Today, September 26, is the memorial of Saints Cosmas and Damian.
Patron saints of doctors, surgeons, pharmacists, physicians, day-care centers, orphanages, and against blindness and hernia.
The twin brothers were born in Arabia and became skilled doctors.
Saladino d’Ascoli, a 15th century Italian physician, claims that Cosmas and Damian invented the medieval electuary, a pasty mass consisting of a drug mixed with sugar and water or honey suitable for oral administration, known as opopira, a complex compound medicine used to treat diverse maladies including paralysis.
During the persecution under the emperor Diocletian, Cosmas and Damian were arrested by order of the Prefect of Cilicia, someone named Lysias who is otherwise unknown, who ordered them under torture to recant. However, they stayed true to their faith, enduring being hung on a cross, stoned, and shot by arrows. In the end they were both beheaded.