Crispin
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Crispin".

See also: Crispin of Viterbo

Saints Crispin and Crispinian
The Martyrdom of SS. Crispin and Crispinian by Aert van den Bossche
Martyrs
Born	3rd century AD
Died	286, Rome
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Churches
Canonized	Pre-Congregation
Major shrine	Soissons
Feast	October 25
Attributes	depicted holding shoes

Saints Crispin and Crispinian are the Christian patron saints of cobblers, tanners, and leather workers. Born to a noble Roman family in the 3rd century AD, Saints Crispin and Crispinian, twin brothers, fled persecution for their faith, winding up in Soissons, where they preached Christianity to the Gauls and made shoes by night. Their success attracted the ire of Rictus Varus, the governor of Belgic Gaul, who had them tortured and beheaded c. 286. In the 6th century, a church was built in their honour at Soissons. Crispian and Crispinian are also associated with the town of Faversham in Kent. In early 2007 the parish church of St Mary of Charity dedicated an altar to Crispin and Crispinian in the South aisle of the church.

The supposed tombs of the saints are in Rome in the church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna.

Status as saints

The feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispinian is celebrated on October 25. However, these saints were removed from the liturgical calendar (but not declared to be no longer saints) during the reform of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints in 1969. The feast remains as a 'Black Letter Saints' Day' in the calendar of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (1662) and a 'commemoration' in Common Worship (2000).

The reasoning used by Vatican II for this decision was that there was insufficient evidence that the Saints Crispin and Crispinian actually existed. Indeed, their role as shoemakers, their relationship as twins, and the timing of their holiday are suggestive of the possibility that they could have represented a local Celtic deity (Lugus-Mercurius) which had been made into a saint as a result of syncretism.

Martyrdom of SS. Crispin and Crépinien - From a window in the Hôpital des Quinze-Vingts (Fifteenth Century)

The St Crispin's Day Speech

Crispin is perhaps best known for lending his name to the famous speech given by the eponymous king in Shakespeare's Henry V before the Battle of Agincourt (which occurred on 25 October 1415, though the speech was not written until 1599). In the speech, Crispinian's name is spelled Crispian, perhaps not only reflecting London pronunciation in Shakespeare's time, but also more compatible with Shakespeare's lines in iambic pentameter form.¹

A partial text of the speech is:

King Henry V:

Appearance in popular culture

• The English town of Northampton had an annual street fair named for St Crispin.
• An edited version of the speech was recited by 'Mr. Fabian' (played by Billy Zane) in the 1993 movie Tombstone.
• In Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion, the one-part mission "Agincourt" features a narration of selections from the speech.
• The entire speech was recited in the 1994 movie Renaissance Man.
• "Band of Brothers", a book and mini-series written by Stephen Ambrose.
• Parts of the ends of the speech were used in a Playstation 3 commercial.
• This poem is shown in the closing credits of ABC's Boston Legal.
• The start and ending of this speech is spoken in the movie Tombstone.
• The speech is referenced in the 5th season finale of WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• In the Touched by an Angel episode titled "The Penalty Box," the speech is first taught to, then understood by a hockey team captain, who uses a version of it to rally his team.

Well known Crispins

• Sir Crispin Tickell, British diplomat
• Crispin Freeman, American voice actor
• Crispin Glover, American actor, director, writer, musician
• Edmund Crispin, pseudonym of British novelist Robert Bruce Montgomery
• Crispin Mathias+Fisher, American architect
• Crispin Bonham-Carter, English actor
• A. C. Crispin, American author
• Crispin Montgomery, Football player for Cleveland Browns (2004- )
• Crispin Wright, British philosopher
• Jason Crispen, American Musician

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Crispin and Crispinian

• Saint Crispin's Day
• St Crispin Street Fair
• St Crispin's School
• St Crispin's Hospital
• Order of the Knights of St Crispin

Further reading

• St Crispin's Day Speech from Henry V
• St Crispin and St Crispinian in Faversham, Kent

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Sts. Crispin and Crispinian

Footnotes

1. ^ The speech by Shakespeare's Henry V itself lent one of its more famous lines to the title of a book by Stephen E. Ambrose about World War Two, and the subsequent HBO World War II mini-series Band of Brothers.)