From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   December 5th - St Crispina, Martyr   
      
   ST AUGUSTINE frequently mentions St Crispina as one well known in Africa in   
   his   
   time, and we learn from him that she was a woman of rank, native of Thagara   
   in   
   Numidia, married, with several children, and worthy of estimation with such   
   famous martyrs as St Agnes and St Thecla. During the persecution of   
   Diocletian   
   she was brought before the proconsul Anulinus at Theveste, charged with   
   ignoring   
   the imperial commands. When she came into court Anulinus asked: "Have you   
   understood the meaning of the decree?" Crispina replied: "I do not know what   
   that decree is."   
      
   Anulinus: It is that you should sacrifice to all our gods for the welfare of   
   the   
   emperors, according to the law given by our lords Diocletian and Maximian,   
   the   
   pious Augusti, and Constantius, the most illustrious Caesar.   
   Crispina: I will never sacrifice to any but the one God and to our Lord   
   Jesus   
   Christ His Son, who was born and suffered for us.   
   Anulinus: Give up this superstition and bow your head before our sacred   
   gods.   
   Crispina: I worship my God every day, and I know no other.   
   Anulinus: You are obstinate, disrespectful and you will bring upon yourself   
   severity of the law.   
   Crispina: If necessary I will suffer for the faith that I hold.   
   Anulinus: Are you so vain a creature that you will not put away your folly   
   and   
   worship the sacred deities?   
   Crispina: I worship my God every day, and I know no other.   
   Anulinus: I put the sacred edict before you for your observance.   
   Crispina: I observe an edict, but it is that of my Lord Jesus Christ.   
   Anulinus: You will lose your head if you do not obey the emperors' commands.   
   All   
   Africa has submitted to them and you will be made to do the same.   
   Crispina: I will sacrifice to the Lord who made the heavens and the earth,   
   the   
   sea and all things that are in them. But I will never be forced to sacrifice   
   to   
   evil spirits.   
   Anulinus: Then you will not accept those gods to whom you must give honour   
   if   
   you would save your life?   
   Crispina: That is no true religion that forces the unwilling.   
   Anulinus: Will you not comply, and with bent head offer a little incense in   
   the   
   sacred temples?   
   Crispina: I have never done such a thing since I was born, and I will not do   
   it   
   so long as I live.   
   Anulinus: Do it, however, just to escape the penalty of the law.   
   Crispina: I do not fear what you threaten, but I fear the God who is in   
   Heaven.   
   If I defy Him then shall I be sacrilegious and He will cast me off, and I   
   shall   
   not be found in the day that He comes.   
   Anulinus: You cannot be sacrilegious if you obey the law.   
   Crispina: Would you have me sacrilegious before God that I may not be so   
   before   
   the emperors? No indeed! God is great and almighty: He made the sea and the   
   green plants and the dry land. How can I consider men, the work of His   
   hands,   
   before Himself?   
   Anulinus: Profess the Roman religion of our lords the unconquerable   
   emperors, as   
   we ourselves observe it.   
   Crispina: I know one only God. Those gods of yours are stones, things carved   
   by   
   hands of men.   
   Anulinus: You utter blasphemy. That is not the way to look after your own   
   safety.   
   Then Anulinus ordered her hair to be cut off and her head shaved, exposing   
   her   
   to the derision of the mob, and when she still remained firm asked her: "Do   
   you   
   want to live? Or to die in agony like your fellows Maxima, Donatilla and   
   Secunda?"   
   Crispina: If I wanted to die and abandon my soul to loss and endless fire I   
   should treat your demons in the way you wish.   
   Anulinus: I will have you beheaded if you persist in mocking at our   
   venerable   
   gods.   
   Crispina: Thank God for that. I should certainly lose my head if I took to   
   worshipping them.   
   Anulinus: Do you then persist in your folly?   
   Crispina: My God, who was and who is, willed that I be born. He brought me   
   to   
   salvation through the waters of baptism. And He is with me to stay my soul   
   from   
   committing the sacrilege that you require.   
   Anulinus: Can we endure this impious Crispina any longer?   
      
   The proconsul ordered the proceedings that had taken place to be read over   
   aloud, and he then sentenced Crispina to death by the sword. At which she   
   exclaimed: "Praise to God who has looked down and delivered me out of your   
   hands".  She suffered at Theveste on December 5, in the year 304.   
      
   The passio of this martyr is printed in Ruinart's Acta Sincera, but a more   
   critical text has been edited by P. Franchi de' Cavalieri in Studi e Testi,   
   vol.   
   ix (1902), pp. 23-31. Among similar records, which are so often overlaid   
   with   
   wordy declamations and extravagant miracles, the document ranks high. Still,   
   as   
   Delehaye has pointed out, it cannot in its entirety be accepted as a   
   faithful   
   transcript of an official procès verbal preserved as a legal record of the   
   trial. See the valuable comments in his Les passions des martyrs...(1921),   
   pp.   
   110-114. Consult also P. Monceaux in Mélanges Boissier (1903), pp. 383-389.   
   From   
   the Calendar of Carthage and the Hieronymianum, it seems probable that   
   Crispina   
   was one of a group of other martyrs. There was a great basilica at Theveste   
   (Tabessa) which probably contained her shrine; see Gsell, Les monuments   
   antiques   
   de l'Algérie, vol. ii, pp. 265-291.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   A soul truly resigned to God has no affection for any created thing, for it   
   sees   
   clearly that all its possessions, except God, are vain and nullity.  So its   
   single object and aim is to die to itself, and resign itself actually and   
   always   
   in all things.   
   --Bl. Henry Suso   
      
   Bible Quote   
   15 I will praise thy name continually, and will praise it with thanksgiving,   
   and   
   my prayer was heard. 16 And thou hast saved me from destruction, and hast   
   delivered me from the evil time.   (Ecclesiasticus 51:16-17)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Imitate Christ   
      
    Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live   
   a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a   
   fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.   
    But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality,   
   or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, becasue these are improper for   
   God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse   
   joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you   
   can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person - such a man is an   
   idolater - has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no   
   one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath   
   comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with   
   them.   
    For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.   
   Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all   
   goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)