Crispin and Crispinian

, 1494 Born to a noble Roman family in the 3rd century AD, Crispin and Crispinian fled persecution for their faith, ending up at Soissons (modern-day France), where they preached Christianity to the Gauls while making shoes by night. It is stated that they were twin brothers. They earned enough by their trade to support themselves and aid people experiencing poverty. Their success attracted the ire of Rictus Varus, Roman governor of Belgic Gaul, who had them tortured and thrown into the river with millstones around their necks. Though they survived, they were beheaded by the emperor 286. ==Veneration==

The feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispinian is 25 October. Although this feast was removed from the Roman Catholic Church's universal liturgical calendar following the Second Vatican Council, the two saints are still commemorated on that day in the most recent edition of the Roman Church's martyrology. In the sixth century, a stately basilica was erected over these saints' graves at Soissons, and St. Eligius, a famous goldsmith, made a costly shrine for the head of St. Crispinian. Especially in France, but also in England and other parts of Europe, the festival of St Crispin was for centuries the occasion of solemn processions and merry-making, in which guilds of shoemakers took the chief part. ==Cultural references==

The Battle of Agincourt was fought on Saint Crispin's feastday. (The English tradition placed the twins at Canterbury rather than Gaul.) Shakespeare's St. Crispin's Day Speech (sometimes called the "Band Of Brothers" Speech) from his play Henry V has immortalized the day. Also, for the Midsummer's Day Festival in the third act of Die Meistersinger, Wagner has the shoemakers' guild enter singing a song of praise to St. Crispin. A 16th-century legend links them to the town of Faversham, Kent, England. A plaque at Faversham commemorates their association with the town. They are also celebrated in the name of the old pub "Crispin and Crispianus" at Strood in Kent. ==See also==