Who Are Today's Saints?

I always love a twofer. And today we get feudin' twins. Feudin' arabic twins who are the patron saints of hairdressers! How inclusive is that?

Today is the Feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian. They are barber-surgeon martyrs from the year 300.

Patrons of barbers, candy makers, chemical workers, doctors, druggists, hairstylists, surgeons. Invoke them against bladder disease, blindness, hernia and pestilence. (Dick Cheney, you've got problems in all these areas. Invoke away).

Here's the story, according to my Saint-A-Day Guide:

Twin brothers born in Arabia, Cosmas and Damian were doctors who never charged a fee and subsequently became known as the "moneyless ones." When a grateful patient forced three eggs on Damian as payment, Cosmas became indignant and announced that he would not be buried with his greedy twin. After their martyrdom their followers, complying with Cosmas' request, started to bury the twins separately. A camel (the Saints were veterinarians as well) trotted over and begged the mourners, in the name of all four-legged creatures, to bury them together. The Saints' most famous feat was transplanting a healthy white leg onto a black patient (or vice versa). At their martyrdom Cosmas and Damian caused arrows and stones to boomerang back to the executioners [blogger's note: 'I'm rubber you're glue'protective mantra favored by schoolchildren originated here] until they succumbed to the usually fail-safe method of beheading. In Rome the Medicis (whose name means "doctors" in Italian)were devotees of these Saints and named a number of their offspring Cosmo. Saint Damian, on his own, cures bladder problems.

If Cosmas and Damian were alive today, they would not be saints, they would be those guys from 'Shear Genius'. And that one guy from 'Grey's Anatomy'.