San Rocco is a church at 1 Largo San Rocco, Rome, dedicated to Saint Roch. It is next to the Mausoleum of Augustus. The Confraternita di San Rocco has charge of the church; it is part of the Parish of Saint Giacomo. History On June 1499, with the bull Cogitantes humanae conditionis, Pope Alexander VI gave to the Confraternity of the Osti and Barcaroli (innkeepers and boatmen), based at Ripetta, the small old church of San Martino de Pila and permission to build a hospital on a plot of land close to the Mausoleum of Augustus. The church was called San Rocco e Martino. The Church of San Martino was destroyed in the sixteenth century and some of its furnishings transferred to the new San Rocco. A hospital for plague sufferers was soon constructed and dedicated to their patron, Saint Roch. Initially male only, a maternity wing for women from the Tiber barges was later added to the hospital and, over time, San Rocco Hospital as a whole came to be used principally by unmarried mothers. The hospital was closed at the start of the 20th century and in the 1930s it was demolished for excavations on the Mausoleum, as was the church's bell tower. In 1527 a 42 ft, ancient Roman obelisk was discovered on the site of San Rocco. It was later removed to the area of Santa Maria Maggiore, as it was hampering cart traffic around the port. In 1811, Giuseppe del Medico, professor of surgery and lecturer at the Accademia di San Luca published Anatomia per uso dei pittori e scultori. He is buried at San Rocco. Archconfraternity of the Cord of Saint Joseph The Archconfraternity of the Cord of Saint Joseph was based at the Church of San Rocco. The cure of an Augustinian nun at Antwerp in 1657 from a grievous illness, through the wearing of a cord in honour of Saint Joseph, gave rise to the pious practice of wearing it to obtain the grace of purity through his intercession. The devotion soon spread over many countries of Europe, and in the 19th century was revived at Rome in the Church of Saint Roch and in that of Saint Nicolas at Verona, Italy. Pope Pius IX, in a rescript dated 19 September 1859, approved a special formula for the blessing of the cord of Saint Joseph. The brief Universi Dominici gregis of 23