Amulets


Relics of Saint Rochus

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"Ex ossibus S. Rochi conf(essoris)" - part of the skeleton of st. Rochus the Confessor.

19th century reliquary theca with sealed first class relics of saint Rochus. Similar reliquaries are rather frequent. They show, that people need heawenly assistance since ever, when suffering or when exposed to severe danger as pestilentia.

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The "Confrérie Saint Roch" was the predecessor of the master bakers association - it was NOT the love for small bread rolls that led me to buy a Rochus reliquary, but rather a whole series of medieval cultural details illuminate the relic ...


                    "Eat Durmedil and Bibernell, then you will not die so fast" (Volksspruch, 1348).
                    Pestgarten (Stephan Lochner Altar in Cologne, a Pest meadow)


- The Red or Common Butterbur (Petasites hybridus) owes its name to the fact that in the Middle Ages it was used against the plague that was hoped to be driven away by the unpleasant odor of the plant's essential oils.
- Bloodroot, Armetill
- Bibernell


According to tradition, Rochus came from Montpellier (France), where he was born around 1295. He had the wonderful gift of healing plague victims with a sign of the cross.