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Origin and history

The Saint-Roch Oratory, called San Roccup en Corsica, is a religious building located in the historical district of Terra Vechja in Bastia, on the current Napoleon Street. Originally, it served as an oratory for the San Roccu Brotherhood, founded in the early seventeenth century by Corsican teenagers in reaction to the Genoese domination over the only existing brotherhood, Santa Croce, installed in the Citadelle. This movement of secession reflected the tensions between the Corsican community and the Genoese authorities, leading to the creation of two new brotherhoods: San Roccu and the Immaculate Conception.

The construction of the oratory is also linked to the great plague of 1569, which devastated Bastia before stopping mysteriously at the gates of the city, an event attributed to the miraculous intercession of Saint Roch. In thanksgiving, the Bastias built a place of worship dedicated to the saint, protector against epidemics. The original building, built in 1590, was completely rebuilt and enlarged in 1604. Its present neoclassical façade, however, dates from the 19th century and is the work of the bastia architect Jean-Louis Guasco, with a white marble portal decorated with a pilgrim shell, a traditional symbol.

Inside, the oratory preserves a rich decor inspired by Genoese traditions, with damas of red silk covering the walls and gilded stucco made in 1617 by Francesco Marengo. The altarpiece of the high altar, carved at Bastia in 1692, and a painting by Giovanni Bilivert (1626) depicting Saint Roch and other saints at the feet of the Virgin with the Child are among his artistic treasures. A polychrome wooden statue of Saint Roch, dating back to the late eighteenth century, is still used during the processions.

The oratory plays a central role in Bastia religious life, especially during the feast of Saint-Roch, celebrated on August 16. The San Roccu Brotherhood then organizes a mass and a procession in the streets of Terra Vechja, perpetuating a centuries-old tradition. Ranked a historic monument in 2007, the building embodies both the artistic heritage, social history and popular piety of Corsica.

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