CRESCENTE. – A disciple of St. Paul, mentioned in 2 Tim. 4:10. The Latin name Crescens (Tacitus, Hist., I, 76, the name of a freedman of Nero; Annal., XV, 11, of a centurion), Hellenized as Κρῆσχης, suggests a person of Latin origin; but this cannot be confirmed, since the only information about him comes from the cited passage in 2 Tim. From this, it is known that Crescente was with Paul for a certain time during the second Roman imprisonment, then left him, certainly on a mission entrusted to him by the Apostle. Indeed, Crescente is paired with Titus, who went to Dalmatia, and is clearly distinguished from Demas, who, “having loved this present world,” left Paul to go to Thessalonica.
It is debated whether the destination of Crescente’s journey was Galatia (q.v.) or Gaul: important manuscripts (SC, various minuscules, the Amiatine for the Vulgate) have Γαλλίων instead of Γαλατίαν. Even if the commonly accepted reading is retained, it remains that the terms Γαλατίαν and Γαλατία, among Greek writers up to the 2nd century A.D., also mean “Gaul” and “Gauls.” Moreover, the Monument of Ancyra links Gaul (Γαλατία) with Spain and Dalmatia, thus providing an interesting parallel with the text that speaks of Crescente’s mission. A late tradition makes Crescente one of the seventy-two disciples and founder of the church of Vienne in Gaul (cf. Chronicon Paschale: PG 92, 609); while the Apostolic Constitutions, VII, 46 (PG I, 1056) assign to him Galatia as his field of work. The Greeks commemorate him on July 30, the Roman Martyrology on June 27.