Limbs, teeth and feet isn’t the first thing one would except upon walking into a chapel.
But for the people in St Roch, New Orleans, seeing prosthetic legs, plaster feet, false teeth and a few pairs of artificial eyeballs has come to represent healing and good health.
In 1867, St Roch Chapel was dedicated to St Roch who is said to have cared for and cured plague victims in Italy.
Prosthetic legs, plaster feet, false teeth and a few pairs of artificial eyeballs have been left in a shrine to St Roch – the patron saint of plague, diseases and epidemics
So when the yellow fever epidemic hit 19th century New Orleans, Father Peter Thevis, the pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church, prayed to St Roch, the patron saint of plague, diseases and epidemics, for the parish members in St Roch, New Orleans to be safe against the deathly sickness.
And in return Father Thevis would build a shrine to St Roch.
Miraculously, there were no deaths associated with yellow fever recorded in St Roch although 40,000 people in New Orleans died from the disease.
Bricks on the ground are inscribed with the word ‘thanks’ and littered with coins to show appreciation to St Roch
So to honor the saint, Father Thevis built a cemetery and St Roch Chapel in the center of it.
And inside the chapel is a small room behind an iron gate where over the years religious people have placed replicas of human body parts in thanks for cures attributed to the intervention of St. Roch.
Bricks on the ground are inscribed with the word ‘thanks’ and littered with coins.
Father Thevis built the shrine after he promised to St Roch that he would if no parish members died from yellow fever
Children’s polio braces, crutches and false limbs line the walls, interspersed with praying hands, rosaries and figurine, according to Slate.
Other objects filled with personal meaning or put there on impulse such as a can of corn and a Ronald McDonald figurine appear occasionally.
But regardless of whether a random object or a sentimental piece is left there, the room has become filled with multiple offerings left by those in need of healing and those who have a recovered.
There were no deaths associated with yellow fever in the parish community although 40,000 people in New Orleans died from the disease
The room has become filled with multiple offerings left by those in need of healing and those who have a recovered
Other objects such as a can of corn or a Ronald McDonald figurine appear on the shrine every now and then
In 1867, St Roch Chapel was dedicated to St Roch who is said to have cared for and cured plague victims in Italy