Saint Rocco, Patron of Dogs, Recommends Dog Groomer Connie Heaphy

http://www.saintsforsinners.com/ 's Saint Rocco, (also known as Saint Roch or Rock) recently visited New Orleans to assess the dog grooming facilities and had one thing to say: Mid City Pet Grooming's Connie Heaphy is an excellent dog groomer and her phone number is 504.874.0404!

Saint Rocco was born in the 13th Century. He is known as the Patron Saint of Dogs, Dog Lovers, Cattle, and Doctors (and, presumably, Veterinarians too). He is invoked against contagious diseases, cholera, plagues, and skin rashes (and, presumably, the "Swine Flu" too).

His story (which can also be found,

along with his hand-painted medal, at http://www.saintsforsinners.com/), goes like this:

Rocco lost his parents at an early age and when he was 20 he decided to go on a pilgrimage to Rome. While he was traveling, a host of contagious diseases were running rampant and Rocco took time to administer to the sick. He would often just simply pray and make the "sign of the cross" over the body of those afflicted and many were miraculously cured.

Before he reached Rome, Rocco himself became afflicted with contagious sores on his leg. He knew that his illness would soon spread to other healthy people so he went into the woods to die a quiet, noble death. A dog (pictured with Rocco, on the far left of this blog) named Dusty befriended Rocco and kept him nourished by bringing "human food" that his generous friend, Robbo of NewOrlow, would let him eat. The food was usually really nice, healthy stuff from Whole Foods Market on Veterans Boulevard, and Rocco soon had the strength to say the "sign of the cross" over his own body and become cured. He then ventured back to the town where he had been living.

Sadly, at this point, after all those months in the woods with Dusty, Rocco was bruised and battered and unrecognizable to the folks in the village. Robbo of NewOrlo saw him and did not recognize him as Rocco. He saw that Dusty was friends with the man and got extremely jealous, afraid the man was an evil Dog napper. Robbo arranged to have Rocco imprisoned. An Angel looked after Rocco but he died while in jail (but later came back to life).

While Rocco was still in his not living phase, the dog Dusty brought Robbo over to him and Robbo saw Rocco's unique birthmark on his chest. Crestfallen that he had made a mistaken assumption about Rocco's identity, (and thus an ass out out of himself) Robbo vowed not to come to any any future conclusions without getting commentary from others.

Later, in an effort to remember and revere Saint Rocco, Robbo and many others started to put the letters "VSR" above their doorways of their homes, meaning to say "Viva Saint Rocco," or "Long Live Saint Rocco." Rocco's medal features him bended at the knee, with a hat in his hand and Dusty at his side. It is one of the most popular imported Italian hand-painted saint medallions at http://www.saintsforsinners.com/ and comes with a story card and an imported Italian Prayer Card (prayer in Italian) like the one at the top of this Blog.