CHURCH OF ST. ROCH
In the mid-1300s, when Europe was ravaged by the plague, the people of Grumo, oppressed by grief and fear, entrusted the town to a new patron saint. The bells did not toll and in the alleys the silence was interrupted only by lamentations. In a few short years, the population of Europe had been reduced by a third. In this emptiness, the name of St. Roch was a breath of hope. St. Roch was a saint dear to the Angevins, sovereigns of Puglia, who spread his cult as patron saint of plague victims and defender of the humble. The legend of his life speaks of a young man born in Montpellier in the south of France at the beginning of the 1300s. Roch was from a wealthy and noble family and at the age of thirty, when his parents died, he donated all his wealth to the poor. He then set off for plague-infested Italy to assist the sick. When he also became ill he isolated himself so as not to infect others. On surviving the illness, he returned to France but found it devastated by ferocious struggles and was arrested after being mistaken for a spy. He died in prison but his fame was already strong thanks to his charitable work and having survived the plague. He became one of the most well-loved saints in rural Italy, invoked against epidemics. Under the Tolomei rule in Grumo, a simple stone chapel was dedicated to him, opposite the feudal castle, where Palazzo Scippa stands today.
Old documents show that in 1478 the church was active and dear to the townspeople. In the 18th century however, the building fell into disrepair and it was necessary to build a new church in honour of the saint. Work began in 1798 and was completed in 1898 with the addition of the bell tower. The sculptor Riccardo Brudaglio created a wooden statue of the saint for the church. Inside this new church, frescoes by the painter Umberto Colonna from Bari were added in 1958, depicting St. Roch the pilgrim and the Madonna di La Salette, accompanied by statues of St. Michael Archangel and St. Louis. A confraternity has tended the church for more than three centuries, providing restoration and maintenance work. Today, Grumo Appulo’s beloved patron St. Roch still watches over the town. Every year on the last Sunday of September, the town is lit up for the Saint’s festival: an ancient bond, born in the dark days of the plague but rekindling hope in the hearts of those who never stopped believing.