The church of Saint Roch

 The church of Saint Roch

In 1890 The Minsky Listok (a newspaper) published an article by polish priest Kharevich about the Golden Hill church of Saint Roch and the origin of its name.

Legend has it that during one of the cholera epidemics (and exactly in 1631) one Minsk citizen had a dream that turned out to be prophetic. “The salvation of the city from complete dying out depends on Saint Roch whose statue is buried under the ruins of the church of benefactors [beneficent brothers, or hospitable brothers]. The statue must be found and unearthed”. This citizen shared his dream with other doomed people. Everybody set about the work. After the lengthy search the wooden statue of Saint Roch was found in the ruins. It had been cleaned and carried about the city in a solemn procession. The common distress caused by the epidemic was so great, and a glimmer of hope for rescue was so long wished for, that even the Jews joined the procession. Afterwards the statue was placed in a wooden chapel on the Golden Hill. And then the epidemic began to wane.

Since then Saint Roch has been the patron saint of our city. This fact has been a good many times mentioned in various publications. 


 

Translation by Elena Demidova