COSMA e DAMIANO, saints, martyrs. — Information about their life and martyrdom is scant and uncertain. It can only be stated with certainty that they perished during the persecution of Diocletian at Cyrus in Syria, where a basilica was erected over their tombs and later enlarged by Justinian. The Passio belongs to the genre of hagiographical legends in which the supernatural plays a major part; according to it, C. and D., after enduring the torments of fire, stoning, and arrows, all of which proved ineffectual, were finally beheaded. Feast: 27 September; they are regarded as patrons of physicians.
Their cult soon spread throughout the East and the West: their relics were widely dispersed, and numerous churches were dedicated to them. Most famous in antiquity was the Basilica built at Constantinople in the first half of the fifth century; there the faithful went to seek healing from their ailments, practising the rite of incubatio. Collections of the miracles performed by the martyrs (Θαύματα) were soon compiled, the first version of which dates back to the sixth century; and since these recounted that the martyrs generally came to the aid of the devout by prescribing natural remedies rather than by healing them miraculously and directly, the belief arose that C. and D. had been anargyric physicians (v.), since they were said to have practised their profession out of charity. The spread of their cult also led to a multiplication of the martyrs’ identities, to such an extent that in the Hieronymian Martyrology they are commemorated as martyrs of different places and on different days: but these certainly concern the same group. In Rome Pope Symmachus (498–514) dedicated an oratory to them at S. Maria Maggiore, and Felix IV (526–30) dedicated to them the Basilica near the Roman Forum, obtained through the union of two pagan temples: one round temple, generally known by the name Templum divi Romuli, after the young son of Maxentius who died in 307, which came to form the atrium of the Basilica; the other commonly regarded as the temple of the Penates or Templum sacrae Urbis; it constitutes the actual hall of the Basilica, in whose apse the magnificent mosaic was executed depicting the Apostles Peter and Paul presenting the two martyrs C. and D. to the Redeemer, and the inscription, still in situ, commemorating the event was placed. Probably on the same occasion C. and D. were also inserted into the canon of the Mass. Six other small churches in Rome were dedicated to the two martyrs. — Vedi tav. XXXVIII.