ON SS. JOHN AND CRISPUS, PRIESTS OF ROME,
PERHAPS MARTYRS ALSO,
From the Martyrologies.
Under Diocletian.
CommentaryJohn, priest of Rome, perhaps also martyr (St.)
Crispus, priest of Rome, perhaps also martyr (St.)
J. B. S.
Concerning these two holy priests I have sought in vain for anything to add to what was said long ago in the observation on Usuard for this day. These Martyrs are known from elsewhere, This is true, that mention of them occurs not infrequently in this Work, and will occur further, namely as often as we have treated, or shall hereafter treat, of those Martyrs to whose bodies they are read to have given their most dutiful service in burying, as it stands in the Martyrologies. The various Saints buried by them, as also the cemeteries in which they were buried, Piazza enumerates in his Sacred Roman Diary on this day, of which likewise, as I have said, there is mention in our Acts. Nor do we judge that we should dwell longer upon them just now. It concerns us more to know whether they too were truly Martyrs, or rather rested in peace, as our Martyrologies seem sufficiently to indicate. Nor indeed have I hitherto been able to be informed from any other source, either of their other deeds or of their martyrdom, so that here it remains to speak almost of their cult alone.
[2] The first, so far as I know, to mention them is the author of the Little Roman, with this most simple announcement: and are marked in the Martyrologies. At Rome, of John and Crispus the priests. Thence Ado, having received them, adorned them with this brief elogium: On the same day at Rome, in the sixth of Philip (see the cited Usuard), the birthday of the blessed priests John and Crispus, who in the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian most dutifully buried many bodies of the Saints. Being afterward associated with their merits, they too deserved the joys of life. These words were copied by Usuard, rightly omitting the sixth of Philip and the name of Maximian; in which manner also they are commemorated in the ancient Bellini and in the Roman of today, with the single word eternal added to life. A little more clearly, though I do not know whether more truly, speaks the Plantin Bede in these words: At Rome, the blessed John and Crispus, priests, who most dutifully buried many bodies of the Saints in the persecution, and themselves afterward rested in peace.
[3] More recent writers — Maurolycus, Galesinius, Ghini, and others — I do not enumerate. It is asked whether they Here the last words of Bede are to be noted, which surely exclude martyrdom plainly enough. Nor indeed do that Old Roman, or Ado, or Usuard assert it: for to be associated with their merits by no means signifies to die by the same kind of death; nor do they seem to hint at anything else than that John and Crispus were made partakers of the merits of the Martyrs by burying them, deserving the joys of eternal life on that ground. Nor do I sufficiently see that Baronius, in what he writes in the Annals at the year 302, number 116, clearly indicates that they too suffered. He has it thus: From the same Roman clergy also John and Crispus, distinguished by the order of the priesthood, when in the same persecution they had reverently committed the bodies of many Martyrs to burial, were themselves also associated with their merits; whose memory, marked on their certain birthday, is notable in the Church.
[4] obtained the palm of martyrdom: Let these things be said, that it may appear why in the title I have added the particle perhaps, namely because their martyrdom was not altogether certain; although for the rest I incline rather to think that they obtained that palm, which Peter de Natalibus and Ferrari expressly attribute to them, though I do not know on what authority they rest. Let us hear the bishop of Equilio, book 7, chapter 75: John and Crispus, priests, suffered at Rome under Diocletian Augustus. Who, when in the flood of that emperor's persecution they had most dutifully buried many bodies of the Saints, being themselves also seized by the emperor and slain by the sword in the confession of Christ, were themselves too associated with the merits of those same Martyrs, and deserved the joys of life on the XV of the Kalends of September, as Ado says. No less expressly Ferrari: Wherefore, being seized by order of Diocletian, since they remained strong in the confession of Christ, they came to the palm of martyrdom and were made partakers with those whom they buried, on the XV of the Kalends of September.
[5] and where their bodies were buried and set forth for public veneration. Here you have what could be said of their cult and martyrdom: it may now be asked where the Saints were buried, or their relics set forth for veneration. To the first, Ferrari rightly notes that this is expressed neither in Ado nor in Usuard. Among our papers I find two images of different size, published by our Fathers of Prague, in which St. Crispus is represented clothed in alb and stole among various bodies of Martyrs, and it is noted below that his sacred body was brought from Rome to Prague in the year 1637, and given to the church of the Professed House there, where it is reverently honored. Whether it is of this same St. Crispus of whom we here speak, I have nothing whereby I can safely determine; this at least I find expressed, that it was received at Rome by our celebrated Father Nicholas Lancicius from the cemetery of Callistus, or of St. Sebastian, in which Bartolomeo Piazza, praised by us above, asserts in his Sacred Roman Diary that both Saints were buried.