Saint Roch
Saint Roch
Pilgrim
Born	c. 1348 (trad. 1295) Montpellier, France
Died	15/16 August 1376/79, Voghera, Italy (trad. 1327, Montpellier, France)
Honored in	The Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, Episcopal Churches, Aglipayan Church, the Third Order of St. Francis
Canonized	by popular fervour; added to the Roman Martyrology by Pope Gregory XIV (1590-1591)
Major shrine	Church of San Rocco, Venice, Italy
Feast	August 16 or August 17 by the Third Order of St. Francis
Attributes	Wound on thigh, dog offering bread
Patronage	Invoked against: cholera, epidemics, knee problems, plague, skin diseases. Patron Saint of: bachelors, diseased cattle, dogs, falsely accused people, invalids, Istanbul, surgeons, tile-makers,[1] gravediggers, second-hand dealers, pilgrims, apothecaries

Saint Roch or Rocco (Arabic: روكز‎; Albanian: Shën Rroku; German and Latin: Rochus; Occitan: Ròc; Catalan: Roc; Italian: Rocco; French: Roch; Maltese: Rokku; Polish: Roch; Spanish, Filipino and Portuguese: Roque; Slovak: Roch or Rochus; Slovene: Rok; Croatian: Rok or Roko; Hungarian: Rókus; Greek: Ρόκκος); lived c.1348 - 15/16 August 1376/79 (traditionally c.1295 – 16 August 1327^[2]) was a Christian saint, a confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August; he is specially invoked against the plague. He may also be called Rock in English, and has the dedication of St Rollox in Glasgow, Scotland, said to be a corruption of St Roch's Loch.^[3]

The cult of Saint Roch[link]

According to the research of the Belgian historian Pierre Bolle^[4] (2001), which today represents the most exhaustive work on ancient lives of the saint, Saint Roch is not properly a historical saint. The work of Bolle by using a rigorous historical methodology, has clarified which of the hagiographies were the most ancient, and which were instead simple reworkings and additions.

According to Pierre Bolle, Saint Roch is a hagiographical doublet of a more ancient saint, Saint Racho of Autun (died ca. 660). Invoked for protection against storms, the figure of Racho would be the basis of the name of this saint (Racho/Roche), and of the patronage of the saint who recovers from the plague, patronage that would have been generated through aphaeresis, i.e. the fall of the first syllable of the word, from the French name "tempeste" (storm): thus, from "Racho", invoked to protect from "tem-peste", to "Roche" protecting from "-peste" (plague), the step was short. It was supported by the theories of medieval medicine, that attributed the causes of illness to the corruption of air and to the consequent breaking of the equilibrium of humours inside the human body.

According to the veteran scholar André Vauchez, doyen of hagiographical studies, introducing the volume of essays resulting from a symposium on Roch in Padua, Italy, 2004, Bolle's doctoral thesis "devastates pretty much everything we thought we knew about St. Roch and his cult"^[5] Consequently the thesis of Bolle has completely revolutionized the studies on the saint, even if in the hagiographic field the existence of doublets and homonyms to the base of the creation of new saints is a well known procedure.

Veneration of Saint Roch is not so easily dismissed from the Internet, however. Gian Paolo Vico, of the Associazione San Rocco Italia,^[6] asserts that a prisoner of French origin held for five years died in Voghera, Italy the night between the 15 and 16 August, between 1376 and 1379, who according to some sources attained a certain fame for sanctity in Piacenza and Sarmato. According to Vico the 1391 calendar of Voghera^{[citation needed]} records a mid-summer festival in honor of Sancti Rochi (St. Roch of Montpellier, the 16th of August) and not Sancti Rochonis (St. Racho of Autun, the 25th of January), indicating the existence of two different saints.^[7] This information proves that a local cult and feast of St. Roch of Montpellier existed at least as early as 1391, starting in Voghera before Montpellier. We also have documentation of the body of St. Roch of Montpellier present in Voghera in 1469 and it being venerated since at least then; and of a feast in his honor being celebrated in 1483 in the presence of his remains. This information has led to the now common belief that St. Roch probably died in Voghera, Italy, instead of Montpellier, France.

Biography[link]

Saint Roch, Scilla, Calabria.

According to his Acta and his vita in Legenda Aurea, he was born at Montpellier, at that time "upon the border of France" as Legenda Aurea has it,^[8] the son of the noble governor of that city. Even his birth was accounted a miracle, for his noble mother had been barren until she prayed to the Virgin Mary. Miraculously marked from birth with a red cross on his breast that grew as he did, he early began to manifest strict asceticism and great devoutness; on days when his "devout mother fasted twice in the week, and the blessed child Rocke abstained him twice also, when his mother fasted in the week, and would suck his mother but once that day".^[9]

On the death of his parents in his twentieth year he distributed all his worldly goods among the poor like Francis of Assisi— though his father on his deathbed had ordained him governor of Montpellier— and set out as a mendicant pilgrim for Rome.^[10] Coming into Italy during an epidemic of plague, he was very diligent in tending the sick in the public hospitals at Acquapendente, Cesena, Rimini, Novara^[11] and Rome, and is said to have effected many miraculous cures by prayer and the sign of the cross and the touch of his hand. At Rome, according to Legenda Aurea he preserved the "cardinal of Angleria in Lombardy"^[12] by making the mark of the cross on his forehead, which miraculously remained. Ministering at Piacenza he himself finally fell ill. He was expelled from the town; and withdrew into the forest, where he made himself a hut of boughs and leaves, which was miraculously supplied with water by a spring that arose in the place; he would have perished had not a dog belonging to a nobleman named Gothard Palastrelli supplied him with bread and licked his wounds, healing them. Count Gothard, following his hunting dog that carried the bread, discovered Saint Roch and became his acolyte.

On his return incognito to Montpellier he was arrested as a spy (by orders of his own uncle) and thrown into prison, where he languished five years and died on 16 August 1327, without revealing his name, to avoid worldly glory. (Evidence suggests, as mentioned earlier, that the previous events occurred, instead at Voghera in 1370s.) After his death, according to Legenda Aurea,

"anon an angel brought from heaven a table divinely written with letters of gold into the prison, which he laid under the head of S. Rocke. And in that table was written that God had granted to him his prayer, that is to wit, that who that calleth meekly to S. Rocke he shall not be hurt with any hurt of pestilence."

The townspeople recognized him as well by his birthmark;^[13] he was soon canonized in the popular mind,^[14] and a great church erected in veneration.

The date (1327) asserted by Francesco Diedo for Saint Roch's death would precede the traumatic advent of the Black Death in Europe (1347–49) after long centuries of absence, for which a rich iconography of the plague, its victims and its protective saints was soon developed, in which the iconography of Roche finds its historical place: previously the topos did not exist.^[15] In contrast, however, St. Roch of Montpellier cannot be dismissed based on dates of a specific plague event. In medieval times, the term "plague" was used to indicate a whole array of illnesses and epidemics.

The first literary account is an undated Acta that is labeled, by comparison with the longer, elaborated accounts that were to follow, Acta Breviora, which relies almost entirely on standardized hagiographic topoi to celebrate and promote the cult of Roch^[16]

The story that when the Council of Constance was threatened with plague in 1414, public processions and prayers for the intercession of Roch were ordered, and the outbreak ceased, is provided by Francesco Diedo, the Venetian governor of Brescia, in his Vita Sancti Rochi, 1478. The cult of Roch gained momentum during the bubonic plague that passed through northern Italy in 1477-79.^[17]

Statue of St Roch in Bílá Hora, Prague (1751)

His popular cult, originally in central and northern Italy and at Montpellier, spread through Spain, France, Lebanon, the Low Countries, and Germany, where he was often interpolated into the roster of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, whose veneration spread in the wake of the Black Death. The magnificent 16th-century Scuola Grande di San Rocco and the adjacent church of San Rocco were dedicated to him by a confraternity at Venice, where his body was said to have been surreptitiously translated and was triumphantly inaugurated in 1485;^[18] the Scuola Grande is famous for its sequence of paintings by Tintoretto, who painted St Roch in glory in a ceiling canvas (1564).

We know for certain that the body of St. Roch was carried from Voghera, instead of Montpellier as previously thought, to Venice in 1485. Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503) built a church and a hospital in his honor. Pope Paul III (1534–1549) instituted a confraternity of St. Roch. This was raised to an arch-confraternity in 1556 by Pope Paul IV; it still thrives today.^[19] Saint Roch had not been officially recognized as yet, however. In 1590 the Venetian ambassador at Rome reported back to the Serenissima that he had been repeatedly urged to present the witnesses and documentation of the life and miracles of San Rocco, already deeply entrenched in the Venetian life, because Pope Sixtus V "is strong in his opinion either to canonize him or else to remove him from the ranks of the saints"; the ambassador had warned a cardinal of the general scandal that would result if the widely-venerated San Rocco were impugned as an impostor. Sixtus did not pursue the matter but left it to later popes to proceed with the canonization process.^[20] His successor, Pope Gregory XIV (1590–1591), added St. Roch of Montpellier, who had already been memorialized in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for two centuries, to the Roman Catholic Church Martyrology, thereby fixing August 16 as his universal feast day.^[7]

Numerous brotherhoods have been instituted in his honor. He is usually represented in the garb of a pilgrim, often lifting his tunic to demonstrate the plague sore in his thigh, and accompanied by a dog carrying a loaf in its mouth. The Third Order of St. Francis, by tradition, honors him as a member of the Order, and still includes his feast on its liturgical calendar, observing it on August 17.

Saint Roch joined Saint Gerald (San Gerardo) as a patron saint of the city of Potenza, Italy.

Saint Roch churches[link]

22:13, 29 May 2012 (UTC)===Europe===

• Kościółek Świętego Rocha w Dobrzeń Wielki, Poland

Burial place of Saint Roch, Church of San Rocco in Venice, Italy

Saint-Roch, Paris, designed by Lemercier, begun 1653: pen-and-ink drawing by Charles Norry, 1787

• San Roque (Cádiz), town in Andalucia, Spain, named after Saint Roch
• Église Saint-Roch, Paris, Rue St.-Honoré: the largest Late Baroque church in Paris
• St. Roch's Church in Glasgow, Scotland
• Church of Saint Roch, attached to the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice, Italy
• Eglise (Paroisse-Sanctuaire) de St. Roch in Montpellier, France
• Church of Saint Roch, Žižkov, Prague, Czech Republic
• St. Rochus Chapel in Bingen am Rhein, Germany
• Kaplnka sv. Rocha Vrbové, Slovakia
• L'Oratorio di San Rocco in Gribbio, Ticino, Switzerland.
• Chapelle de Saint-Roch at la Ville Morvan near Corlay, France
• Chiesa di San Rocco in Casignana, Italy
• Chiesa di San Rocco in Cles, Italy
• Chiesa di San Rocco in Girifalco, Italy
• Chiesa di San Rocco in Gravagna (Pontremoli) Italy
• Chiesa di San Rocco in Miasino (Novara), Italy
• Chiesa di San Rocco in Molinara, Italy
• Chiesa di San Rocco in Montescaglioso, Italy
• Chiesa di San Rocco in Salandra, Italy
• Chiesa di San Rocco in Scilla, Italy
• Kappella ta' San Rokku in Attard, Malta
• Santuario di San Rocco in Butera, Italy
• Igreja de São Roque in Lisbon, Portugal
• St. Roch Church in Białystok, Poland
• San Rocco, church in Rome
• Sveti Rok, church in Brežice, Slovenia
• Shën Rroku, church in Shirokë, Albania
• Sveti Roko, church (not in use) Dubrovnik, Croatia
• San Rocco in Sora, (FR), Italy
• Chapelle Saint Roch in Eprave (Rochefort) Belgique
• Sint-Rochus Kerk in Aarschot, Belgium
• Sint-Rochus Kerk in Halle, Belgium
• Rochuskirche in the Düsseldorf-Pempelfort district of Düsseldorf de:Rochuskirche (Düsseldorf)
• Rochuskirche in the Landstraße district of Vienna de:Rochuskirche (Wien)
• St. Roch Church in Minsk, Belarus
• Chiesa di San Rocco, Venice, Italy
• Chiesa di San Rocco (Καθολικός Ναός του Αγίου Ρόκκου) in Hania, Crete, Greece ^[21]
• Church of the Saint Rocco Donja Lastva, Tivat, Montenegro
• Szent Rókus templom in Csongrád, Hungary
• Kościół św. Rocha w Poznaniu Poznan Poland

Chiesa di San Rocco and Patron Saint of Quaglietta (Avellino), Italy

Oratorio di San Rocco in San Colombano al Lambro(Milano) Italy

Levant[link]

• Saint Roch Church in Rayfoun, Lebanon
• Monastery of Saint Roch, Dekwaneh, Lebanon
• Monastery of Saint Roch, Riyak, Bekaa, Lebanon

North America[link]

• St. Roch's Catholic Church Toronto, Ontario
• St. Roch Church in St. Louis, Missouri
• St. Roch's Church in Staten Island, New York
• St. Rocco's Church in Johnston, Rhode Island
• St. Rocco's Church in Dunmore, Pennsylvania
• St. Rocco's Church in Glen Cove, New York
• St. Roch Church in Indianapolis, Indiana
• St. Roch Church in Mentz, Texas
• St Roch Church In Flat Rock, Michigan
• San Rocco Oratory in Chicago Heights, Illinois
• St. Rocco's Church in Cleveland, Ohio
• St Roch Church, Oxford, Massachusetts
• San Roque Church in Santa Barbara, California
• St Roch Church, Quebec City, Canada
• Campo Santo and St. Roch Chapel in New Orleans, Louisiana
• St. Rocco's Church in Pittston, Pennsylvania
• St. Roch Church in the Chickahominy section of Greenwich, Connecticut.
• St. Rochus Croatian Catholic Church in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (closed July 22, 2009)
• St. Rocco's RC Church Brooklyn, New York
• St. Rocco's Church Martins Creek, Pennsylvania

South America[link]

• Iglesia de San Roque in Tarija, Bolivia
• Igreja de São Roque em São Roque (Sao Roque Town), Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo State) Brazil
• Iglesia de San Roque en San Francisco de la Montaña, Panamá
• Parroquia de San Roque, en Paranà, Provincia de Entre Rìos, Argentina

Asia–Pacific[link]

• St. Rocky Church,Kovilakathumkadavu, Palliport,Vypin, Kerala, India
• St. Rocky Church, Pootharakkal, Thrissur, Kerala, India and ST ROCKY GROTTO Pootharakkal,Trissur 680561,S.India. Feast of St. ROCKY is on MAY second Saturday and Sunday. Remembrance Day and spiritual celebration is on August 15.

• San Roque Parish, Bagumbayan, Quezon City, Philippines
• San Roque Roman Catholic Parish, Sulop, Davao del Sur, Philippines
• San Roque Church, San Roque, San Pablo City, Laguna, Philippines
• San Roque Chapel, Bongoran, Oas, Albay, Philippines
• Saint Roch Catholic Church in Kahuku, Hawaii
• St. Roch's Church in Hanmer Springs, Canterbury, New Zealand
• St. Roch's Church in Glen Iris, Melbourne, Australia
• San Roque Church in JP Rizal St., San Roque, Marikina City, Philippines
• San Roque Parish Church of Navotas Metro Manila, Philippines
• San Roque Cathedral, Roman Catholic Diocese of Caloocan, Metro Manila, Philippines
• San Roque Parish, Mandaluyong City [1], Metro Manila, Philippines
• San Roque Parish Church Cavite City Philippines
• San Roque de Manila Parish in Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz, Manila, Philippines
• San Roque Parish Church, Bagumbayan, Quezon City, Philippines
• St. Roch Parish, Baluarte, Gapan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
• Gumayu'us San Roque in San Roque village, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands
• St. Roch's Church in Seethapal, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, India
• St. Roch's Church in Puthukudyiruppu, Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, India
• St. Roch's Church in Veepu Vilai, Puthukkadai, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India
• St. Roque's Chapel, Bandora, Ponda, Goa, India
• St. Roch Church in Nadu Aarupuzhi, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
• St. Roch Chapel (St. Rocky), Muringoor (Mandikkunne), Chalakudy, Thirssur, Kerala, India
• San Roque GKK Dist. 1 Chapel, Tupaz St., Matina Crossing, Davao City, Philippines
• San Roque Parish Ilasan, Tayabas City, Philippines
• San Roque de Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines
• St. Rochs grotto at Assumption Church, Cheriyathura, Trivandrum, India
  St. Rochs Association celebrates the feast on the second Sunday of December.
• San Roque Chapel, Mabolo Valenzuela City, Philippines
• San Roque Chapel, Mambog, Malolos City, Bulacan, Philippines
• Saint Roch Catholic Church, ThaKhai, Thailand
• St. Roch Church in Arockiapuram, Neyyoor, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India
• San Roque de Montpellier Parish, Poblacion, Asturias, Cebu (Philippines)
• San Roque Parish, Brgy. San Roque, Tarlac City, Philippines
• San Roque Iglesia Filipina Independiente Cathedral, San Felipe, Zambales, Philippines
• San Roque Catholic Church, San Felipe, Zambales, Philippines
• San Roque Parish Catholic Church, Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija, Philippines

Other things named after St Roch[link]

• Hermandad de San Roque (Sevilla), Andalusian brotherhood of the Holy Week, which makes its season of penitence every Palm Sunday in Seville, Spain.
• Gare de Montpellier Saint-Roch, the main train station for the city of Montpellier
• Hai Mar Rochus, a neighborhood at an elevation of 933 m above sea level^[22] in Baskinta, Mount Lebanon, Lebanon.
• Mar Rochus, a hilly, middle-class neighborhood in Dekwaneh, east of Beirut, Lebanon.
• São Roque (disambiguation), a list of Portuguese towns named after Saint Roch
• St. Roch Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the 8th Ward neighborhood named for it.
• Sveti Rok Tunnel (Croatian Tunel Sveti Rok) in Lika, Croatia on the A1 Motorway
• [2] Chemin St-Roch (Road) in the city of Terrebonne, province of Quebec, Canada
• [3] Chemin St-Roch (Road) in the city of Saint-Paul de Vence, province of Alpes-Maritimes, France
• [4] Chemin St-Roch (Road) in the city of Hamme Mille near Beauvechain, province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium
• [5] Chemin Saint Roch (Road) in the city of Beaumont, province of Hainaut, Belgium
• RCMPV St. Roch, Canadian RCMP Arctic survey schooner built in 1928
• St Roch bridge, a road bridge over the Warta river in Poznań, Poland, leading to the district of St Roch and the church Kościół św. Rocha.
• Saint Roche's Hill, in West Sussex, England. Also known as The Trundle
• Roque Bluffs, Maine

Popular culture[link]

• A popular Spanish tongue twister is El perro de san Roque no tiene rabo porque Ramón Ramírez se lo ha robado ("Saint Roch's dog has no tail because Ramón Ramírez stole it").
• In Bolivia, Saint Roch's day, though not as celebrated as it once was, is considered the "birthday of all dogs", in which the dogs around town can be seen with colorful ribbons tied to them.
• The main train station of Montpellier, France is named after St. Roch, as well as a church, a hospital and many squares and streets.
• In Bingen, Germany there is a St. Rochus pilgrimage church on top of a hill. Every year in August a one week pilgrimage — the "St. Rochusfest" — is held in memory of a 17th century vow of the city council.
• Some churches that are named after the saint distribute, as a pietistic practice, the "bread of Saint Rocco" to parishioners on August 16, his feast day.
• Saint Rocco's procession is featured in the movie The Godfather Part II. In the procession, the St. Rocco Society of Potenza, Inc., which still exists after its commencement in 1889, carries the Italian-made (original) statue in a similar manner that a replica statue is carried today. The original statue, also from 1889, can be viewed in St. Joseph's Church in New York City.
• According to Montague Summers' The Vampire in Europe, St. Roch was prayed to in Poland to ward off vampire attacks.
• The initials VSR (Viva San Rocco or Long Live St. Rocco) can still be found above doorways in Europe: This was engraved as a plea to ward off the plague.
• In Batman: Arkham City, Calendar Man commits a crime on the Feast Day of St. Roch (August 16). He notes that it is an obscure holiday but says "I couldn't imagine a better way to celebrate the dog days of summer."

Notes[link]

References[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Acta sanctorum, August, iii.
• Charles Cahier, Les Characteristiques des saints, Paris, 1867

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saint Roch

• "St. Roch". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13100c.htm.htm. 
• Medieval Sourcebook: The Golden Legend, book V: Saint Rocke, William Caxton, translator
• Patron Saints: Saint Roch
• "St. Roch, Confessor", Butler's Lives of the Saints

Joseph Armand Roch Voisine, OC better known as Roch Voisine, (born 26 March 1963 in Edmundston, New Brunswick) is a Canadian Acadian singer-songwriter, actor, and radio and television host who lives in Montreal, Quebec and Paris, France. He writes and performs material in both English and French. He won the Juno Award for Male Vocalist of the Year in 1994. In 1997 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Childhood and family[link]

Roch Voisine was born in Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada but grew up in Saint-Basile, New Brunswick. His parents are Réal Voisine, former mayor of Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Quebec and a former English teacher, and Zélande Robichaud, a former nurse. He is the oldest of three children: his brother, Marc, was born in 1965, and his sister, Janice, was born in 1966. Roch lived with his paternal grandparents, Maurille and Dorina Racine Voisine, from age four, when his parents divorced, until he was eight, when he went to live with his father. Roch considers these grandparents very influential on him, even as an adult. Roch moved to Notre-Dame-du-Lac when he was 12.

He aspired to be a professional ice hockey player until he was severely injured playing baseball in 1981.

He attended the University of Ottawa and graduated in 1985 with a degree in physical therapy.

Voisine married Myriam Saint-Jean on 21 December 2002. Voisine and Saint-Jean have two sons, Killian (born 25 June 2004) and Alix-Élouan (born 9 January 2006). On 15 October 2007, Voisine's website announced his and Myriam's separation.

Music[link]

In the summer of 1986, he had his music debut when he sang on Canada Day (1 July) in front of 50,000 people at the la Ronde amusement park in Montreal.

Voisine's musical breakthrough came with his 1989 album Hélène which sold three million copies and became a major hit not only in Quebec but also in France, Belgium and Switzerland. In 1990, Hélène was awarded the Best Album prize at the Victoires de la Musique.

After a highly successful European Tour in 1991, he was awarded France's Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His second European tour culminated on 17 April 1992 at Champ-de-Mars in Paris where he sang in front of 75,000 people. The show was broadcast live on TF1 and reached 14 million viewers. The following years, his statue was inaugurated at Musée Grévin in Paris.

In 1993, Voisine had his biggest English-language hit to date with the single and album both entitled I'll Always Be There, on which he worked with David Foster. The single reached number four on the Canadian music charts while the album reached number seven.

Over the years, he has continued alternating between recording both French and English-language albums. His French language work and concert tours have continued to enjoy success in Europe (especially France) and Quebec, while his English-language recordings are a frequent mainstay of Canadian adult contemporary radio. He also enjoys huge success internationally.

In 2006, he took part alongside other musicians^[1] in L’Or de nos vies in a formation named Fight Aids singing a song composed by Kyo. Revenues went to Fight Aids Monaco.

Université de Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada gave him an honorary doctorate in music in May 2007.

Television[link]

Voisine's first television appearance was hosting Top Jeunesse (1988), a TQS variety show for teenagers.

His dramatic roles include:

• Dany Ross in the CBC Television series Lance et Compte (He Shoots, He Scores) (1989)
• Police detective Tom Bullik in the Canadian TV movie Armen and Bullik (1992).

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• ^AAlbums with separate Canadian and European editions.

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Roch Voisine at the Internet Movie Database
• Roch Voisine's archives

Jean Rochefort
Born	(1930-04-29) 29 April 1930 (age 82) Paris, France
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1956 - present

Jean Rochefort (born 29 April 1930) is a French actor, with a career that has spanned over five decades.

Rochefort was born in Paris, France.^[1] He was educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen^[2] He was 19 years old when he entered the Centre d'Art Dramatique de la rue Blanche. Later he joined the Conservatoire National. After his national service, in 1953, he worked with the Compagnie Grenier Hussenot as a theatre actor for seven years. There he was noticed for his ability to play both drama and comedy. He then became a television and cinema actor. He has also worked as director.

In his 30s during the shooting of Cartouche, he discovered his passion for horses and equestrianism. He has been a horse breeder since then and now owns Le Haras de Villequoy. His passion led him to become a horse consultant for French television in 2004. He has won two César Awards: In 1976, Best Supporting Actor for Que la fête commence; and in 1978, Best Actor for Le Crabe-tambour.

He was to play the title character in The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, after being found as "the perfect Quixote" by director Terry Gilliam. Rochefort learned English just for the part. Unfortunately, amongst other production problems, he began suffering from a herniated disc. Unable to film for months, production was cancelled. A documentary, Lost in La Mancha, was made about the failed production. With recent news of the film's possible restart, Rochefort has been recast with Robert Duvall, due to his inability to ride a horse.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007, he sang a short verse with the French band Dionysos in "l'homme sans trucage": « Vas-y, saute, monte, grimpe à ton cœur, sauve-toi, n'aie pas peur, ouvre grand, mon petit, il est temps d'avaler une énorme bouffée d'air frais, andalucia, anda, anda, andalucia... » ("Go ahead, jump, climbs to your heart, save yourself, don't be afraid, open wide, my boy, it's time to swallow a huge breath of fresh air, andalucia, anda, anda, andaluci...")^{[citation needed]}

Family[link]

In 1960 he married Alexandra Moscwa, with whom he fathered two children: a girl, Marie (1962), and a boy, Julien (1965).

Filmography[link]

French title / English title when available (year):

• Rencontre à Paris / Meeting in Paris (1942)
• Une balle dans le canon / A Bullet in the Gun Barrel (1958)
• Vingt mille lieues sur la terre / 20,000 Leagues Across the Land (1961)
• Capitaine Fracasse (1961)
• Cartouche / Swords of Blood (1962)
• Climats / Climates of Love (1962)
• Le Soleil dans l'oeil / Sun in Your Eyes (1962)
• Le Masque de fer / The Iron Mask (1962)
• Fort-du-fou / Outpost in Indo-china (1963)
• Symphonie pour un massacre / Symphony for a Massacre (1963)
• La Porteuse de pain / The Bread Peddler (1963)
• La Foire aux cancres / The Blockhead Fair (1963)
• Du grabuge chez les veuves / Trouble Among Widows (1964)
• Les Pieds nickelés (1964)
• Angélique (1964)
• Trouble Among Widows (1964)
• Merveilleuse Angélique / Angelique: The Road to Versailles (1965)
• Les Tribulations d'un chinois en Chine / Chinese Adventures in China (1965)
• Angélique et le roy / Angelique and the King (1966)
• Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? / Who Are You, Polly Magoo? (1966)
• Le Facteur s'en va-t-en guerre / The Postman Goes to War (1966)
• À coeur joie / Two Weeks in September (1967)
• Ne jouez pas avec les Martiens / Don't Play with Martians (1967)
• Le Diable par la queue / The Devil by the Tail (1969)
• Le Temps de mourir / The Time to Die (1970)
• La Liberté en croupe (1970)
• Céleste (1970)
• Le Grand blond avec une chaussure noire / The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1972)
• L'Oeuf / The Egg (1972)
• Hearth Fires (Les Feux de la chandeleur) (1972)
• L'Héritier / The Inheritor (1973)
• Bel ordure / Lovely Swine (1973)
• Le Complot / The Conspiracy (1973)
• Salut l'artiste / Hail The Artist (1973)
• L'Homme aux nerfs d'acier / Escape from Death Row (1973)
• L'Horloger de Saint-Paul / The Clockmaker of St. Paul (1974)
• Comment réussir quand on est con et pleurnichard / How to Make Good When One Is a Jerk and a Crybaby (1974)
• Le fantôme de la liberté / The Phantom of Liberty (1974)
• Retour du grand blond / The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1974)
• Que la fête commence... / Let Joy Reign Supreme (1974)
• Les innocents aux mains sales aka Innocents with Dirty Hands (1975)
• Un divorce heureux / A Happy Divorce (1975)
• Isabelle devant le désir / Isabelle and Lust (1975)
• Les vécés étaient fermés de l'interieur (1976) by Patrice Leconte
• Calmos / Cool, Calm and Collected (1976)
• Les Magiciens / Death Rite (1976)
• Un éléphant ça trompe énormément / An Elephant Can Be Extremely Deceptive (1976)
• Nous irons tous au paradis / We Will All Meet in Paradise (1977)
• Le Crabe-tambour / Drummer-Crab (1977)
• Le Diable dans la boîte / The Devil in the Box (1977)
• La Grande Cuisine / Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978)
• Le Cavaleur / Practice Makes Perfect (1979)
• Grandison (1979)
• Courage fuyons / Courage - Let's Run (1979)
• French Postcards (1979)
• Chère inconnue (1980)
• Je hais les blondes / I Hate Blondes (1980)
• Un étrange voyage (1981)
• Il faut tuer Birgit Haas / Birgit Haas Must Be Killed (1981)
• L'Indiscrétion (1982)
• Le Grand frère / The Big Brother (1982)
• L'Honneur d'un capitaine / A Captain's Honor (1982)
• Un dimanche de flic / A Cops' Sunday (1983)
• L'Ami de Vincent / A Friend of Vincent (1983)
• Frankenstein 90 (1984)
• Réveillon chez Bob (1984)
• David, Thomas et les autres / A Volley for a Black Buffalo (1985)
• La Galette du roi (1986)
• Tandem (1987) by Patrice Leconte
• Le Moustachu / The Field Agent (1987)
• Je suis le seigneur du château / I'm the King of the Castle (1989)
• The Hairdresser's Husband (1990) by Patrice Leconte
• Le Château de ma mère / My Mother's Castle (1990)
• Amoureux fou / Madly in Love (1991)
• Le Bal des casse-pieds (1992)
• Le Visionarium / The Timekeeper (1992)
• L'Atlantide (1992)
• Tango (1993) by Patrice Leconte
• Cible émouvante / Wild Target (1993)
• Tombés du ciel / Lost in Transit (1993)
• Et ensuite, le feu / Next Time the Fire (1994)
• Ready to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter) (1994)
• Tom est tout seul (1995)
• Même heure, l'année prochaine / Once a Year, Every Year (1995)
• Palace (1996)
• Les Grands ducs (1996) by Patrice Leconte
• Ridicule (1996) by Patrice Leconte
• Never Ever (1996)
• Barracuda (1997)
• Le Serpent a mangé la grenouille (1998)
• Le Vent en emporte autant / Wind with the Gone (1998)
• Rembrandt (1999)
• Le Placard (2001)
• Honolulu Baby (2001)
• La Vie sans secret de Walter Nions (2001)
• L'homme du train (The Man on the Train) (aka Man on the Train in the US) (2002) by Patrice Leconte
• Blanche (2002)
• Lost in La Mancha (2002)
• Fanfan la tulipe (2003)
• Il était une fois Jean-Sébastien Bach (2003)
• Les Clefs de bagnole / The Car Keys (2003)
• RRRrrrr!!! (2004)
• Les Dalton / The Daltons (2004)
• Désaccord parfait (2006)
• Tell No One - (2006)
• Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)
• id - Identity of the Soul (2008)
• Agathe Cléry (2008)