September 26
Sts Cosmas and Damian
Saturday, week 25 in Ordinary Time
Canada : St. John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, priests, and their companions, martyrs
Sts Cosmas and Damian are venerated as early Christian martyrs renowned for their charitable medical service. They are believed to have lived in the 3rd century and are traditionally said to have been twin brothers from Arabia and practicing physicians who healed people without taking any fee, hence their title as 'Unmercenary Doctors.' Their fame for selfless care soon spread, and they bore witness to their faith by enduring persecution during the reign of Diocletian. Although details of their lives are partly shrouded in legend, the Church honors them for merging charity, professional skill, and fidelity to Christ amid adversity. As the patron saints of physicians, surgeons, and pharmacists, Cosmas and Damian remind Christians of the call to serve others with compassion and integrity. The optional memorial held on this day celebrates their commitment to both the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Their example inspired the foundation of hospitals and charitable works throughout Christian history, and their intercession is still invoked by medical professionals today.
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Local variations
- Canada — St. John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, priests, and their companions, martyrs
The liturgical day
Mass readings
ReadingQo 11, 9 – 12, 8
Rejoice, young man, in your youth,
and be happy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
and what your eyes desire!
But know that for all these things
God will bring you to judgment.
Remove sorrow from your heart,
and put away pain from your body,
for youth and the dawn of life
are but vanity.
Remember your Creator,
in the days of your youth,
before the evil days come,
and the years draw near when you will say:
“I have no pleasure in them”;
before the sun and the light grow dark,
the moon and the stars,
and the clouds return after the rain;
on the day when the keepers of the house tremble,
when the strong men stoop;
when the women grinding cease one by one,
when the windows grow dim;
when the door is shut in the street,
when the sound of the mill fades,
when the song of the bird is silenced,
and the songs are hushed;
when one is afraid of heights
and terrors are on the road;
the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,
and the caper berry fails;
when a man goes to his eternal home,
and mourners go about the streets;
before the silver cord is snapped,
the golden lamp is broken,
the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
the pulley is broken at the well;
and the dust returns to the earth
as it once was,
and the breath of life returns to God who gave it.
Vanity of vanities, said Qoheleth,
everything is vanity!
– The word of the Lord.
PsalmPs 89 (90), 3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14.17abc
You turn man back to dust;
you say, “Return, children of Adam!”
For you, a thousand years are like yesterday,
come and gone, an hour in the night.
You sweep them away; they are like a dream;
in the morning they are like the changing grass:
it springs up in the morning, it changes;
in the evening it is faded and withered.
Teach us to measure our days rightly,
that our hearts may gain wisdom.
Come back, Lord, why so long?
Have compassion on your servants.
Satisfy us with your love in the morning,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
May the favor of the Lord our God be upon us!
Give success to the work of our hands.
GospelLc 9, 43b-45
At that time,
while everyone was full of wonder
at all that Jesus did,
he said to his disciples:
“Let these words sink into your ears:
the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.”
But the disciples did not understand this saying;
it was hidden from them
so that they could not grasp its meaning,
and they were afraid to ask him about it.
– The Gospel of the Lord.
Liturgical texts: © AELF — aelf.org