Saints Cosmas and Damian
Saints Cosmas and Damian | |
|---|---|
 Icon of Saints Cosmas (left) and Damian (right) holding medicine boxes and spoons for dispensing cures | |
| Martyrs | |
| Born | 3rd century AD Arabia |
| Died | c. 287 AD Aegea, Roman province of Syria |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Churches Oriental Orthodox Churches Eastern Catholic Churches |
| Major shrine | Convent of the Poor Clares in Madrid, Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Bitonto, Bari, Italy |
| Feast | September 26 September 27 (Traditional Roman Catholics) |
| Attributes | depicted as twins, beheaded, or with medical emblems |
| Patronage | surgeons, physicians, dentists, protectors of children, barbers, pharmacists, veterinarians, orphanages, day-care centers, confectioners, children in house, against hernia, against the plague. |
Saints Cosmas and Damian (Greek: Κοσμάς και Δαμιανός) (died ca. 287) were twins and early Christian martyrs born in Arabia who practised the art of healing in the seaport of Aegea (modern Ayas) in the Gulf of Issus, then in the Roman province of Syria.[1] They accepted no payment for their services, which led them to be nicknamed anargyroi (The Silverless); it is said that by this, they led many to the Catholic faith.[2]
Lives
During the persecution under Diocletian, Cosmas and Damian were arrested by order of the Prefect of Cilicia, one Lysias who is otherwise unknown, who ordered them under torture to recant. However, according to legend they stayed true to their faith, enduring being hung on a cross, stoned and shot by arrows and finally suffered execution by beheading. Anthimus, Leontius and Euprepius, their younger brothers, who were inseparable from them throughout life, shared in their martyrdom.
Their most famous miraculous exploit was the grafting of a leg from a recently deceased Ethiopian to replace a patient's ulcered leg, and was the subject of many paintings and illuminations.
Veneration
As early as the 4th century, churches dedicated to the twin saints were established at Jerusalem, in Egypt and in Mesopotamia. Theodoret records the division of their relics. Their relics, deemed miraculous, were buried in the city of Cyrus in Syria (CE). Churches were built in their honor by Archbishop Proclus and by Emperor Justinian I (527-565), who sumptuously restored the city of Cyrus and dedicated it to the twins, but brought their relics to Constantinople; there, following his cure, ascribed to the intercession of Cosmas and Damian, Justinian, in gratitude also built and adorned their church at Constantinople, and it became a celebrated place of pilgrimage. At Rome Pope Felix IV (526-530) rededicated the Library of Peace (Bibliotheca Pacis) as a basilica of Santi Cosma e Damiano in the Forum of Vespasian in their honour. The church is much rebuilt but still famed for its sixth-century mosaics illustrating the saints.
What are said to be their skulls are venerated in the convent of the Clares in Madrid, where they have been since 1581, the gift of Maria, daughter of Emperor Charles V. They had previously been removed from Rome to Bremen in the tenth century, and thence to Bamberg (Matthews). Other skulls said to be theirs are enshrined in the church St. Michael in Munich. According to the inscription, the shrine was manufactured in Bremen around 1400 and brought with the relics to St. Michael in 1649 by Maximilian I of Bavaria.
The martyr twins are invoked in the liturgy of the Mass at the beginning of the Canon of the Mass prior to the Consecration, during the prayer known as the Communicantes (from the first Latin word of the prayer, "Communicantes, et memoriam venerantes in primis gloriosae semper Virginis Mariae..."). The prayer invokes the memory of "the blessed Apostles and Martyrs Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Saint Andrew, Saint James the Greater, Saint John, Saint Thomas, Saint James, Saint Philip, Saint Bartholomew, Saint Matthew, Saint Simon, and Saint Thaddeus; Saint Linus, Saint Cletus, Saint Clement, Saint Sixtus, Saint Cornelius, Saint Cyprian, Saint Lawrence, Saint Chrysogonus, Sts John and Paul, Sts Cosmas and Damian, and of all Thy Saints."
Their feast day in the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints was September 27, but was moved to September 26 in 1969, because September 27 is the dies natalis ("day of birth" into Heaven) of Saint Vincent de Paul.[3] Traditional Roman Catholics continue to celebrate the feast "Sts Cosmas and Damian, Martyrs" on September 27 and that of "St Vincent de Paul, Confessor" on July 19.[4]
Sts Cosmas and Damian are regarded as the patrons of physicians and surgeons and are sometimes represented with medical emblems. They are invoked in the Canon of the Mass and in the Litany of the Saints.
Sir William Hamilton (1730–1803)[5] reported that, among the wax representations of body parts then presented as offerings to the two doctor saints at Isernia, near Naples, on their feast day, those of the penis were the most common.[6] They were in fact venerated as phallic saints.[7]
In Brazil, the twin saints are regarded as protectors of children, and September 27 is commemorated by giving children bags of candy with the saints' effigy printed on them. Saint Cosmas and Damian Church, in Igarassu, Pernambuco is Brazil's oldest church, built in 1535.
In the UK St Damian is the dexter side support of the arms of the British Dental Association.
Eastern Christianity
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, Saints Cosmas and Damian are venerated as a type of saint known as Unmercenary Physicians (Greek: άναργυροι, anargyroi, "without silver"). This classification of saints is unique to the Eastern Church and refers to those who heal purely out of love for God and man, strictly observing the command of Jesus: "Freely have you received, freely give." («Δωρεάν ελάβετε, δωρεάν δότε...» Matthew 10:8) While each of the Unmercenaries have their own feast days, all are commemorated together on the first Sunday in November, in a feast known as the Synaxis of the Unmercenary Physicians.
The Orthodox celebrate no less than three different sets of saints by the name of Cosmas and Damian, each with its own distinct feast day:
- Saints Cosmas and Damian of Asia Minor—alternately, of Mesopotamia (November 1) Twin sons of Saint Theodota. Died peacefully and were buried together at Thereman in Mesopotamia.
- Saints Cosmas and Damian of Rome (July 1) Brothers, they were martyred outside Rome by a jealous pagan physician during the reign of the Roman Emperor Carinus (283-284).
- Saints Cosmas and Damian of Cilicia (Arabia) (October 17) Brothers, they were beaten and beheaded together with three other Christians: Leontius, Anthimus, and Eutropius.
Orthodox icons of the saints depict them vested as laymen holding medicine boxes. Often each will also hold a spoon with which to dispense medicine. The handle of the spoon is normally shaped like a cross to indicate the importance of spiritual as well as physical healing, and that all cures come from God.
References
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: "Sts. Cosmas and Damian"
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: "Sts. Cosmas and Damian"
- ^ "Calendarium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 140
- ^ see the General Roman Calendar as in 1954,the General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII, and the General Roman Calendar of 1962
- ^ Sir William Hamilton was the husband of Emma, Lady Hamilton, the mistress of Horatio Nelson.
- ^ Whitney Davis, "Wax Tokens of Libido"
- ^ "Phallic Worship" by Hodder M. Westropp
Further reading
- Acta sanctorum, 27 Sept, p 432 para 187
External links
- Catholic Encyclopedia:Sts. Cosmas and Damia
- Leslie G. Matthews, "SS. Cosmas and Damian—Patron Saints of Medicine and Pharmacy: Their Cult in England" in Medical History: notes on the few English churches dedicated to these saints
- Wonderworkers and Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian of Asia Minor (November 1) Eastern Orthodox icon and synaxarion
- Holy Wonderworking Unmercenary Physicians Cosmas and Damian at Rome (July 1)
- Martyrs and Unmercenaries Cosmas Damian in Cilicia (October 17)
- Synaxis of the Holy Unmercenaries Icon