Sts. Crispin and Crispinian, Patron Saints of Shoemakers

Sts. Crispin and Crispinian, the patron saints of shoemakers and cobblers, were Christian missionaries in Roman Gaul who made shoes with their own hands to support themselves and help the poor, and who were martyred at Soissons about the year 286. Their feast on October 25, St. Crispin’s Day, was for centuries a holiday for shoemakers, and it became famous throughout the English-speaking world through the Battle of Agincourt, fought on that day in 1415, and the speech Shakespeare wrote for King Henry V: “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.” Below are their story, Shakespeare’s St. Crispin’s Day speech, and prayers to Sts. Crispin and Crispinian.

Who were Sts. Crispin and Crispinian?

According to their legend, Crispin and Crispinian were brothers from a noble Roman family who went to Gaul as missionaries and settled at Soissons, in what is now northern France. Following the example of St. Paul, who worked as a tentmaker, they supported themselves by a trade: they made shoes, preaching the Gospel by day and working at their bench by night, and they used what they earned to help the poor. Many people came to the faith through their example.

During the persecution of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, they were arrested and brought before Maximian, who tried to win them over with promises and threats. They answered that Christ was their life and death would be their gain. Handed over to the cruel governor Rictiovarus, they were tortured, thrown into the River Aisne with millstones around their necks, and survived, until at last they were beheaded, on October 25, about 286.

The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia notes that many details of the legend are late and uncertain, but their veneration is ancient: in the sixth century a great basilica was built over their tomb at Soissons, and St. Eligius, the goldsmith bishop, made a precious shrine for their relics. Some relics were taken to Rome, and Charlemagne gave others to the cathedral of Osnabrück in Germany, which is dedicated to them. An English tradition says they fled for a time to Faversham in Kent and worked there as shoemakers.

St. Paul’s words that the two brothers lived out (Acts 20:34–35):

You yourselves know: for such things as were needful for me and them that are with me, these hands have furnished.
I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the word of the Lord Jesus, how he said: It is a more blessed thing to give, rather than to receive.

What are Sts. Crispin and Crispinian the patron saints of?

Sts. Crispin and Crispinian are the patron saints of:

Shoemakers and cobblers
Leatherworkers, tanners and saddlers
Glovemakers and others who work with leather
The cities of Soissons in France and Osnabrück in Germany

Shoemakers’ guilds across Europe kept their feast with Mass and a banquet, and in England St. Crispin’s Day was the shoemakers’ holiday. In the United States, the Knights of St. Crispin, founded in 1867, was for a time the largest labor union in the country.

St. Crispin’s Day and the Battle of Agincourt

On St. Crispin’s Day, October 25, 1415, the small, exhausted army of King Henry V of England defeated a much larger French army at Agincourt. Nearly two centuries later, William Shakespeare gave Henry a speech on the morning of the battle that has inspired soldiers ever since. These are its best-known lines (Henry V, Act IV, Scene 3):

This day is call’d the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say, ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian’;
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say, ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words,
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England, now a-bed,
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Prayers to Sts. Crispin and Crispinian

Written for this page.

Prayer to Sts. Crispin and Crispinian

Holy martyrs Crispin and Crispinian, you worked with your hands,
shared what you earned with the poor, and gave your lives for Christ.
Pray for all shoemakers, craftsmen and those who work with their hands,
that their labor may be honest, their work well made,
and their hearts generous to those in need.
Sts. Crispin and Crispinian, pray for us. Amen.

For those who work with their hands

Lord Jesus, you worked as a carpenter in Nazareth.
Bless all who make and mend the things we use every day.
Give them pride in their work, fair pay for their labor,
and the joy of serving you in what they do. Amen.

For the poor who have no shoes

Lord, through the prayers of Sts. Crispin and Crispinian,
remember the children and adults who walk without shoes or warm clothing.
Make us generous to share what we have, and bless every work of charity that clothes the poor. Amen.

Feast day

The feast of Sts. Crispin and Crispinian is October 25. In 2026 it falls on a Sunday. Since the calendar reform of 1969 they are no longer on the general calendar of the Church, but they remain in the Roman Martyrology and are still honored in Soissons, in Osnabrück, and by shoemakers everywhere.

Frequently asked questions

Who is the patron saint of shoemakers?

Sts. Crispin and Crispinian, martyrs of Soissons, whose feast is October 25.

Who is the patron saint of cobblers?

The same two brothers. A cobbler, who repairs shoes, and a shoemaker, who makes them, share the same patrons.

What is St. Crispin’s Day?

October 25, the feast of Sts. Crispin and Crispinian. It is also remembered as the date of the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 and the setting of the St. Crispin’s Day speech in Shakespeare’s Henry V.

Were Crispin and Crispinian twins?

Their legend calls them brothers, and some later traditions make them twins, but this cannot be proved.

More patron saints

Texts and sources

Acts 20:34–35 (Douay-Rheims).
William Shakespeare, The Life of King Henry the Fifth, Act IV, Scene 3, lines 40–67, Yale Shakespeare edition (1918), public domain (Wikisource).
Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Sts. Crispin and Crispinian,” by Gabriel Meier, public domain (Wikisource).