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1 D o R om a n C a t holi cs  K nOw a b o ut   Gerard Seghers, Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian (17th century) T he M i r a c le of t he B la c k Le g ?
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Do RCs KnOw about the Miracle of the Black Leg?

Apr 14, 2018

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Do Roman Catholics  KnOw about … 

Gerard Seghers, Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian (17th century)

The M iracle of the Black Leg? 

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According to Christian traditions, Saints Cosmas and Damian (Greek: Κοσμάς και Δαμιανός)

(also written Kosmas and Damianos) (died ca. 287) were twin brothers, physicians, and early

Christian martyrs born in Cilicia, part of today's Turkey. They practiced their profession in the

seaport of Ayas, Adana, then in the Roman province of Syria. Accepting no payment for their 

services led to them being named "Ανάργυροι" (Unmercenary); it has been said that, by this,

they attracted many to the Christian faith. [  In fact  – many more than the number of people that diabolical 

Catholic Priests in the “America’s heartland” have Chased-Away/Chastised/Ostracized from the Christian faith.]

 Beinwunder Cosmas und Damian: black leg of Roman Deacon Justinian; replacement leg of a recently buried Ethopian

moor; miracle de la greffe d'une jambe de Noir au diacre Justinien; Musee de la collegiale Saint Cosme et Saint Damien (15th 

century)

 According to Christian traditions, during the persecution under Diocletian, Cosmas and Damian

were arrested by order of the Prefect of Cilicia, one Lysias who is otherwise unknown, who

ordered them under torture to recant. However, according to legend they stayed true to their 

faith, enduring being hung on a cross, stoned and shot by arrows and finally suffered execution

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 by beheading. Anthimus, Leontius and Euprepius, their younger brothers, who were inseparable

from them throughout life, shared in their martyrdom.

Their most famous miraculous exploit was the grafting of a leg from a recently deceased (four 

days dead) Ethiopian to replace a patient's ulcered or cancerous leg, and was the subject of many

 paintings and illuminations.

Veneration

 Pope Felix IV  presents Sts Cosmas and Damian with the basilica he rededicated to them.

As early as the 4th century, churches dedicated to the twin saints were established at Jerusalem, 

in Egypt and in Mesopotamia. Theodoret records the division of their reputed relics. Their relics,

deemed miraculous, were buried in the city of Cyrrus in Syria. Churches were built in their honor 

 by Archbishop Proclus and by Emperor Justinian I (527 – 565), who sumptuously restored the city

of Cyrus and dedicated it to the twins, but brought their purported relics to Constantinople; there,

following his cure, ascribed to the intercession of Cosmas and Damian, Justinian, in gratitude

also built and adorned their church at Constantinople, and it became a celebrated place of 

 pilgrimage. At Rome Pope Felix IV (526 – 530) rededicated the Library of Peace ( Bibliotheca

 Pacis) as a basilica of Santi Cosma e Damiano in the Forum of Vespasian in their honour. The

church is much rebuilt but still famed for its sixth-century mosaics illustrating the saints.

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What are said to be their skulls are venerated in the convent of the Clares in Madrid, where they

have been since 1581, the gift of Maria, daughter of Emperor Charles V. They had previously

 been removed from Rome to Bremen in the tenth century, and thence to Bamberg. Other skulls

said to be theirs were discovered in 1334 by Burchard Grelle, Archbishop of Bremen. He

"personally 'miraculously' retrieved the relics of the holy physicians Cosmas and Damian, which

were allegedly immured and forgotten in the choir of the Bremen Cathedral. In celebration of the

retrieval Archbishop and Chapter arranged a feast at Pentecost 1335, when the relics were

translated from the wall to a more dignified place. Grelle claimed the relics were those

Archbishop Adaldag brought from Rome in 965. The cathedral master-builder Johann Hemeling

made a shrine for the relics, which was finished around 1420. The shrine,made from carved oak 

wood covered with gilt and rolled silver is considered an important mediaeval gold work. In

1649 Bremen's Chapter, Lutheran by this time, sold the shrine without the heads to Maximilian I

of Bavaria. The two heads remained in Bremen and came into the possession of the small Roman

Catholic community. They were shown from 1934 to 1968 in the Church of St. Johann and in

1994 they were buried in the crypt. The shrine is now shown in the Jesuit church of St Michael in

Munich. At least since 1413 another supposed pair of skulls of the saints has been stored in St

Stephens's Cathedral in Vienna. Other relics are claimed by the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore

in Venice. 

The martyr twins are invoked in the Canon of the Mass in the prayer known as the

Communicantes (from the first Latin word of the prayer): "In communion with the whole Church,

they venerate above all others the memory of the glorious ever-virgin Mary, Mother of our God 

and Lord, Jesus Christ, then of blessed Joseph, husband of the Virgin, your blessed Apostles and 

 Martyrs, Peter and Paul, Andrew, James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew,

Simon and Jude: Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Laurence, Chrysogonus,

 John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian and all your Saints: grant through their merits and prayers

that in all things we may be defended by the help of your protection." They are also invoked in

the Litany of the Saints, and in the older form of the Roman rite, in the Collect for Thursday in

the Third Week of Lent, as the station church for this day is Santi Cosma e Damiano. 

Their feast day in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, which had been on September 27, was

moved in 1969 to September 26, because September 27 is the dies natalis ("day of birth" into

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Heaven) of Saint Vincent de Paul, now more widely venerated in the Latin Church, but some

traditionalist Catholics continue to observe the pre-1970 calendar.

Sts Cosmas and Damian are regarded as the patrons of physicians and surgeons and are

sometimes represented with medical emblems.

Cosmas and Damian are depicted as supporters of the arms of the guild of barber-surgeons carved into a

capital, 15th century, from the Carmes monastery in Trie-sur-Baïse in southwestern France. The

inscription reads, " Sain ts Cosmas and Damian pray for us" . 

In Brazil, the twin saints are regarded as protectors of children, and September 27 is

commemorated, especially in Rio de Janeiro, by giving children bags of candy with the saints'

effigy printed on them and throughout the entire state of Bahia where Catholics and adepts of Candomblé religion offer typical food such as carurú. The ritual consists of first offering the food

to seven children that are no older than seven years old and then having them feast while sitting

on the floor and eating with their hands. Only after all children have finished can the guests

enjoy the food that is being offered. The Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, in Igarassu, 

Pernambuco is Brazil's oldest church, built in 1535.

In the UK St Damian is the dexter side supporter in the coat of arms of the British Dental

Association. 

Sts. Cosmas & Damian are venerated every year in Utica, New York at St. Anthony's Parish

during the annual pilgrimage which takes place on the last weekend of September (close to the

Sept. 27 feast day). There are thousands of pilgrims who come to honor the saints. Over 80

 busloads come from Canada and other destinations. The 2-day festival includes music (La Banda

Rosa), much Italian food, masses and processions through the streets of East Utica. It is one of 

the largest festivals honoring saints in the northeast USA.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Cosmas_and_Damian