By CAROLE BRESLIN
In the last book of the Old Testament, 2 Maccabees, we read of the mother who stood by her seven sons, encouraging them to hold true to the law of their fathers and not give in to the attempts of Antiochus IV Epiphanes to get them to abandon their faith by eating the flesh of a swine (chapter 7). One by one she witnessed the barbaric killing of her seven sons before she also died.
This passage of Sacred Scripture contains passages supporting four important doctrines of the Catholic Church: 1) prayer for the dead; 2) the merits of the martyrs; 3) the intercession of the saints; and 4) the resurrection of the dead. This history of martyrdom and the content of doctrine are very similar to what happened with the death of the twins, Cosmas and Damian, along with three of their brothers.
Nearly 450 years after the death of the Maccabees — which took place around 161 BC — Cosmas and Damian suffered martyrdom during the Diocletian persecutions. Like the Maccabees, they were respected so much that the authorities believed that turning them away from the Christian religion would lead other Christians to abandon their faith as well.
Cosmas and Damian lived in the third century in Cilicia, Turkey. They received their education and training in the practice of medicine in the Roman province of Syria. Although there is very little recorded history about these twins, their reputation spread widely with stories about their charity and skill being handed down from generation to generation.
Cosmas and his brother Damian had been trained as physicians in Syria. One story describes their miraculous success in transplanting the leg of a recently deceased Ethiopian onto the body of a man whose leg was full of lesions and sores. This event has been the subject of many paintings down through the centuries.
Perhaps the greatest legacy of Cosmos and Damian is their generosity. Because they cured people accepting no pay for their services, they became known as the “unmercenary” or the “silverless.”
More important, their work enabled them to meet persons from all walks of life and spread the Good News. In accordance with their faith, they followed the words of our Lord, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand! Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. Freely you have received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8).
As laymen they worked tirelessly both for the Church and for the people. Most of their work took place in the seaports of Ayas and Adana, located on the southern coast of Turkey about 100 miles northeast of the island of Cyprus.
Their great skill in curing the ill and tending the sick, while they accepted no payment, left them poor. With each person they treated in body, they also sought to treat them spiritually by preaching the Good News of the Gospel. It also brought them quite a bit of fame by endearing them to many of the citizens for their kindness and their sincere zeal.
In the year 287 under the Emperor Diocletian, Lysias, the prefect of Cilicia, ordered the execution of Cosmas and Damian for being Christian. Despite the many tortures they endured, they refused to recant their faith.
When the executioners tried to kill Cosmas and Damian, the initial attempts mysteriously failed. They defied several initial attempts on their lives: When arrows were shot at them, the arrows returned to the archers; and when they were hanging by crucifixion and people threw stones at them, the stones would turn and hit the throwers. Neither fire nor water had any effect on them. However, on September 27, 287, Cosmas and Damian, along with Anthimus, Leontius, and Eupreprius, their three younger brothers, were finally killed. They were beheaded.
The fame of the twins did not abate with their death. During the time following their execution, many cures were reported. Some reported that the saints had visited them during their sleep and cured them instantly of their illness or disease. Others reported that the pair had prescribed medicines for their recovery.
During the fourth century, churches were already being built in honor of these two saints, beginning with churches in Jerusalem, Egypt, and Mesopotamia.
When Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527-565) of Constantinople suffered gravely from an illness, he called upon the saints for a cure. His prayers were answered so quickly that he vowed to build a church in their honor. He had their relics removed from Syria, where they had been buried, to Constantinople where he built a cathedral for them. The church soon became a place of pilgrimage.
Meanwhile, in Rome, Pope Felix IV (reigned from 526-530), rededicated the Bibliotheca Pacis in the Forum of Vespasian as a basilica for Saints Cosmas and Damian. Although the building has been remodeled many times, the original mosaics still attract pilgrims from all over the world.
There are many Catholic churches throughout Europe that claim to have the relics of the saints. One version claims that the skulls of Cosmas and Damian, which were once place in Rome, had been moved to Bremen and from there to Bamberg. Finally in 1581, the daughter of Emperor Charles V gave them to Spain. In the convent of the Poor Clares the skulls were venerated for some time.
From the sixth century, the saints have been remembered in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In the First Eucharistic Prayer, just before the consecration, the priest reads the names of those whom “we venerate,” first listing the apostles, then five Popes: Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, and Cornelius. Next Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage, is listed, followed by Lawrence, a deacon, and then five laymen: Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian.
Annual celebrations of their feast day take place all over the world, in Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Utica, N.Y. They are also recognized as great saints by the Eastern rite Catholic Churches.
Saints Cosmas and Damian are the patron saints of surgeons and physicians, with their feast day celebrated on September 27.
Dear Saints Cosmas and Damian, hear our prayer and intercede for us. As the Church of your birth suffers this day, we beg your assistance on her behalf. Give comfort both physically and spiritually to those who suffered so grievously at the hands of their enemies. Amen.
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(Carole Breslin home-schooled her four daughters and served as treasurer of the Michigan Catholic Home Educators for eight years. For over ten years, she was national coordinator for the Marian Catechists, founded by Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
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