A Happy and Blessed St. Crispin's Day!

St. Isidore the Farmer, Ss. Chrysanthus & Daria

 

 Ss. Crispin and Crispinian are Catholic martyrs who died October 25th, A.D. 285/286. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, they are believed to have been brothers of “distinguished Roman descent” who went to Gaul as missionaries, where they were eventually martyred during the reign of Diocletian. Initially, Maximianus the Co-Emperor sought to tempt them away from the faith, to which they replied:

Thy threats do not terrify us, for Christ is our life, and death is our gain. Thy rank and possessions are nought to us, for we have long before this sacrificed the like for the sake of Christ and rejoice in what we have done. If thou shouldst acknowledge and love Christ thou wouldst give not only all the treasures of this life, but even the glory of thy crown itself in order through the exercise of compassion to win eternal life.

They were tortured by the rack, having their skin cut off, and awls driven under their nails. Then, a millstone was wrapped around their necks and they were thrown into the river Aisne. They swam to the other side. Afterwards, they were burnt... but they didn't burn. Finally, under the order of Maximianus, they were beheaded. They are the patron saints of shoemakers, tanners and saddlers.

According to Wikipedia, these holy saints were removed from the Calendar after Vatican II. However, according to my own research, this does not appear to be the case. According to the Divinum Officium site, no breviary commemorates the Feast of Ss. Crispin and Crispinian except at the martyrology during Prima (click to view this same commemoration) of October 24th. They are, however, commemorated according to the Sarum Use. A liturgical calendar from the Institute for Studies of Illuminated Manuscripts provides us this A.D. 1503-1505 Sarum Liturgical calendar; a bit of scrolling is required to reach October 25th.

Now we provide users with a Sarum Use breviary, which commemorates the saints on October 25th at Vespers. Readers can view for themselves the hymn for their feast, though we will provide the Magnificat antiphon and the collect:

In Heaven rejoice the souls of the saints, who followed the footsteps of Christ: and because for His love they shed their blood, therefore with Christ they shall reign forever.

Almighty, everlasting God, grant us worthily to venerate thy holy Martyrs, Crispin and Crispinian, that so we may be delivered from the dangers of this world, and may be worthy of eternal joys. Per Dominum Nostrum &c.

Saint Crispin's day, however, was immortalized not by the holy death of these brother-saints, but by the work of William Shakespeare's Henry V. In Shakespeare's account, Henry inspires his soldiers by appealing to the brothers Crispin, an identifiable pair of saints to an army of English peasants facing the might of the French army at Agincourt, A.D. 1415.

For brevity's sake, the famous St Crispin's Day speech will not be transcribed here, but hyperlinked. After reading it, we suggest a viewing of the quintessential Crispin's Day Speech from Henry V (1989) directed and starring Kenneth Brannagh (that's right, not Olivier). While the “actual” Crispin's Day speech ends around the 3:50 mark, we encourage readers to continue through the video, to watch King Henry's retort to Montjoy, who comes seeking surrender from the English army.

A tired and sickly army of Englishmen significantly outnumbered by the French Army (the ratio is usually considered 5:1) prevailed against their mighty foe, and upon victory, sung Non Nobis.  Traditional Catholics should easily find an affinity not only with the heroic martyrdom of Ss. Crispin and Crispinian, but also with the wonderful allegory that can be found in Shakespeare's story of King Henry's victory against insurmountable odds.  As resisting Catholics, we are few in number and "our gayness and our gilt" are oft' besmirched.  But by the mass, our hearts are in the trim!  

Without further ceremony (what art thou, O idle ceremony?) I wish all resisting Catholics holding to the traditions of our holy martyrs a most blessed and glorious St. Crispin's day, and an especially warm greeting to those Catholics of Celtic descent.  Ss. Crispin and Crispinian, pray for us!