Cosmas and Damian

Procrastination. I would have posted this earlier, but I didn't have my computer with me at the conference, and I found myself too busy later. But now, I'm procrastinating, so here is what I did last Tuesday.

There was a conference organized by Third Order Regular Franciscans (TORs) and by a professor friend of mine. Dr. Lombardi invited me to attend this special bioethics day taking place at the church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, located in the Roman Forum. So, I skipped my morning class, and attended the conference

During the day, six m.d.s from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, presented on their fields, their work, and the objectives and methods of their clinic. They were demonstrating to us how they attempt to put their faith in action at work as physicians, following the model of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, patron saints of doctors and pharmacists.

It was quite a location to choose for the event, and the location spoke to us as much as the presenters. For, the site of the church which had been consecrated as a church in honor of the martyrs Cosmas and Damian, had previously housed a famous classical library, and was in the medical section of the Roman Forum. There, Galen gave medical demonstrations and studied in the first century A.D. There many medical experts met and discussed for centuries before it became a place of Christian pilgrimage when many ill would come and seek the intercession of Sts. Cosmas and Damian.

There, the Franciscans took up residence around the 15th Century. And it was a group of Franciscan sisters that convinced Dr. Mayo to open St. Mary's Hospital, the beginning of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

Sts. Cosmas and Damian were martyred as Christians in the Eastern Roman Empire for not collecting fees (and therefore not paying taxes on them) from the patients they healed with their medical arts and their great religious faith. They did all for the glory of God, and not for monetary gain.

Dr. Lombardi helped open the conference by telling us some of Galen's criticism of the medical profession in his time, including of those physicians who healed for monetary gain rather than for advancement of science. Another criticism he put forward was the lack of philosophical education before medical studies of the physicians of his time.

A philosopher/theologian who accompanied the physicians on their trip from the States gave us some more ethical and philosophical background necessary in even (and especially) contemporary times. We still should follow Galen's advice from way back when.

In the presence of Our Lord in the tabernacle, we discussed many issues relevant yesterday, today, and tomorrow, of how to live our Catholic faith in the workplace, in science, and in the world. I look forward to the continuation of the event next year.