September 26 + Saints Cosmas and Damian

Cosmas and Damian were twin brothers born in Arabia, in the third century. They lived in the region around the border between modern day Turkey and Syria. Both were physicians who were renowned for their skill as well as their refusal to charge for their services. Their charity and Christian witness won many converts to the faith and earned them a place of prominence in the Christian communities of Asia Minor. They were reported to have miraculously replaced the ulcered leg of a white man with one from a recently deceased Ethiopian man.

When the Diocletian persecutions began in the latter half of the third century they were some of the first to be sought out for execution. They were arrested and were ordered to deny their faith in Christ. They refused and underwent a series of tortures, including crucifixion, from which, miraculously, they remained unscathed. The torturers, weary of what they realized was the impossible task of forcing apostasy from their mouths, finally beheaded them both.

They are the Patron Saints of surgeons, physicians, dentists, protectors of children, barbers, pharmacists, veterinarians, orphanages and day-care centers.