COSMAS AND DAMIAN, SS.

Early Christian martyrs who are commemorated in the Canon of the Roman Mass. Despite numerous legends, nothing is known of their lives other than the fact that they suffered martyrdom at Cyr in Syria during the diocletian persecution. A church erected at the site of their burial place was enlarged by the Emperor Justinian. The Passio describes them as being burnt, stoned, sawed in two, and finally decapitated, but it is pure legend. Their cult spread quickly in both the East and West and a famous basilica was erected in their honor in Constantinople, where the faithful repaired in search of medical cures. Pope Symmachus (498–514) dedicated an oratory in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in their honor, and Felix IV (526–530) joined two pagan temples in the Roman Forum to construct a basilica named after these saints. The Templum divi Romuli furnished the atrium, and the Templum sacrae Urbis was converted into the apse and decorated with a grandiose mosaic depicting the Apostles Peter and Paul presenting the two martyrs to Christ the Redeemer, with an inscription commemorating the event. It was probably at this time that their names were inserted in the Canon of the Mass. Six other Roman churches were dedicated in their honor. They are considered the patrons of doctors because they were reputed to be physicians who practiced medicine without taking payment from their patients.

Feast: Sep. 27.

Bibliography: a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, rev. ed. h. thurston and d. attwater (New York 1956) 3:659–661. a. j. festugiÈre, tr., Sainte Thècle, saints Côme et Damien … (Paris 1971), history of miracles. v. l. kennedy, The Saints of the Canon of the Mass (Vatican City 1938). r. krautheimer, Corpus Basilicarum Christianarum Romae (Vatican City 1937–) v.1. h. skrobucha, Kosmos und Damian (Recklinghausen 1965) tr. as The Patrons of the Doctors, tr. h. h. rosenwald (Recklinghausen 1965). d. vacca, Leggendo la vita dei santi medici Cosma e Damiano (Bitonto 1973). a. wittmann, Kosmas und Damian: Kultausbreitung und Volksdevotion (Berlin 1967). j. zuring, De heilige genezers Cosmas en Damianus in Nederland (Venlo 1989).

[e. g. ryan]