On this day: Sts. Crispin and Crispinian

"This day is called the feast of Crispian . . ."

Click here to see Sir Lawrence Olivier delivering the St. Crispin's Day speech from Henry V.

This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
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 remember'd;
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 accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

--Henry V, Act IV, Scene 3.

Click here for "Historians Reassess Battle of Agincourt," a 2009 article in the New York Times by James Glanz about various revisionist historians and their critics.

Click here for the Battle of Agincourt in Wikipedia.

Click here for the article on Sts. Crispin and Crispinian in the Catholic Encyclopedia. From that:

"The legend relates that they were Romans of distinguished descent who went as missionaries of the Christian 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." They were martyred during the reign of Diocletian and are the patrons of shoemakers, saddlers, and tanners.

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