Crescentius of Rome (Italian: San Crescenzio di Roma) is venerated as a child martyr by the Roman Catholic Church.
Saint Crescentius | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | ~292 AD |
| Died | ~303 AD Via Salaria, Rome |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Feast | September 14; October 12 (translation of relics) |
| Patronage | Siena |
According to tradition, he was born of a noble Roman family and was baptized along with his parents by Epigmenius. During the persecutions of Christians by Diocletian, the family fled to Perugia, where his father Euthymius died.[1] Led back to Rome, Crescentius, who was eleven years old, was beheaded on the via Salaria, outside of the city walls.[2]
Veneration
editHe was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla on the Via Salaria. His place of burial became a focus of pilgrimage and veneration in the Middle Ages. His body was translated from Rome to Siena around 1058 by Pope Stephen IX at the request of Bishop Antifredus.[3] Other relics were translated to Tortosa in 1606.
The only biographical source concerning Crescentius was derived from the copy of a manuscript from 1600 and conserved in the Biblioteca Vallicelliana.[2] The Acta is not reliable as it was written long after the alleged death of this saint, probably around 1058, when the body of Crescentius was translated to Siena.[2] During the Middle Ages, Crescentius was the subject of a popular cult in Siena.
References
edit- ^ Monks of Ramsgate. "Crescentius" Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 15 October 2012
- ^ a b c Balboni, Dante. "San Crescenzio di Roma", Santi e Beati
- ^ Menzies, Lucy. The Saints in Italy, Medici Society Limited, 1924, p. 125