Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/551

 CRISPIN

491

CRITICISM

was not moved even by the tears of her children. W hell condemned to death, she thanked God and

I'rd her hr:id with joy for execution. The Acts of

1.' i iiiartyrdiini, written not long after the event, form ■I \alual)le historical document of the period of the pi TMCution. The day of 8t. Crispina's death was iiliv, rved in the time of St. Augu.stine; in his sermons Augustine repeatedly mentions her name, as well kiinwn in Africa and worthy to be held in the same V( Titration as the names of .St. Agnes and St. Thecla. I' i'lart in his collection of the Acts of the martyrs

the account of her examination. 1 i-ER. Ln'fs oj the Saints, 5 Dec; Pio FRANCHr de' Cava-

in fitudi e Tesli (Rome, 1902), IX. gives a new edition of tlie A.ts; BoissiER, Melanges (Paris, 1903), 383 sq.; Allahd, fiistoire des Persecutions, IV, 443 sq.

Gabriel Meier.

Crispin and Crispinian, Saints, martyrs of the Early Church who were beheaded during the reign of Diocletian: the date of their execution is given as 25 October, 28.5 or 2S6. It is stated that they were brothers, but the fact has not been positively proved. The legend relates that they were Romans of distin- guished descent who went as missionaries of the Chris- tian Faith to Gaul and chose Soissons as their field of labour. In imitation of St. Paul they worked with their hands, making shoes, and earned enough by their trade to support themselves and also to aid the poor. During the Diocletian persecution they were brought before Maxiraianus Herculius whom Diocle- tian had appointed co-emperor. At first Maximianus sought to turn them from their faith by alternate promises and threats. But they replied: "Thy threats do not terrify us, for Christ is our life, and death is our gain. Thy rank and possessions are nought to us, for we have long before this sacrificed the like for the sake of Christ and rejoice in what we have done. If thou shouldst acknowledge and love Christ thou wouldst give not only all the treasures of this life, but even the glory of thy crown itself in order through the exercise of compassion to win eternal life." When Maximianus saw that his ef- forts were of no avail, he gave Crispin and Crispinian into the hands of the governor Rictiovarus (Hictius Varus), a most cruel persecutor of the Christians. Under the order of Rictiovarus they were stretched on the rack, thongs were cut from their flesh, and awls were driven under their finger-nails. A millstone was then fastened about the neck of each, antl they were thrown into the Aisne, but they were able to swim to the opposite bank of the river. In the same manner they suffered no harm from a great fire in which Ric- tiovarus, in despair, sought death himself. After- wards the two saints were beheaded at the command of Maximianus.

This is the story of the legend which the Bollandists have incorporated in their great collection ; the same account is found in various breviaries. The narrative says that a large church was built over the graves of the two saints, consequently the legend could not have arisen until a later age; it contains, moreover, many details that have little probability or historical worth and seems to have been compiled from various fabu- lous sources. In the sixth century a stately basilica was erected at .Sois.sons over the graves of these saints, and St. Eligius, a famous goldsmith, made a costly shrine for the head of St. Crispinian. Some of the relics of Crispin and Crispinian were carried to Rome and placed in the church of San Lorenzo in Pani.s- peFna. Other relics of the saints were given by Charlemagne to the cathedral, dedicated to Crispin and Crispinian, which he founded at Osnabriick. Crispin and Crispinian are the patron saints of shoe- makers, saddlers, and tamiers. Their feast falls on 25 October.

.Irra .S.S., Oct., XI, 495-540; BARiNo-GotiLo, Lives of the Samls. XII, 628; Bdtleb, Lives of the Saints. 25 October; liio- BiU. a. V. Gabriel Meier.

Crispin of Viterbo, Blessed, Friar Minor Capu- chin; b. at Viterbo in IOCS; d. at Rome, 19 May, 1750. When he was five years old, his pious mother took him to a .sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin, a short distance from Viterbo, wlic-n- she con.secrated him to the Mother of God and placrd liim under her special protection. The child grew layotid his years in virtue and the science of the saints; so that the townsfolk of Viterbo were wont to call him il Santnrtihi, the little saint. As Crispin one day saw the Cajiuchin novices walking in procession, God inspired him with the de- sire to embrace the religious life. He was shortly afterwards received into the Franciscan Order as a simple lay brother. Having been employed for some time as cook in the convent at Viterbo, he was sent to Tolfa, a town not far distant from Civita Vecchia, to fulfil the same office. Thence he was sent to Rome and finally to Albano. Here Crispin was visited by men of the world, by bishops and cardinals, and even by the pope himself, who always took delight in con- versing with the humble lay brother. It was Crispin's constant endeavour to imitate the virtues of his pa- tron, St. Felix of Cantalice, whom he had chosen as his model of perfection at the beginning of his religious life. Like St. Felix, he used to call himself the a.ss or beast of burden of the Capuchins, and, having on one occasion been asketl by a stranger why he went bare- headed, Crispin answered jocosely, that "an ass does not wear a hat". Enfeebled by old age and by his numerous austerities, he was sent to Rome by hfs su- periors, there to end his holy life. His body, which even at the present time is stUl in a remarkable state of preservation, rests under one of the side altars in the church of the Capuchin Fathers in Rome. Blessed Crispin was solemnly beatified by Pope Pius VII in 180(5. His feast is (■.Irl.rat. ,1 only by the Capuchins.

Leo. Lives of the S,i,„ls „„.! HI. s-.d of the Three Orders of St. Francis (Taunton, 1»0), 11, ."<(]-s5.

Stephen M. Donovji.n. Criterion of Truth. See Truth.

Criticism, Biblical, in its fullest comprehension is the examination of the literary origins and historical values of the books composing the Bible, with the state in which these exist at the present day. Since the sacred Scriptures have come down in a great vari- ety of copies and ancient versions, showing more or less divergence of text, it is the province of that depart- ment of Biblical criticism which is called textual, or lower, to study these documents with a view to arriv- ing at the purest possible text of the sacred books. The name higher critun.im. w-as first employed by the German Biblical scholar Eichhorn, in the second edi- tion of his "Einleitung", appearing in 1787. It is not, as supposed by some, an arrogant denomination, a.ssuming superior wisdom, but it has come into use because this sort of criticism deals with the larger aspects of Bible study; viz., with the .authorship, date, composition, and authority of whole books or large sections, as distinguished from the discussion of tex- tual minutia", which is the sphere of the lower, or textual, criticism. The subject will, therefore, be treated in this article under the two heads: I. Higher Criticism; II. Textual Critici.sm.

I. Higher Criticism. — Taken in this limited sen.se. Biblical criticism, in the light of modern i)hilological, historical, and archaeological science, and by methods which are recent in their development, subjects to severe t<?sts the previously accepted and traditional views on the human authorship, the time and manner of composition, of the sacred writings, and discrimi- nates as to their objective historical value. In reach- ing its results it sets more store on evidences internal to the book.s than on extern.al traditions or attesta- tions, and its undeniable elTect is to depreciate tradi- tion in a great measure, so that there exists a sharply-