Saint Cosmas and Damian | Silver foiled lithography mounted on wood | Size: 5 1/4" x 4 1/2"

26 September marks the feast day of Saint Cosmas and Damian according to the General Roman Calendar. Cosmas and Damian were third century Arabian-born twin brothers who embraced Christianity and practised medicine and surgery without a fee. This led them to be known as the holy unmercenaries, the Anargyroi (without silver). They reputedly cured blindness, fever, paralysis and reportedly expelled a breast serpent. They were arrested by Lysias, governor of Cilicia (modern day Çukurova, Turkey) during the Diocletian persecution because of their faith and fame as healers. Emperor Diocletian was a religious conservative and favoured the traditional Olympian Gods. He issued a series of edicts that condemned the Christians in his attempt to wipe out Christianity from his empire.