CRISPINA, Saint, Martyr. - Born at Thagora, but she suffered martyrdom by decapitation on 5 December 304 at Tebessa (Africa), where it has been believed that the ruins of the ancient basilica dedicated to her were found and in which her tomb would have been. There survive the Acts of her martyrdom, composed in the second half of the 4th century or at the beginning of the 5th, which, despite interpolations of suspect details and the lack of certain precise and indispensable notices known from other documents, are the authoritative reproduction of the trial record drawn from the proconsular archives.

According to these Acts, C., accused of having despised the imperial edicts, was brought before the tribunal of Anulinus; after a long interrogation, in which she did not yield to threats and enticements, strongly refusing to sacrifice to idols, she was condemned to capital punishment. St. Augustine, delivering on the anniversary of her death two sermons in honor of C. (PL 37, 1605-18, 1774-85), gives us several other notices about her social condition, her family and her trial, which are lacking in the Acts. It has therefore been thought that the Saint knew a more complete account of the martyrdom of C., particularly widespread in African Catholic circles, while the one we possess would be of Donatist origin. The cult of C. soon spread throughout the Church; her image appears in the mosaics of S. Apollinare Nuovo and at Ravenna.

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: Un missionnaire des pp. Blancs, La basilique de Thézette et le temple de Jérusalem, in Nuovo bull. d'arch. crist., 5 (1899), pp. 51-63; P. Franchi de' Cavalieri, Nuove note agiografiche (Studi e Testi), 9, Rome 1902, pp. 21-35; P. Monceaux, Les Actes de Ste C. martyre à Thézette (Mélanges Boissier), Paris 1903, pp. 383-89; id., Histoire littéraire de l'Afrique chrétienne, III, ibid. 1905, pp. 159-61; H. Delehaye, Les passions des Martyrs et les genres littéraires, Brussels 1921, pp. 110-14; id., Les origines du culte des martyrs, 2nd ed., ibid. 1933, p. 394; id., Martyr. Hieronymianum, p. 635 ff.

Agostino Amore

@incollection{ec4_crispina_santa_martire, author = {Amore, Agostino}, title = {Crispina, santa, martire}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {886}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/crispina-santa-martire} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

Crispina, Saint, Martyr

About this entry