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 The Church of England
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, leather workers and, since it came into being, of the leather subculture^{[citation needed]} (bikers or other people wearing leather regularly, see also: biker culture). 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. Crispin 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.

The feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispinian is celebrated on October 25. The feast is a 'Black Letter Saints' Day' in the calendar of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (1662) and a 'commemoration' in Common Worship (2000). It is still celebrated in many churches of The Church of England.

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.^{[citation needed]}

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

On October 28, 2007, Toronto's St Peter's Anglican Church celebrated a service which appropriated the pair of saints as patrons of the leather community.^[1]

[edit] See also

• St Crispin Street Fair
• St. Crispin's Day Speech

[edit] External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Sts. Crispin and Crispinian
• St Crispin and St Crispinian in Faversham, Kent
• Patron Saints of leather, bikers and People wearing leather

[edit] Footnotes