Sts. Cosmas and Damian: Feast Day, Patronage & Prayers
Feast day: September 26 (optional memorial)
Patron of: Physicians, surgeons, and pharmacists.
About Sts. Cosmas and Damian
Sts. Cosmas and Damian were, according to ancient tradition, twin brothers from Arabia who practiced medicine in Syria and Asia Minor. They were known in the East as the Anargyroi, "the silverless ones," because they treated the sick without charging any fee, seeing their skill as a way of bringing people to Christ. Their free service made many converts.
During the persecution of the emperor Diocletian, around the year 303, they were arrested and, after surviving several attempts to kill them, were beheaded. Their tomb at Cyrrhus in Syria became a place of pilgrimage, and their cult spread quickly. In the sixth century the emperor Justinian, cured through their intercession, is said to have honored their church in Constantinople, and Pope Felix IV built a basilica for them in the Roman Forum, where their mosaic still shines. Their names are in the Roman Canon of the Mass and in the Litany of the Saints. Doctors, surgeons, and pharmacists have long claimed them as patrons. They remind all who care for the sick that healing is a work of love.
Prayers to Sts. Cosmas and Damian on Daily Catholic Prayers
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