There's still one vote to go and a full twenty-four hours before full onset Lent Madness Withdrawal (LMW) sets in! So make this one count as Roch faces Julian of Norwich. Will this battle go to the dogs? Or will all manner of things be well?
To get to this round, Roch defeated Gertrude while Julian snuck past William Wilberforce. The winner will face Albert Schweitzer in the Elate Eight. While yesterday, Sojourner (Nothing but the) Truth slammed the door shut on Frances Joseph Gaudet 67% to 33%.
After a full week of Saintly Sixteen action, we have just two more slots up for grabs in the Elate Eight. Today's battle will decide one of them and on Monday the last matchup of this round will see Dietrich Bonhoeffer take on Barnabas. The field is narrowing as the chase for the coveted Golden Halo continues.
Roch
On the day that Roch/Rocco/Roque snuck by Gertrude for the win, our house was infected with a modern plague: the flu. As we lay weeping and gnashing our own teeth and shamelessly wanting our mommy (this is the 40-year-old talking), our dog got out and was attacked by another animal. In the midst of the plague, my dog needed surgery for five puncture wounds and as I write, he lays at my feet, recovering. He is a good dog.
For a saint that I did not know well going into Lent Madness, Roch seems to be having a rather profound impact on my house in big ways. I cannot help but reflect on the irony of lifting Roch up in the blogging world as plagues and an injured dog infiltrate my world. Such is life. However, this post is not about me, it is about the quirks and quotes of St. Roch.
As I read the MANY comments following Roch vs. Gertrude, several made me laugh--it seems as though a number of readers were deeply appreciative of Roch's well-formed thigh and dashing pose. Alas, while Roch may look like he is attempting a Calvin Klein bid, in truth the artists of the times display his shapely thigh to show the plague scars. Being unashamed to show the ravages of his disease was an expression of being intimate with the suffering of Christ. Enduring disease and infirmity were seen as a path to martyrdom. The people saw a seemingly healthy individual, albeit scared, as a promise for curing of their own illnesses and disease. Here was proof of God's healing grace in the world.
Lest you think invoking Roch will only ward off illness and disease, his name has also been invoked to ward off vampire attacks.
So, the next time you have the flu or other illness, or the zombie apocalypse is imminent, you can pray to St. Roch, weep and gnash your teeth, and your suffering will show your solidarity with Christ's agony on the cross. You see, we are all saints...
Julian of Norwich
As an anchoress in medieval England, Julian of Norwich got to do something most of us only dream of—she went to her own funeral!
The occasion of her being sealed into her cell would have been marked with a momentous liturgy, including a vigil, mass, chanting, and a procession to the anchorage, concluding with a funeral service where Julian would have received the last rites, both symbolic of her death to the world, and pragmatic, since a priest would not be permitted to enter the cell later.
The only thing that prevented her complete isolation from the world were three windows in her cell. One, called the Squint, opened into the church so she could receive communion and follow the services. The second allowed her attendant to deliver food and empty the chamber pot. The third window provided visitors a way to talk to Julian, and if I had been alive then, I certainly would have wanted to!
Julian held a surprising and profound view of sin, especially for her time. On the one hand, she considered self-awareness of our sinful nature to be excruciating: “And to me was shown no harder hell than sin. For a kind soul has no hell but sin.” And yet, she considered sin as an expedient to understanding God’s love. “We need to fall, and we need to be aware of it; for if we did not fall, we should not know how weak and wretched we are of ourselves, nor should we know our Maker's marvelous love so fully.”
Though they pain us, our sins in no way damage God’s love for us, which is ever near: “For as the body is clad in the cloth, and the flesh in the skin, and the bones in the flesh, and the heart in the whole, so are we, soul and body, clad in the Goodness of God, and enclosed.”
In one of her visions, she described seeing a tiny thing in God’s hand, the size of a hazelnut, and understood it was the whole of God’s creation. It seemed so fragile to her that she asked how it could survive. She was told that everything that exists has its being through the love of God.
Perhaps because of this optimistic vision she received, Julian’s end-time view was radically different than most of the church in her day—not one of doom and destruction, but of mystical hope: "It appears to me that there is a deed that the Holy Trinity shall do on the last day…and how it shall be done is unknown to all creatures under Christ…This is the great deed ordained by our Lord God from eternity, treasured up and hidden in his blessed breast…and by this deed he shall make all things well.”
[poll id="160"]
151 comments on “Roch vs. Julian of Norwich”
In honor of Roch, a dog video…
Puppy barking at squeaky toy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1KG3RQC5Oo
thanks for the video, Kim. Made me smile. Go Roch (and Lady Julian too). Hard choice.
Julian ...for she saw our world for what it surely is...a small but well loved thing in God 's enormous universe.
I voted for Roch because he is the patron saint of dogs and I recently found a dog nurtured him back to life for two months but eventually had to put him down because no one would adopt him because he was a pit bull and he had heart worms not to mention all the shelter were full
In honor of Roch, another dog video. This one has twist at the end that is hilarious!
Two dogs eat ice cream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHvExOg4NI0
It's great! We used to take our little old dachshund for a ride to the ice cream store and order her a dish of non-fat vanilla.
I can't believe it!! Yet once again...how many days in a row is it now...I've voted for the one who lost; I must be the world's greatest champion of the underdog! With all due respect, and great respect, to Julian, that poor soul did seem to show symptoms of mental instability; who would want to be walled up in a cell?
roch, even though suffering, was right out there in the world, he and his faithful dog, interacting with others, exhibiting his scars...shapely legs or not...to give hope to others. Although he is sadly no longer in the running, I think he is awesome!
Don't you believe in miraculous comebacks? Good grief, not even Rubio has given up yet. Let's go Rocco!! Come, on West Coast dog lovers, you can do it for him!
This small brown nut of a man pictures himself in the hand of God, and trusts along with Julian that "all manner of thing will be well".
Let it be known, Julian is on my bracket for the Golden Halo so secretly I want her to win the day; but I voted for Roch because this is Day Seven of the Plague for me, personally, and half the office staff (there is talk of germ warfare being waged the healthy ones.) Gotta hang with the sickies. Misery loves company.
After Roch's initial victory, our Beagle, Duke, became seriously ill. My husband said he was praying to a St Rock. I referred him to the bracket poster (he isn't playing Madness). While Dukey left to chase rabbits in paradise, Roch helped ease our great, great sadness.
I am so sorry for your loss.
Maybe, but don't we also sorely need someone to touch us where we are plagued?
Indeedy we do.
I had to come back. I became so engrossed with the cats and dogs that I forgot to vote. I always enjoy the discussion, but the videos were terrific.
Roch--a wounded healer, visible scars. He was also a living witness that no curse uttered by a person, such as "A pox on you!," can overcome the love of God.
Hope and optimism win!
At the last moment, I went with Roch, despite knowing many wonderful things about Julian. It was the dogs that got me, as I feel like a patron saint of dogs sometimes myself. I'm on my 4th rescue dog, 2 of the others having lasted a short time. Having a dog is a really good thing, if sometimes trying.
I'll always go for the mystic over the martyr. Team Julian for me!
Dear Anna, I hope you and your family and dear dog heal quickly. Please feel the love to you from the lent madness community.... even from Australia!
Thank you! This made my day! We are getting there!
Julian's my Golden Halo pick too… and "all manner of thing shall be well"
I really love Julian because she stayed anchored at the church. while I would not like being in a cell with only three windows, I do stay anchored in the same place. I hope I can make a difference where I am.
Julian will probably win, so I am voting for Roch because dogs are wonderful judges of character. You can't fool a dog.
I have to vote for Roch today - its my husband's middle name (though being of Croatian descent he spells it Rok.) Any other time Julian gets my vote!
I have a wondeful pup missing, Wilhelmina. She was hit not long ago, but she was getting better and better even with a bad hip.
I had to vote for Roch again today.
He can ward off vampires!
But there is only one real Rock, and he wrestles with the Devil and always wins for us.
May Wilhemina be on the way back to you right now.
I voted for Roch because he's the underdog here, and because there's something about his life story that strikes me as both beautiful and profoundly sad. But I'll be happy to see Julian win. I've been fond of her ever since I first "met" her when I was a teenager, in the historical novel "Katherine" by Anya Seton. Julian plays a crucial role in the later part of the novel. Seton did her homework and took her portrayal of Julian's teachings and sunny personality straight from Julian's works.
I, too, first "met" Lady Julian in the historical novel "Katherine". I have read and reread it, and commend all of Seton's works because of her extensive research. I have learned so much from her writing.
While it may result in a contemplative life, I cannot see the benefit to humanity of locking oneself away. Roch gets my vote, though it is obvious that I, as usual, have chosen to back the wrong saint.
Not the wrong saint, just the saint that probably will not get the most votes. Roch is a right saint. So is Julian. Both for different reasons.
Julian gets my vote today. I like the nut analogy. The more I read Julian's words the more I would have loved to meet her.
I'm surprised by some of the negative comments about Julian's anchorite status. Folks know she was hardly the only person to do this, right? It was a legitimate form of religious life that combined the solitude of the traditional hermitic lifestyle with participation in a church community, as well as presenting a powerful symbol of dying to self and to the world. Like some of the Stylites of an earlier era, the anchorites dramatically withdrew from the world to devote themselves to prayer, but in a way that kept them available as sources of wisdom and counsel.
I voted for Julian, but I also want to share a little about St Roch. When I was on vacation in Paris some years ago, my very favorite church (and I went into a lot of them!) was dedicated to St Roch, just a few blocks from the Louvre. Its use of sacred art in the main sanctuary, the Lady Chapel behind it, and the Eucharistic chapel behind *that* was magnificent, because from the main sanctuary you could see artistic elements from the other two incorporated into what you were looking at. The Lady Chapel especially seemed more of a chapel to the Incarnation, with significantly larger than life sized sculptures of Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus in a manger, with a glorious Holy Spirit on the ceiling above. This church also featured a beautiful sculpture of the Baptism of the Lord, located right next to the baptismal font -- extra points for liturgical placement! 🙂
The sign outside the church that gave some history described Roch as the original "Doctor Without Borders", a memorable description. And in almost every single church I visited, there was some side chapel or some section of a wall where people had plaques mounted in memory or petition or thanksgiving (rather like putting in a personal ad to that purpose in a religious publication, I suppose); and a significant number of them said "Thank you St Roch." I was very impressed, as I'd never heard of this saint before! but clearly he had a devoted following in at least one place and time.
Another tough choice, as I am a dog person. But had to go with Julian because I so lover her writings. And also because I can often understand the impulse to hole up away from daily and mundane aggravation.
I vote for Julian since I live in the Willamette Valley where we grow "little round things" that include hazelnuts/filberts.
Julian. Someone who was so separate from the world yet so present in it, impacting us who live so many years later.
LMW and Daylight Savings Time? AAAAAAAAA! Saints preserve us!