Shoemakers
Saints Crispin and Crispian are believed to be brothers born to a noble family in Rome in the middle of the third century. The brothers, along with Saint Quintinus, worked for the conversion of Gaul by their mission of evangelization, preaching boldly in the streets during the day. They supported themselves by night, working as shoemakers in Soissons.
The three of them exhibited charity and piety to such a great extent that many people were impressed by their example, and they won many converts to the Faith during their ministry. Their generosity and contempt of material things was impressive to the local people.
By the order of Emperor Maximian Herculeus, the three were arrested and tried by Rictus Varus (Rictiovarus), who was apparently governor of Belgic Gaul and an enemy of Christianity. He had the missionaries tortured, but when he was unable to kill them, Rictus Varus committed suicide. Maximian then martyred the trio by beheading them around the year 286. The Roman Martyrology says on October 25th, “At Soissons in Gaul, the holy martyrs Crispin and Crispinian, Roman nobles, whose bodies were afterwards translated to Rome, and buried honourably in the Church of Saint Laurence in pane et perna.“
A beautiful church was built at Soissons in the 6th century in the honor of the saints. Saints Crispin and Crispian are the patron saints of shoemakeres, cobblers, leather workers, lace makers, and weavers.
Lessons
Humble tasks, humble occupations, humble beginnings, humble lives, humble ends…
Regardless of circumstance, if one embraces the virtue of humility, offering sufferings to the Lord for others, these humble experiences can make one holy, and in humility, one magnifies and radiates the highest glory: that of God alone.
Other Saints We Remember Today
- The 40 Martyrs of England and Wales (16th Century), Martyrs
- Saints Chrysanthus and Daria (4th Century), Martyrs, husband and wife
- St. Gaudentius of Brescia (410), Bishop
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image: Alfred Martinet / Public domain
