Saints Cosmas and Damian “Saint Damian” redirects here. For Saint Damien of many paintings and illuminations.[4][5] Molokai, see Father Damien. According to Christian traditions, Saints Cosmas and 2 Veneration Damian (Greek: Κοσμάς και Δαμιανός) (also writ- ten Kosmas and Damianos) (died ca. 287) were twin brothers, physicians, and early Christian martyrs born in Cilicia, part of today’s Turkey. They practiced their profession in the seaport of Aegeae, then in the Roman province of Syria. Accepting no payment for their ser- vices led to them being named "Ανάργυροι" (Holy Un- mercenaries); it has been said that, by this, they attracted many to the Christian faith.[3] 1 Lives Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian, by Gerard Seghers (Antwerp, Cosmas and Damian miraculously transplant the black leg of the 1591-1651). Oil on canvas. (Private collection, United States). Ethiopian onto the white body of the patient. According to Christian traditions, during the persecution As early as the 4th century, churches dedicated to the under Diocletian, Cosmas and Damian were arrested by twin saints were established at Jerusalem, in Egypt and order of the Prefect of Cilicia, one Lysias who is other- in Mesopotamia. Theodoret records the division of their wise unknown, who ordered them under torture to recant. reputed relics. Their relics, deemed miraculous, were However, according to legend they stayed true to their buried in the city of Cyrrus in Syria. Churches were built faith, enduring being hung on a cross, stoned and shot by in their honor by Archbishop Proclus and by Emperor arrows and finally suffered execution by beheading. An- Justinian I (527–565), who sumptuously restored the city thimus, Leontius and Euprepius, their younger brothers, of Cyrus and dedicated it to the twins, but brought their who were inseparable from them throughout life, shared purported relics to Constantinople; there, following his in their martyrdom. cure, ascribed to the intercession of Cosmas and Damian, Their most famous miraculous exploit was the grafting Justinian, in gratitude also built and adorned their church of a leg from a recently deceased Ethiopian to replace a at Constantinople, and it became a celebrated place of pil- patient’s ulcered or cancerous leg, and was the subject of grimage. At Rome Pope Felix IV (526–530) rededicated 1 2 2 VENERATION ered in 1334 by Burchard Grelle, Archbishop of Bre- men. He “personally 'miraculously' retrieved the relics of the holy physicians Cosmas and Damian, which were al- legedly immured and forgotten in the choir of the Bremen Cathedral.[6] In celebration of the retrieval Archbishop and Chapter arranged a feast at Pentecost 1335, when the relics were translated from the wall to a more dignified place.[7] Grelle claimed the relics were those Archbishop Adaldag brought from Rome in 965. The cathedral master-builder Johann Hemeling made a shrine for the relics, which was finished around 1420. The shrine,made from carved oak wood covered with gilt and rolled sil- ver is considered an important mediaeval gold work.[8] In 1649 Bremen’s Chapter, Lutheran by this time, sold the Reliquary (1400/1420) in St. Michael’s Church, Munich con- shrine without the heads to Maximilian I of Bavaria. The taining the alleged skulls of Cosmas and Damian. The convent two heads remained in Bremen and came into the pos- of the Poor Clares in Madrid also has two skulls of Saints Cosmas session of the small Roman Catholic community. They and Damian. were shown from 1934 to 1968 in the Church of St. Jo- hann and in 1994 they were buried in the crypt.[9] The shrine is now shown in the Jesuit church of St Michael in Munich. At least since 1413 another supposed pair of skulls of the saints has been stored in St Stephens’s Cathe- dral in Vienna. Other relics are claimed by the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. The martyrdom of Saints Cosmas and Damian by Fra Angelico (Musée du Louvre, Paris). The martyr twins are invoked in the Canon of the Mass in the prayer known as the Communicantes (from the Pope Felix IV presents Sts Cosmas and Damian with the basilica first Latin word of the prayer): “In communion with the he rededicated to them. whole Church, they venerate above all others the mem- ory of the glorious ever-virgin Mary, Mother of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ, then of blessed Joseph, husband the Library of Peace (Bibliotheca Pacis) as a basilica of of the Virgin, your blessed Apostles and Martyrs, Peter Santi Cosma e Damiano in the Forum of Vespasian in and Paul, Andrew, James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, their honour. The church is much rebuilt but still famed Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude: Linus, Cletus, for its sixth-century mosaics illustrating the saints. Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Laurence, Chryso- What are said to be their skulls are venerated in the gonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian and all your convent of the Clares in Madrid, where they have been Saints: grant through their merits and prayers that in all since 1581, the gift of Maria, daughter of Emperor things we may be defended by the help of your protec- Charles V. They had previously been removed from tion.” They are also invoked in the Litany of the Saints, Rome to Bremen in the tenth century, and thence to and in the older form of the Roman rite, in the Collect Bamberg. Other skulls said to be theirs were discov- for Thursday in the Third Week of Lent, as the station 3 church for this day is Santi Cosma e Damiano. 3 Eastern Christianity Their feast day in the General Roman Calendar, which had been on September 27, was moved in 1969 to September 26, because September 27 is the dies natalis (“day of birth” into Heaven) of Saint Vincent de Paul, now more widely venerated in the Latin Church,[10] but some traditionalist Catholics continue to observe the pre- 1970 calendar. Sts Cosmas and Damian are regarded as the patrons of physicians and surgeons and are sometimes represented with medical emblems. Icon of Saints Cosmas and Damian (17th century, Historic Mu- Cosmas and Damian are depicted as supporters of the arms of seum in Sanok, Poland). the guild of barber-surgeons carved into a capital, 15th century, from the Carmes monastery in Trie-sur-Baïse in southwestern In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic France. The inscription reads, “Saints Cosmas and Damian pray Churches, and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, Saints for us”. Cosmas and Damian are venerated as a type of saint known as Unmercenary Physicians (Greek: ἀνάργυροι, In Brazil, the twin saints are regarded as protectors of anargyroi, “without money”). This classification of saints children, and September 27 is commemorated, espe- is unique to the Eastern Church and refers to those who cially in Rio de Janeiro, by giving children bags of candy heal purely out of love for God and man, strictly observing with the saints’ effigy printed on them and throughout the command of Jesus: “Freely have you received, freely the entire state of Bahia where Catholics and adepts of give.” («Δωρεὰν ἐλάβετε, δωρεὰν δότε...» Matthew Candomblé religion offer typical food such as carurú. 10:8) While each of the Unmercenaries have their own The ritual consists of first offering the food to seven chil- feast days, all are commemorated together on the first dren that are no older than seven years old and then hav- Sunday in November, in a feast known as the Synaxis of ing them feast while sitting on the floor and eating with the Unmercenary Physicians. their hands. Only after all children have finished can the The Orthodox celebrate no less than three different sets guests enjoy the food that is being offered. The Church of saints by the name of Cosmas and Damian, each with of Saints Cosmas and Damian, in Igarassu, Pernambuco their own distinct feast day: is Brazil’s oldest church, built in 1535. In the UK St Damian is the dexter side supporter in the • Saints Cosmas and Damian of Cilicia (Arabia) coat of arms of the British Dental Association. (October 17) Brothers, according to Christian leg- Sts. Cosmas & Damian are venerated every year in end they were beaten and beheaded together with Utica, New York at St. Anthony’s Parish during the an- three other Christians: Leontius, Anthimus, and Eu- nual pilgrimage which takes place on the last weekend tropius. of September (close to the Sept. 27 feast day). There • Saints Cosmas and Damian of Asia Minor — are thousands of pilgrims who come to honor the saints. alternately, of Mesopotamia (November 1) Twin Over 80 busloads come from Canada and other destina- sons of Saint Theodota. Died peacefully and were tions. The 2-day festival includes music (La Banda Rosa), buried together at Thereman in Mesopotamia. much Italian food, masses and processions through the streets of East Utica. It is one of the largest festivals hon- • Saints Cosmas and Damian of Rome (July 1) oring saints in the northeast USA. Brothers, according to Christian tradition they were 4 5 REFERENCES martyred outside Rome by a jealous pagan physi- 4.3 France cian during the reign of the Roman Emperor Carinus (283–284). • Saint Côme-Saint Damien church, Luzarches, Val d'Oise, France Orthodox icons of the saints depict them vested as lay- • Saint Côme-Saint Damien church, Paris, France men holding medicine boxes. Often each will also hold a spoon with which to dispense medicine. The handle of • Saint Côme-Saint Damien church, Chamboulive, the spoon is normally shaped like a cross to indicate the France importance of spiritual as well as physical healing, and • that all cures come from God.