Baring-Gould’s sources: Nearly all Latin Martyrologies on this day. By the Greeks on July 1; again on Oct. 17 with their brothers Leontius, Anthimius, and Euprepius; again on Nov. 1, Cosmas and Damian alone. So also the Russians. In the Arabic Kalendar published by Simoni, on July 1 and Nov. 1, and in the Arabic Martyrology again on Oct. 17. In many Greek Menseas, also a fourth commemoration, on Oct. 28. Many versions of the Acts in Greek and Latin exist, but all are fabulous. The original proconsular Acts possibly subsist under a gradually growing accretion of fable.] The earliest and briefest Acts of these saints, in Greek, state that they were brought before Lysias, the governor at ^Egis, in Cilicia, in the reign of Diocletian and Maximian.

The governor said, “ Bring in the men accused of the false religion of the Christians.” The officer answered, “ They stand before thy tribunal, lord.”

The governor said, “ Of what religion are you? What is your fortune, and what are your names and nations ?” Cosmas and Damian replied, “ We are of Arabia.” The governor said, “What are your names?” Cosmas said, “ I am called Cosmas, and my brother’s name is Damian. We are of good race, and by profession physicians. We have other brothers, and if you desire, will name them.”

Lycias said, “ Speak boldly.” Cosmas said, “ Their names are Anthimius, Leontius, and Euprepius.” 1 The governor said, “ Of what religion are you ?” Cosmas said, “ We are Christians.”

The governor said, “Come, and denying your God, sacrifice to the deities who made the world.” Then Cosmas, Damian, Anthimius, Leontius, and Euprepius, with one voice, exclaimed, “ Thy gods are but vain, and we will not adore idols, for they are not men, but demons.”

The governor said, “ Bind them hand and foot, and torture them till they sacrifice.” But they said, “ Lysias, we pray you torment us further, for we suffer not.”

The governor said, “ I would that, by these slight tortures, I could persuade you to sacrifice; but now you insult both the Emperors and myself.”

Here what is trustworthy in the Acts breaks of. They have been interpolated. The judge orders the martyrs to be cast into the sea, and when they touch the water, their chains break, and they come safe to land. Then he vows by the “name of his God, Adrian (!)” that he will follow their faith, whereupon two devils appear, and box his ears.

After this absurd interpolation, the genuine interrogatory is resumed. Cosmas and Damian are still on the rack. 1 From these Acts it is clear that Anthimius, Leontius, and Euprepius had been arrested along with Cosmas and Damian. The later amplified legends make their arrest a subsequent matter.

SS. Cosmas and Damian. Cosmas said, “ Judge ! thy idols are stocks and stones, and can neither see nor hear; but they are the habitation of devils. How can stones be wroth ? Our God is immortal, and a just judge.’"

The governor said, “ I will no longer endure your blasphemies against the gods.1 Come and worship the gods, and you shall be let go in peace.1' The martyrs answered, “ Shall we honour your foolish Emperors, devoid of reason, and your stocks and stones ?” Then the governor, in a rage, ordered the brothers to be decapitated.2 These Acts are very instructive. As given above, they are probably in their original form, as extracted from the proconsular registers. But they have already undergone gross interpolation. Grotesque fables have been squeezed in between the joints of the narrative wherever it was possible. But even this did not suffice. The story grew and grew. The numerous editions of the Acts that are extant show the legend in all its stages of growth. When full blown it is as follows.

A holy woman of the city of Aigse, named Theodota, had five sons, Cosmas, Damian, Anthimius, Leontius, and Euprepius. The two elder were physicians, who — marvellous to relate — took no fees. One day Damian healed a lady named Palladia, and when she urged him to take pay, reluctantly accepted of her three eggs. When Cosmas heard this, he was so angry that he begged when they died that he and Damian might not be laid in the same grave. But in the night he was warned in a vision that his wrath was unreasonable and inopportune. The brothers were 1 Here follows another interpolation. The text, perhaps, suggested the opportunity of interjecting here another torment. Cosmas and Damian are placed on a blazing pile of wood, then the earth opens and swallows up the martyrs, but dashes the burning wood among the bystanders and kills many. When the fire is extinguished, the earth throws up Cosmas and Damian again. 2 Not without a third preposterous interpolation. arrested shortly after; the interrogatory is retained with few alterations, but in all the interpolations above noted, great liberties are taken; lengthy prayers are put in the mouths of the martyrs. After having been flung into the sea and into the fire, Lysias orders them to be crucified, and stoned whilst on the cross. They are accordingly hung on crosses, and crowds come to pelt them, but all the stones recoil on those that throw them, and they retire, black and blue, and groaning. Then Lysias orders up four cohorts of archers to shoot the martyrs. A cohort is a mere matter of 500 men. But the arrows, instead of hitting the martyrs, turn round in the air, and transfix the bowmen. So Lysias orders the martyrs to have their heads struck off, and this is executed without the smallest difficulty. It is a singular fact that in all amplified and fabulous martyrdoms, when every other sort of torture and death has been tried and has failed, as a last resort the judges try cold steel, and cold steel invariably answers. This may be assumed as an infallible proof that all the previously recorded tortures are fictitious insertions of later writers. When the heads of the martyrs had been struck off, the Christians took up their bodies, and were about to bury Cosmas and Damian apart, as Cosmas had said that he would not be laid by his brother; but a camel ran after the funeral convoy, with tears in its eyes, and in an imploring voice exclaimed, “ You Christian men, who have seen the marvels of healing wrought by these martyrs, not only on your bodies, but on us cattle also, listen to me. I have come in the name of the cattle to thank the martyrs, and also to announce to you that it is quite a mistake to think of separating the bodies of the saints. Bury them together. " The Christians were convinced, and followed the advice of the eloquent camel.

In the sixth century, according to Procopius, the relics [the bodily remains of a saint, or objects they used, kept with honor] of THE SAINTLY BROTHERS COSMAS AND DAMIAN VISITING AND RELIEVING THE SICK. After a Picture by Francesco Peselli in the Gallery of the Louvre. SS. Cosmas and Damian.

SS. Cosmas and Damian were in Cyrus in Syria, where a church was built over them. Pope Felix IV. built a church in their honour at Rome in a.d. 530. The bodies of the saints, it is said, were translated to Rome, but when is not known. The bodies of all five brothers were laid under the high altar. Other bodies of S. Cosmas and S. Damian at Venice, in the church of S. George; relics of these two saints also at Verona and Bologna; a head of S. Cosmas at Imola; the greater part of the bodies of SS. Cosmas and Damian at Amalfi; the backbone Of S. Cosmas at Malta; other relics at Tagliacozzo in the Abruzzi. In the fifth century, a hundred years before, they are known to have been entire at Cyrus, in Syria; S. Germanus of Auxerre conveyed relics of these saints from Rome into Gaul [roughly modern France and Belgium]; the entire bodies were afterwards translated by John de Beaumont from Cyrus to Paris in the days of Alexander III. (1 159-1181). These relics were laid at Luzarches, in a collegiate church dedicated in their honour. The church of Luzarches possesses none now; the relics were dispersed in 1793. But the church of Longpont, near Paris, claims the possession of a portion. The bodies of SS. Cosmas and Damian were also brought from Rome to Bremen by Bishop Adaldag in a.d. 964. After the change of religion they were carried from Bremen to Munich, a.d. 1649, and placed in the Jesuit church. These bodies have their heads. Portions of skulls also at Prag; two large bones at Cologne; the sword with which they were executed, still red with their blood, at Essen in Westphalia. A finger of S. Damian at Douai; two bones at Tournai; others at Cambrai.

SS. Cosmas and Damian are the patrons of surgeons and barbers; they obtained great fame as patrons of the illustrious family of the Medici, when that family was at the height of its splendour.