Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/130

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ROCAMADOUR


100


ROCH


ficia" (21 vols., Rome, 1697-99). In this monu- mental work the author collected and published in alphabetical order, and in their entirety, all the impor- tant works dealing with the primacy of the Holy See from an orthodox point of view, beginning with Abra^ ham Bzovius and ending with Zacharias Boverius. An excellent summiu-y is given in Hurter's "Nomenclator".

QuETir-EcHARD, Script, ord. Prnd., II (Paris, 1721). 630, 827; TocRON, Hist, des horn. ill. de I'ordre Dom., V (Pans, 1748), 714-26; HrRTER, Somendator, II; Annee Dominicaine, XII, 785. H. J. SCHROEDER.

Rocamadour, communal chief town of the canton of Gramat, district of Gourdon. Department of Lot, in the Diocese of Cahors and the ancient province of Quercy. This \-illage by the wonderful beauty of its situation merits the attention of artists and excites the curiosity of archaeologists; but its reputation is due especially to its celebrated sanctuarj- of the BlessedVirgin which for centuries has at- tracted pilgrims from every count rj', among them kings, bishops, and nobles.

A curious legend purport- ing to explain the origin of this pilgrimage has given rise to controversies between criti- cal and traditional schools, especially in recent times. Ac- cording to the latter, Rocama- dour is indebted for its name to the founder of the ancient sanctuary, St. Amadour, who was none other than Zacheus of the Gospel, husband of St. Veronica, who wiped the Sa\nour's face on the way to Calvar>'. Driven forth from Palestine by persecution, Amadour and Veronica em- barked in a frail skiff and, guided by an angel, landed on the coast of Aquitaine, where they met Bishop St. Martial, another disciple of Christ who was preaching the Gospel in the south-west of Gaul. After journeying to Rome, where he witnessed the

martyrdoms of Sts. Peter and Saint

Paul, Arnafiour, having re- G- Martinetti, Church of turned to P>ance, on the death of his spouse, withdrew to a wild spot in Quercy where he built a chapel in hon- our of the Blfsscd Virgin, near which he died a little later. Thismarvf'IlouHaccount,likemostother similar Icgenrls, unfortunately does not make its first appear- ance till long after the agf; in which the chief actors are deemefl to have lived. The name of .4madour occurs in no df)cument previous to the compilation of his Acts, which on careful examination and on an application of the rules of the curHim to the text cannot be judged older than the twelfth century. It is now well es- tabliHhed that St. Martial, Amaflour's contemporary in the legend, lived in the third not the first century, and Rome hiw never included him among the members of the ArK>Kt/>lic Oillege. The mention, therefore, of St. Martial in the Acts of St. Ama<lour wo)ilrl alone suffice, even if other proof were wanting, to prove them a forgery. The untrustworthiness of the legend ha,s Iwl wm\o. recent authors to suggest that Amadour wafl an unknown hermit or possibly St. Arnator, Bishop of Auxr-rre, but this is mere hypothesis, with- out any hist/jrical briKJH. Although the origin f)f th<! sanctuary of R^K-arna^iour, lost in antimiity, is thus first w;t down along with fabulous tnwlitions whif:h cannot bear the light f.f sound criticism, yet it is undoubted that this sprit, hallf)wefl by the prayers of innumerable multitudes of pilgrims, is worthy of our


veneration. After the religious manifestations of the Middle Ages, Rocamadour, as a result of war and revolution, had become almost deserted. Re- cently, owing to the zeal and activity of the bishops of Cahors, it seems to have revived and pilgrims are beginning to crowd there again.

De Gissey, Hist, et miracles de N. D. de Roc-Amadour au pays de Quercy (Tulle, 1666); Caillau, Hist. cril. el relig. de N. D. de Roc-Amadour (Paris, 1834); Idem, Le Jour de Marie ou le guide du pklerin de Roc-Amadour (Paris, 1836); Servois, Notice et extraits du recueil des miracles de Roc-Amadour (Paris, 1856); LiEUTAUD, La Vida de S. Amadour, texte provenQal du XIV' s. (Cahors, 1876); BouRRifcREs, Saint Amadour et Sainle Vironique, disciples de Notre Seigneur et apdtres des Gaules (Paris, 1895); Enard, Lettre pastorale sur I'hist. de Roc-Amadour . . . (Cahors, 1899); Rdpin, Roc-Amadour, Stude hist, et archiol. (Paris, 1904), an excellent work containing the definitive history of Roc-Amadour; Albe, Les miracles de N. D. de Roc-Amadour au XII' s., texte el traduction des manuscrits de la Bibliothique nationale (Paris, 1907). corroborating the work of Rupin.

L^ON Clugnet.

Rocca, Angelo, founder of the Angelica Library at Rome, b. at Rocca, now Arecevia, near Ancona, 1545; d. at Rome, 8 April, 1620. He was received at the age of seven into the Augustinian monas- tery at Camerino (hence also called Camcrs, Camerinus), studied at Perugia, Rome, Venice, and in 1577 graduated as doctor in theology from Padua. He became secretary to the superior-general of the Augustinians in 1579, was placed at the head of the Vati- can printing-office in 1585, and entrusted with the superin- tendence of the projected edi- tions of the Bible and the writ- ings of the Fathers. In 1595 he was appointed sacristan in the papal cluipel, and in 1605 became titular Bishop of Ta- gaste in Numidia. The pub- lic library of the Augustinians at Rome, formally established 23 October, 1614, perpetuates his name. It is mainly to his efforts that we owe the edition RocH of the Vulgate published dur-

the Saviour, Jerusalem ing the pontificate of Clem- ent VIII. He also edited the works of Egidio Colonna (Venice, 1581), of Augustinus Triumphus (Rome, 1.582), and wrote: " Bibliotheca; theological et scripturalis epitome" (Rome, 1594); "De Sacro- sancto Christi corpore romanis pontificibus iter conficientibus pra>ferendo comment arius" (Rome, 1599); "De canonizatione sanctorum commentarius" (Rome, 1601); "Do campanis" (Rome, 1612). An incomplete collection of his works was published in 1719 and 1745 at Rome: "Thesaurus pontificiarum sacrarumque antiquitatum necnon rituum praxium et caeremoniarium".

Obsinoer. liibl. August (Ingolstadt, 1768), 754-64; Chalmers, Gen. Biog. Did., s. v.

N. A. Weber.

Roch, Saint, b. at Montpellier towards 1295; d. 1.327. His father was governor of that city. At his birth St . Roch is said to have been found mir.aculously markcfl on the breast with a red cross. Deprived of his parents wh(!n about twenty years old, he dis- tributed his fortune among the poor, handed over to his uncle the government of Montpellier, and in the disguise of a mendicant pilgrim, set out for Italy, but stoi)j)ed at Arjua[)('nclente, which was stricken by the j)lagiie, and (levf)ted liimself to the plague-.stricken, curing them with the sign of the cro.ss. \\t\ next visited Ccscna and other neighbouring cities and then