Crispinian

Holy Martyr Crispinian suffered together with his brother, Saint Crispin, at Soissons in Gaul, around 285-287, in the time of Diocletian. The two brothers are patrons of shoemakers, tanners and other leather workers.

According to the legend they were sons of a rich Roman family and came to Soissons to proclaim the Christian faith. They worked at night as shoemakers, earning enough to live on and to help the poor. The prefect Rictiovarus, known as a cruel persecutor, subjected them to heavy torments: he drove awls under their nails, poured molten lead on them and threw them into fire and ice-⁠cold water. Since they could not be drowned with millstones round their necks, they were beheaded.

In the 6th century a basilica was built over their graves at Soissons, and Saint Eligius made a costly shrine for the head of Crispinian. The relics were afterward divided, part going to Osnabrück and part to the church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna in Rome. They are commemorated on 25 October, by the Western calendar (new style), as saints of the undivided Church.