The foundation and history of the Rochuskirche are very closely linked to the history of the Augustinians. In the Middle Ages, mainly in Italy, a number of hermit associations developed from the Augustinian canons. In order to avoid excessive fragmentation, Pope Innocent IV first united all Italian congregations in 1243 and then Alexander IV in 1256 all congregations in a large order of Augustinian hermits as the 4th large mendicant order. These so-called “shod Augustinian hermits with the wide sleeves” were also active on the country road and had their first establishment in 1255 in Oberen Werd in front of the New Gate. Their numbers were then relatively small and they were able to live on alms for a long time. At the end of the 15th century they were already lords in Altmannsdorf, in the Prater, in Erdberg and in Vienna. The year 1630/31 brought a turning point. At that time, by order of Pope Urban VIII, they had to cede the church and monastery to the much more active “Discaled Augustinians” summoned from Prague to Vienna by Ferdinand II. This decision by the emperor primarily affected their first Viennese branch in Augustinerstrasse, which was named after them. Eighteen priests of the shod Augustinians then moved to the country road, where Emperor Ferdinand II gave them a vineyard that stretched from the main road to the Ungargasse as a kind of compensation. Only Ferdinand III. then, in fulfillment of a plague vow, laid the foundation stone for the new church and monastery in 1642. The church was dedicated to the plague patrons St. Rochus and St. Sebastian.
Due to the parish regulation suggested by Bishop Brenner in 1646, the country road, which was then part of the parish of Simmering, was separated from it and connected to the parish of St. Stephan. We know very little about the original appearance of the church, in 1656 it was burnt down. The plague year of 1679 brought severe hardship, 29 monks were killed by the disease; only after the second Turkish siege in the 1790s did the church begin to be rebuilt. The Church of Saints Roch and Sebastian was the seat of several brotherhoods, one of the most famous being the so-called Roch Brotherhood. The church got its present shape in 1720, since 1783 it was a parish church. The church is an early baroque complex. The two-towered facade was created by construction manager Tobias Kollman v. Collenau, the statues G. A. Eberl. At the high altar, the picturesquely animated winding columns are striking. The high altar picture is by Peter v. Swirl; it depicts Mary in adoration before the Holy Trinity. The miraculous image “Mary of Good Advice” is also significant, a copy of a Roman miraculous image. The picture was placed here in 1759 at the instigation of Maria Theresia. On the canteen of the first altar on the left side of the church there is a glass sarcophagus with the bones of St. Donatus, a catacomb saint. Of the side altar paintings, that of St. Katharina and the painting “St. Apollinia”. The pulpit is a masterpiece of baroque art. It dates from 1695. It should also be mentioned that the famous sculptor Georg Raphael Donner was buried in the old cemetery in 1741, which was in front of the church at the time.
The adjoining Augustinian monastery lasted until the 19th century; The end had come in 1812, and a court commissioner read the decree of repeal to the monks present. Each priest was granted an annual pension of 400 guilders, the monastery library was divided between the court and university libraries. The Augustinian monastery had thus ceased to exist after almost 200 years of existence. The first motherhouse (the current “Marienanstalt” at Fasangasse 4) soon no longer met the requirements, and the monastery community moved to the new house at Jacquingasse in 1888. Through the mediation of Emperor Franz Joseph’s daughter, Marie Valerie, Mother Franziska was given a 900 m2 plot of land, part of the botanical garden, for the construction of a church. The church was built in 1890/91 according to plans by Richard Jordan, a student of Schmidt. The church, designed as a three-nave brick shell in neo-Romanesque forms, was consecrated in 1891. The high altar, a donation from Franz Joseph I, bears the imperial coat of arms above the tabernacle. There is also a copy of the miraculous image of the Mother of God thrice admirable (the church was dedicated to her), made by Josef Kastner. This is one of the few copies of “Maria Schnee” in Rome. Pious remembrance of the origin of the church and a grateful spirit speak from the pictures of the church, which also come from Josef Kastner. The stained glass windows were particularly beautiful, but most of them were destroyed by the effects of the war. On July 1, 1939, the church became a parish church. Since that time, the “Elisabeth Home” at Jacquingasse 53, which belongs to the congregation, has served as a vicarage. Built in 1905, this house was built by architect Cajetan Miserovsky.
