CRISPINO and CRISPINIANO, saints, martyrs. - The information concerning them is uncertain and obscure. In the Auxerre recension of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum they are commemorated on 25 October as martyrs of Soissons, and Gregorio di Tours refers several times to their basilica in the same city (Historia Francorum, V, 34; IX, 9).
In the Roman tradition, on the other hand, they are mentioned in the Passio of Saints Giovanni and Paolo, in whose basilica on the Caelian they were said to have been buried not far from them; but the episode concerning C. and C. is commonly regarded as interpolated. They are also mentioned in the Notitia included in the Gesta regum Anglorum of Guglielmo di Malmesbury. The Passio of C. and C., written toward the end of the 8th century, is too fabulous to deserve credence. It may probably be held that C. and C., despite the scantiness and contradictory nature of the information, were genuine Roman martyrs of the end of the 3rd century, who suffered death during the military persecution of Dioceziano at Soissons, where they were subsequently believed to have been local martyrs.