Saint of the Day - Sts. Cosmas and Damian (September 26th)
Channel: House of Prayers for Everyone (HOPE)
Date: 2023-09-25

Sts. Cosmas and Damian were 3rd-century Arabian-born twin brothers who embraced Christianity and practiced medicine and surgery without a fee. Their feast day in the General Roman Calendar is celebrated every September 26.

Early Life

Not much is known about the early lives of the twin Arab physicians though they were born in Arabia and later became skilled doctors. They practiced their profession in the seaport of Aegeae, then in the Roman province of Syria. The two reputedly cured blindness, fever, and paralysis and reportedly expelled a breast serpent. 

Saladino d'Ascoli, a 15th-century Italian physician, claims that the medieval electuary, a pasty mass consisting of a drug mixed with sugar and water or honey suitable for oral administration, known as opopira, a complex compound medicine used to treat diverse maladies including paralysis, was invented by Cosmas and Damian.

Their charity and Christian witness won many converts to the faith and earned them a place of prominence in the Christian communities of Asia Minor. 

Diocletian Persecution

Emperor Diocletian was a religious fanatic and favored the pantheism of the Olympian Gods. He issued a series of edicts that condemned the Christians in his attempt to wipe out Christianity from his empire.

When the Diocletian persecutions began in the latter half of the third century, they were of some of the first Christians to be sought out for execution. Lysias, the Prefect of Cilicia, ordered the arrest of Cosmas and Damian. In 287, they were captured and ordered to deny their faith in Christ. 

According to legend, the twins stayed true to their faith, refused to denounce their faith, and endured being hung on a cross, stoned, and shot by arrows. Miraculously, they remained unscathed. The torturers, weary of what they realized was the impossible task of forcing apostasy from their mouths, finally beheaded them both.

It is believed that their younger brothers: Anthimus, Leontius, and Euprepius, who were inseparable from them throughout life, shared in their martyrdom.

Veneration

The veneration of Cosmas and Damian quickly spread beyond Constantinople. As early as the 4th century, churches dedicated to the twin Saints were established at Jerusalem, in Egypt, and in Mesopotamia. In gratitude following his cure, Emperor Justinian I built and adorned their church at Constantinople and it became a celebrated place of pilgrimage. 

The martyr twins are invoked in the Canon of the Mass in the prayer known as the Communicantes. They are also invoked in the Litany of the Saints, and in the older form of the Roman rite, in the Collect for Thursday in the Third Week of Lent, as the station church for this day is Santi Cosma e Damiano.

Saints Cosmas and Damian are regarded as the patrons of physicians, surgeons, and pharmacists and are sometimes represented with medical emblems. They are also regarded as the patron Saints of twins.

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Images attributed to the following:
- By Jean Bourdichon - This file comes from Gallica Digital Library and is available under the digital ID ark:/12148/btv1b52500984v/f355.item, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons
- By Przykuta - Przykuta, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons
- By Ambrosius Francken I - http://62.221.199.163/kmska2/zoom.aspx?image=146.002.jpg&amp;title=Liefdadigheid%20van%20de%20heiligen%20Cosmas%20en%20Damianus, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons