# St. Chrispan (?) Anyone know who.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2002, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-chrispan-anyone-know-who/126439 "2002-08-31T13:34:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-chrispan-anyone-know-who/126439/1 "2002-08-31T13:34:39Z")
Fist of all I am not sure of the spelling of St. Chrispan. I think He/She is a British Saint. See I am trying to validate my sisters distress by checking out just who exactly Saint Chrispan is. Her Husband is South African/British. She recently attended a wedding in Surrey where towards the end everyone was ‘pissed’ and one of her husbands cousins wouldn’t stop calling her Chrispan – Her name is Christen – so either he was too pissed to pronounce Christen, or he was making reference to Chrispan… Anyone in the British world know any origin of Saint Chrispan? or why this person was making fun…drunk or some other hidden meaning? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-chrispan-anyone-know-who/126439/2 "2002-08-31T13:43:44Z")
He’s the patron saint of secretatries, because he did everything in triplicate. But seriously, his name was (in English) [Crispin](http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintc21.htm) (martyred c. 286 CE) and his patronage is leatherworking and related trades. His feast day is October 25th, hence his mention in the famous “Saint Crispin” day speech in Shakespeare’s _Henry V_, since the Battle of Agincourt happened to be on October 25, 1415. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-chrispan-anyone-know-who/126439/3 "2002-08-31T13:45:22Z")
[St. Crispian](http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintc22.htm). > [@](#): > > Saints Crispin and Crispian are believed to be brothers born to a noble family in Rome in the middle of the third century. The brothers, along with Saint Quintinus, worked for the conversion of Gaul by their mission of evangelization — preaching boldly in the streets during the day. They supported themselves by night, working as shoemakers in Soissons. > > The three of them exhibited charity and piety to such a great extent that many people were impressed by their example, and they won many converts to the Faith during their ministry. Their generosity and contempt of material things was impressive to the local people. > > By the order of Emperor Maximian Herculeus, the three were arrested and tried by Rictus Varus (Rictiovarus), who was apparently governor of Belgic Gaul and an enemy of Christianity. He had the missionaries tortured, but when he was unable to kill them, Rictus Varus committed suicide. Maximian then martyred the trio by beheading them around the year 286. The Roman Martyrology says on October 25th, “At Soissons in Gaul, the holy martyrs Crispin and Crispinian, Roman nobles, whose bodies were afterwards translated to Rome, and buried honourably in the church of Saint Laurence ‘in pane et perna.’” > > A beautiful church was built at Soissons in the 6th century in the honor of the Saints. Saints Crispin and Crispian are the patron saints of shoemakeres, cobblers, leather workers, lace makers, and weavers. ---
**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-chrispan-anyone-know-who/126439/4 "2002-08-31T19:46:14Z")
And the only reason anyone is asking is probably because Shakespeare referred to it in one of the greatest speeches in the English language in Henry the Fifth. Henry is exhorting his troops to battle at Agincourt (after many defeats and slogging about in the rain and mud in a foreign country and says something like: “and they will hold their manhood cheap who were not with us on this St. Crispin’s day” etc. etc. They go on to win the most one sided battle against superior forces (cept for the longbows!) since Alexander the Great. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-chrispan-anyone-know-who/126439/5 "2002-08-31T22:28:46Z")
Incidentally, that speech is approximately one million times more inspiring than Mel Gibson’s “They ma’ tek awr lawnd, but thell ne’er take owr FHREEDUM!” You can’t beat the bard. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-chrispan-anyone-know-who/126439/6 "2002-08-31T22:34:20Z")
Incidentally, that speech is approximately one million times more inspiring than Mel Gibson’s “They ma’ tek awr lawnd, but thell ne’er take owr FHREEDUM!” You can’t beat the bard.