St.Crispin and St.Crispian
Posted on October 25, 2018 by admin No comments
Born: 3rd century AD
Died: 286 Rome
Venerated: in Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Churches Church of England
Canonized: Pre-Congregation
Major shrine: Soissons
Feast: October 25
Attributes: depicted holding shoes
Patronage: cobblers; curriers; glove makers; lace makers; lace workers; leather workers; saddle makers; saddlers; shoemakers; tanners; weavers. San Crispin, San Pablo City, Philippines
Saints Crispin and Crispinian are the Christian patron saints of cobblers, curriers, tanners, and leather workers. They were beheaded during the reign of Diocletian; the date of their execution is given as 25 October 285 or 286.
History
Born to a noble Roman family in the 3rd century AD, Saints Crispin and Crispinian fled persecution for their faith, ending up at Soissons, where they preached Christianity to the Gauls whilst making shoes by night. While it is stated that they were twin brothers, that has not been positively proved.
They earned enough by their trade to support themselves and also to aid the poor. Their success attracted the ire of Rictus Varus, governor of Belgic Gaul, who had them tortured and thrown into the river with millstones around their necks. Though they survived, they were beheaded by the Emperor c. 285-286.
An alternative account gives them to be sons of a noble Romano-Briton family who lived in Canterbury, following their father’s murder for displeasing the Roman Emperor. As they were approaching maturity their mother sent them to London to seek apprenticeship and to avoid coming to the attention of their father’s killer. Travelling there, the brothers came across a shoemaker’s workshop at Faversham and decided to travel no further and stayed in Faversham. This account fails to explain how the brothers came to be venerated and martyred.
Veneration
The feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispinian is 25 October. Although this feast was removed from the Roman Catholic Church’s universal liturgical calendar following the Second Vatican Council, the two saints are still commemorated on that day in the most recent edition of the Roman Church’s martyrology.
In the sixth century a stately basilica was erected at Soissons over the graves of these saints, and St. Eligius, a famous goldsmith, made a costly shrine for the head of St. Crispinian.
They are the patron saints of cobblers, glove makers, lace makers, lace workers, leather workers, saddle makers, saddlers, shoemakers, tanners, and weavers.
Prayer to St.Crispin and St.Crispian
St Crispin and St Crispinian, may all shoemakers provide shoes for those who cannot afford them and keep their feet ever protected so that they may walk a good purpose. Pray for us, dear Saints, to obtain for us a lively faith, constancy in good works, and perseverance in the grace of God even unto death.
Amen.
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