In God's Garden: Stories of the Saints for Little ChildrenSteedman, Amy
Religion
In God's Garden: Stories of the Saints for Little Children
Steedman, Amy
Christian saints -- Juvenile literature
Then every one cried out that they were enchanters, and it was ordered
that to make sure of their death they should be beheaded.
So the work of the two saint doctors was finished on earth, but for many
years afterwards those who were ill would pray to these saints for their
protection.
There is a legend which tells how a poor man in Rome had a leg which the
doctors feared would cause his death. So he prayed to Saint Cosmo and
Saint Damian and asked them to help him in his need. And that night when
he was asleep, he saw the doctor saints standing at his bedside in their
red robes and caps trimmed with fur. One held a knife and the other a
pot of ointment.
'What shall we do to replace this leg when we have cut it off?' asked
Saint Cosmo.
[Illustration: AN ANGEL GUIDED THEM WITH LOVING CARE.]
'A black man has just died and been buried near here,' answered Saint
Damian. 'He no longer needs his legs, so let us take one of them and put
it on instead.'
So they cut off the bad leg and fetched the leg of the black man, and
with the ointment joined it on to the living man.
And when he awoke he believed he must have dreamt about the visit
of the saints, but when he looked at his leg, behold! it was black and
perfectly sound and well. Then they sent and searched for the black
body, and on it they found a white leg. So the man knew that the doctor
saints had heard his prayers, and had come to cure him.
That is one of the wonderful stories which have grown up round the names
of Saint Cosmo and Saint Damian.
While we cannot tell if these things really happened, this we do surely
know to be true, that these two brothers, who lived in an age when men
were cruel and selfish, spent their whole lives in trying to help those
who suffered pain, and then went bravely to death in the service of
their King. And though we know but little about them, they have left us
an example of patient kindliness and helpfulness; and they teach us that
as servants of their King we also are bound in honour to protect the
weak and help those who suffer, whether they are people like ourselves
or God's dumb creatures.
SAINT MARTIN
It was a cold winter's day in the city of Amiens, and the wind swept
along the great Roman road outside the city gates with such an icy blast
that the few people who were out of doors wrapped themselves closer in
their cloaks, and longed for their sheltering homes and warm firesides.
But there was one poor old man who had no cloak to wrap around him, and
no fireside of which to dream. He shivered as the searching wind came
sweeping past him, and his half-blind eyes looked eagerly up and down
the road to see if any one was coming who might help him in his need.
One by one the people hurried past and paid no heed to the beggar's
outstretched hand. It was much too cold to stop or to think of giving
help, and not even a beggar could expect it on such a day as this. So
they left the poor old man hungry and cold and homeless.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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