SS. Crispin and Crispinian
by VP
Posted on Friday October 25, 2024 at 01:00AM in Saints
SS. Crispin and Crispinian, pd
"The sanctification of Labor .
-Labor is regarded by men in general as a thing of penance; for the greater number it is a matter of pure necessity, and to many has proved the powerful means of procuring sanctification. Hence it was that SS. Crispin and Crispinian, who accompanied St. Quentin to Gaul to preach the Gospel there, labored with their hands, although of noble and illustrious lineage, to support themselves, after the manner of St. Paul, thereby to avoid burthening the faithful and to enable them to contribute by their earnings to the maintenance of the poor. They took up their abode at Soissons, and occupied their vacant hours in making and repairing shoes. Having been denounced in 287 to Maximian Hercules, they were by his order transferred to the tribunal of the prefect Rictius Varus, the most inveterate enemy of the Christians. The prefect vainly employed in turn all the devices of persuasion, threats, and tortures to induce them to renounce Christianity; being unable to overcome them, he condemned them to be beheaded. They are held in great veneration throughout France, or rather through the Church at large, and their names are met with in the most ancient martyrologies.
MORAL REFLECTION.-Of how many may it be said that "they labor in vain," since God is not the end and purpose that inspires the labor!-(Wisd. iii. 2.)
Source: Pictorial half hours with the saints. by Rev. Fr. Auguste François Lecanu
