Saints Cosmas and Damian

In Eucharistic Prayer 1, we pray: “in union with the whole Church, we honor Mary” along with “Joseph, her husband” and a list of twenty-four named apostles and martyrs, ending with Cosmas and Damian. These two men are also invoked in the Litany of the Saints, which we sing at the Easter Vigil. Who are Cosmas and Damian that we ask for their “constant help and protection?”

Saints Cosmas and Damian were twin brothers born in the 3rd century in Cilicia, in what today is Turkey. They became physicians, practicing their profession in a Turkish seaport, and later in the Roman province of Syria. Because they accepted no payment for their services, they attracted many to the Christian faith.

During the Christian persecution under Roman Emperor Diocletian, Cosmas and Damian were arrested and ordered – under torture – to recant their Christian faith. However, according to legend, they stayed true to their faith, enduring being hung on a cross, stoned, and shot by arrows. They ultimately suffered execution by beheading. Three of their younger brothers shared in their martyrdom. The execution took place on September 27th, probably in the year 287.

Following their martyrdom, Cosmas and Damian were regarded as the patrons of physicians and surgeons, and represented with medical emblems. As early as the 4th century, churches dedicated to the twin saints were established at Jerusalem, in Egypt, and in Mesopotamia. Emperor Justinian I, who ruled in the 6th century, attributed his cure from the bubonic plague to the intercession of Cosmas and Damian. In gratitude, the emperor built a church named for them at Constantinople.

In 1969, the feast day commemorating the martyrdom of Cosmas and Damian in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, which had been celebrated on September 27th for centuries, was moved to September 26th to make room for St. Vincent de Paul’s feast day. In Brazil, the brothers are regarded as protectors of children, and their feast day is celebrated by giving children bags of candy with the saints' image printed on them. Saint Cosmas and Damian Church, built in 1535, is Brazil's oldest church.

Orthodox icons of the saints depict them each holding a spoon for dispensing medicine. The handle of the spoon is shaped like a cross, to indicate the importance of spiritual as well as physical healing, and that all cures ultimately come from God.

While most of us do not anticipate martyrdom for our beliefs, we can follow the holy example of Saints Cosmas and Damian by giving our time and using our gifts in the service of humanity for the glory of God.