26 September
Optional Memorial

Saints Cosmas and Damian (died 287 AD)
Martyrs

Born: 3rd century AD, Arabia
Died: 287 AD, Aegea, Roman province of Syria
Major Shrine: Convent of the Poor Clares in Madrid, Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Bitonto, Bari, Italy
Patrons: Physicians; pharmacists; relief from pestilence; surgeons; apothecaries; barbers; blind; chemists; druggists; hairdressers; hernias; marital harmony; midwives; Gaeta, Italy

According to tradition, Saints Cosmas and Damian suffered martyrdom in Syria during the Roman persecution of Diocletian, around 303 A.D. Not much is known about them, but tradition holds they were twin brothers and medical doctors, never charging a fee for their medical services. Their names are in the Roman Canon of the Mass. They are honored in both the Eastern and Western Church and highly celebrated in Italian communities.

COLLECT PRAYER

May you be magnified, O Lord, by the revered memory of your Saints Cosmas and Damian, for with providence beyond words you have conferred on them everlasting glory, and on us, your unfailing help. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

Things to Do:

  • Contemplate how these brothers imitated Christ by healing the WHOLE person, both body and soul.
  • A Christian is generous: with his time, with his talents, with his money. Sts. Cosmas and Damian practiced medicine free, looking upon this as a Christian service to others. I may not be able to imitate them in this, but my own spirit of generosity should be a clear part of my Christian witness.
  • Pray for those in the medical field.
  • Find out more about the miracles attached to the relics of Cosmas and Damian.
  • If you are close to Cambridge, MA drop in on the annual Italian festival of the healing of Saints Cosmas and Damian which has been held for the past 77 years in September.

Sts. Cosmas and Damian

This is one of the most ancient feasts of the Church, and these two martyrs have been honored in the East and West in many ways, including the building of churches in their honor in Rome and Constantinople. Along with St. Luke, they are the patron saints of doctors. Little is known of their true history, but the legend that has come down to us is of very early origin.

Sts. Cosmas and Damian were venerated in the East as the “moneyless ones” because they practiced medicine gratis. According to the legend, they were twin brothers, born in Arabia, who studied in Syria and became skilled physicians. They were supposed to have lived on the Bay of Alexandretta in Cilicia, in what is now Turkey.

Since they were prominent Christians, they were among the first arrested when the great persecution under Diocletian began. Lysias, the governor of Cilicia, ordered their arrest, and they were beheaded. Their bodies, it was said, were carried to Syria and buried at Cyrrhus.

What is certain is that they were venerated very early and became patrons of medicine, known for their miracles of healing. The Emperor Justinian was cured by their intercession and paid special honor to the city of Cyrrhus where their relics were enshrined. Their basilica in Rome, adorned with lovely mosaics, was dedicated in the year 530. They are named in the Roman Martyrology and in the Canon of the Mass, testifying to the antiquity of their feast day.

The great honor in which they are held and the antiquity of their veneration indicate some historical memory among the early Christians who came out of the great persecutions with a new cult of Christian heroes. Cosmas and Damian were not only ideal Christians by their practice of medicine without fee, they also symbolized God’s blessing upon the art of healing and that respect for every form of science, which is an important part of Christian tradition.

Excerpted from The One Year Book of Saints by Rev. Clifford Stevens
Source: Catholic Culture