an examination of the lives of some saints for Lent (30/40 (deo volente))
The name Cosmas comes from ‘cosmos’, which means form or adorned. Or, according to Isidore, ‘cosmos’ is the Greek word for clean, as is the Latin word ‘mundus’. Saint Cosmas was a form, an example to others (to understand De Voragine’s reasoning here you must remember the doctrine of forms as exemplars); he was adorned with good virtues, and clean of all vices. Damianus is derived from ‘dama’, a humble, gentle beast, or the name comes from ‘dogma’, doctrine, and ‘ana’, above, or from ‘damum’, which means sacrifice. Or Damianus is equivalent to ‘Domini manus’, the hand of the Lord. Saint Damian was mild of manner, had supernal doctrine in his preaching, was a sacrifice in the mortification of his flesh, and was the hand of the Lord in the healing cures he brought about.
Cosmas and Damian were twin brothers, born of a pious mother. They learned the art of medicine, and received such grace from the Holy Spirit that they not only cured the illness of men but also of animals. They took no payment for their services. One time Damian accepted a gift of a patient and his brother became so angry with him that he said that he would not want to be buried with him. But Damian explained that he only accepted it to satisfy the donor’s kind intention, and to avoid to dishonour the name of the Lord, since the patient had adjured him in that name. Then Cosmas forgave him.
Medicine is a derivative of the priestly art, for it does for the body what the priest does for the soul, i.e. it makes it whole. This is why the healing (i.e. making whole) of the body is often a symbol for the healing of the soul. By the fact that they could even cure animals is symbolised that the grace of God may even ‘tame’ or ‘order’ (‘kosmos’ may also mean order) or ‘heal’ the ‘animal’ or ‘beastly’ part of the soul. That they took no payments symbolises how God’s grace is given freely, and that no payment is required, and perhaps even that no payment is possible. For just as the doctor of medicine may save the earthly life of a man, and for an earthly man there is nothing greater than his life, so that he could give nothing adequate as repayment, the doctor of the soul may save the eternal life of a man, and there is for the godly man nothing greater than this, so that it also could not be repaid by any means.
When word of the brothers’ fame reached the Roman proconsul he had them summoned and ordered them to sacrifice to idols. They refused, and were tortured. But they didn’t care, and so he ordered them to be thrown into the sea. But they were drawn out by an angel and set before the judge. The judge accused them of magic, and then two demons attacked him, but the brothers prayed and the demons disappeared. Now the judge thought the pagan gods were angry with him, so he ordered the brothers thrown into a huge fire. But it did not harm them, and leapt out and slew many bystanders. They were then stretched on a rack, but kept uninjured by their guardian angel. He then had the brothers crucified and stoned, but the stones turned back upon the throwers and wounded them. The same thing happened with arrows. Then the judge was extremely frustrated and had them beheaded.
The saints not sacrificing to idols symbolises them not submitting to the cosmic forces. The brothers making light of their tortures represents how they were completely detached from the corporeal domain. Them being saved from the sea symbolises them overcoming the world. The judge accuses them of magic because he knows nothing higher than it. The fire represents that passions, which do not hurt the saints, but which slay many bystanders (spiritually). Them being unhurt by the rack due to their guardian angel shows how we are saved from sinning by our guardian angel. The stones and arrows hurting their throwers and shooters symbolises that whoever judges will be judged, and whoever lives by the sword will die by the sword. Beheading symbolises the ‘slaying of the mind’.
There was once a peasant, who fell asleep in the field with his mouth open, and a snake slipped into his mouth and down to his belly. The man woke up and felt nothing, but by the evening suffered severe pains. He then invoked the aid of Cosmas and Damian, but the pain grew worse and he ran to their church. There he suddenly fell asleep, and the snake slipped out of his mouth as it had slipped in.
The snake symbolises sin, and it slips into our belly, i.e. the desirous part of the soul, when we are asleep, i.e. not vigilant and watching against sin. But by the aid of God and His saints, we fall asleep in the House of God, i.e. become blind to the world, the world becomes nothing to us, and thus desire and sin leaves us.
In a church of Cosmas and Damian there was a man, totally devoted to these holy martyrs. One of his legs was totally consumed by a cancer. While he was asleep, the two saints came to the man, cut away the rotted leg, and replaced it with the leg of a recently deceased Ethiopian. Then they took the diseased leg and attached it to the dead Moor. The man woke up, felt no pain, put his hand to his leg, and detected no lesion. He bounded joyfully from his bed, and told everyone about what he had seen in his dream. The immediately went to the tomb of the dead Moor, and found that his leg had indeed been cut off and replaced with the diseased man’s limb.
The sick man symbolises the sinner. The Ethiopian symbolises the devil or a demon. The leg symbolises the ‘supporting’ part of the soul, i.e. that which keeps it ‘grounded’, which ensures the bridge between the higher parts of the soul and the body. The sinner has a diseased leg because while he may rationally know what is good to do (which is symbolised by him being in the church and devoted to the saints), he does not actually practice virtue because there is a disconnect between his rational soul and his body. He thus requires a ‘medium’, a middle between these two extremes. This is taken from the devil because the devil is precisely the prince of this ‘middle domain’.
Saints Cosmas and Damian suffered around the year 290.
Oh Saints Cosmas and Damian,
we honour and venerate you,
with all the humility and interior affection of our hearts.
We invoke you, glorious martyrs of Jesus Christ,
who during life exercised the art of healing,
with admirable charity and sacrifice,
curing the incurable and ministering to dangerous illnesses,
not so much with the aid of medicine and skill,
but by the invocation of the all powerful Name of Jesus Christ.
Now that you are more powerful in heaven,
graciously bestow your merciful glance upon us,
miserable and afflicted souls;
and at the sight of the many ills which oppress us,
the many spiritual and corporal diseases that surround us,
hasten your help.
Assist us, we pray, in every distress.
We do not ask for ourselves only,
but for all our relatives, families, friends, and enemies,
so that, restored to health of soul and body,
we can give glory to God,
and honour to you, our saintly protectors.
Amen.
On Tradition 