Crispin of Viterbo, Blessed

CRISPIN OF VITERBO, Blessed. - Capuchin lay brother of the Roman province, in the world Pietro Fioretti, b. at Viterbo on 13 Nov. 1668, d. at Rome on 19 May 1750. Infirmarian, cook, gardener in various convents; from 1702 to 1748 questor of the convent of Orvieto.

Of a serene and joyful spirit, a lover of poetry, he endeared himself to every class of persons; he made virtue loved, of which he was an austere exemplar and an effective promoter, particularly of devotion to Mary Most Holy. Favored with extraordinary charisms, he was sought for counsel by prelates, nobles and learned men. He wrote cordial little letters of exhortation to do good and of comfort. Worn down by penances and illnesses, he spent his last years in the infirmary of the Roman convent of the Most Holy Conception (in the present-day via Vittorio Veneto); his body is venerated in a chapel of the church. He was beatified by Pius VII on 26 Aug. 1806; the cause of canonization was resumed on 28 Febr. 1923. Feast on 23 May.

C. da V., beato dell'Ordine dei Cappuccini (with the blessed one's epistolary), 3rd ed., Tivoli 1923; Giorgio da Riano, Il b. C. da V. in un processo della polizia napoleonica, in L'Italia Franc., 4 (1929), pp. 225-30; id., Massime e preghiere del b. C., 2nd ed., Vicenza 1931; Isidoro da Alatri, Il prediletto da Maria: frate C. da V., Viterbo 1932.

Ilarino da Milano