In an altar retable painted in thanksgiving for the end of the plague that devastated Venice in 1510, Titian shows (lower left) Saints Cosmas and Damian, the holy physician martyrs together with (lower right) Saints Roch and Sebastian. Enthroned above them is Saint Mark the Evangelist, patron of Venice. While Saint Roch and Saint Sebastian represent the sick and wounded, Saints Cosmas and Damian represent those who minister the healing power of Christ.
COLLECT
May the venerable memory
of your saints Cosmas and Damian
magnify you, O Lord,
for in your ineffable providence,
you have bestowed upon them eternal glory
and upon us the richness of your help.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.
PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS
In honour of the precious death of your just ones,
we offer you, O Lord, this sacrifice,
the source from which all martyrdom springs.
Through Christ our Lord.
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Preserve, O Lord, your gift within us,
and let what we have received from your hand
in memory of the blessed martyrs Cosmas and Damian,
bestow upon us health and peace.
Through Christ our Lord.
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