commanded by the young General Napoleon Bonaparte. The future emperor ordered to shoot at the royalists with direct fire from cannons - traces of cannon fire are still visible on the facade of the temple.

In the days of the Paris Commune, when many Parisian churches were captured by the "workers' clubs", Saint-Roc remained an island of faith in the ocean of violence and cruelty.

Cornel, Helvetius, Diderot, Holbach, Fragonard rest in Saint-Roc. Already today, Yves Saint Laurent and Annie Girardeau performed the funeral here.

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Topic: Church of Saint Roch (Eglise Saint Roch) description and photos - France: Paris.