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The saints

Sts. Cosmas and Damian

Twin doctors who treated patients for free.

Feast: 26 September · died about 287 · The early Church · Syria

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Painting of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, the doctor brothers, holding medicine jars.

Jean Bourdichon, 1503. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / Sts. Cosmas and Damian

Cyrrhus, Syria

Cosmas and Damian were twin brothers and doctors, according to tradition, in the late third century.1

They would not take money for their care, so the East calls them the unmercenaries.1

In the persecution of Diocletian, they were arrested and beheaded.

Patron of physicians and surgeons1

01Sts. Cosmas and Damian

Named at Mass

Their names are said in the Roman Canon, and a great basilica in Rome is dedicated to them.1

Live it this week

Do your job free for someone once

Cosmas and Damian healed without charge. Offer one hour of your work this week to someone who can’t pay.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Sts. Cosmas and Damian”. New Advent edition. newadvent.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.