September 26 - Saint Cosmos, patron saint of surgeons, born in Arabia, practiced medicine in Aigéai, Cilicia, along with his twin brother Damien, patron saint of pharmacists. They were born in Cilicia or Arabia and practiced medicine in the seaport of Aegean and later in the Roman province of Syria.

They accepted no payment for their services, earning them the nickname "anargyroi," meaning "without money," and thus attracted large numbers of people to the Christian faith. The most famous of their reported miraculous cures, the grafting of a Moorish leg to replace a patient's necrotic leg, was the subject of numerous paintings and miniatures.

During the persecutions of Diocletian, Cosmos and Damien were arrested on the orders of the prefect of Cilicia, a certain Lysias, of whom this is the only known initiative. He ordered them to abjure under torture. According to the legend they remained faithful to their faith in spite of a whole series of terrible tortures to which they remained insensitive; finally they were beheaded. Their younger brothers Ancient, Leonce and Euprepius, who followed them everywhere, shared their martyrdom.

The remains of the two brothers were buried in Cyrrhus (now in Syria), and the bodies were brought back to Rome, without the heads that were brought back later. The heads of St. Cosmos and St. Damien are also believed to be in a shrine in the treasury of the Abbey of Brageac in the Cantal, where they were brought back by Guy and Raoul de Scorraille on their return from the First Crusade around the year 1105.