(d.c.286) Twin brothers and members of the Roman nobility, Crispan and Crispinian, fled persecution to Gaul (modern-day France), where they evangelized by day and made shoes by night to support themselves. They made many converts, were arrested under Emperor Diocletian, and were tortured and beheaded in Rome.
The memorial of these twin martyrs is famously referenced in a speech by King Henry in William Shakespeare’s Henry V, Act IV, Scene iii, to the far-outnumbered Englishmen about to battle the French. The phrase “band of brothers” became a popular reference. Who are your “band of brothers” in recovery?
“From the example of the saints it appears how foolish the pretenses of many Christians are, who imagine the care of a family, the business of a farm or a shop, the attention which they are obliged to give to their worldly profession, are impediments which excuse them from aiming at perfection…How many saints have made these very employments the means of their perfection! Saint Paul made tents; Saints Crispin and Crispinian were shoemakers; the Blessed Virgin was taken up in the care of her poor cottage; Christ himself worked with his reputed father” (Father Alban Butler).
Reflection by Brad Farmer