European Examples. — France
Ss. Crispin and Crispianus, the Patron Saints of Shoemakers
Undoubtedly the first shoemakers who obtained anything like a general reputation were the famous brothers Crispin and Crispianus, who are said to have lived in the third century of our era. These saints have been regarded almost ever since that early time as the tutelary or patron saints of shoemakers, who are, to tell the truth, not a little proud of their romantic title, “the sons of Crispin.” We must be careful how we speak of these saints, for it seems to be an open question whether the story of their holy self-denying lives and martyr-deaths be true or false. If the main features of the story be true, they have been greatly distorted by fable. We give the story as it is generally reported.
SS. Crispin and Crispianus were born in Rome. Having become converts to Christianity, they set out with St. Denis from that city to become preachers of the Gospel, travelled on foot through Italy, and finally settled down at a little town, now called Soissons, in the modern department of Aisne, about fifty or sixty miles to the north-east of Paris. Here they are said to have devoted their time during the day to preaching, and to have maintained themselves by working during most of the night as shoemakers. This they did on the apostolic model of Paul, who, while he carried on his mission as a preacher, maintained himself by his trade as a tent-maker, that he might be “chargeable to no man.” Very little more can be told of the life of these saintly shoemakers than this; but this, surely, is a great deal. The story goes that they suffered martyrdom by the order of Rictus Varus, governor or consul in Belgic Gaul, during the persecution under Diocletian and Maximinus, on the 25th of October, 287. The 25th of October is still kept in honor of these saints in some parts of England and Wales, and in other European countries. The shoemakers of the district turn out in large numbers and parade the streets, headed by bands of music, and accompanied by banners on which are emblazoned the emblems of the craft.
It is difficult, as already intimated, to tell how much of pure legend has been imported into the history of the saints of Soissons. One tradition declares them to have been of noble birth, and to have adopted their humble trade entirely for Christian and charitable purposes. Another story relates how they furnished the poor with shoes at a very low price, and that, in order to replenish their stock, and as a mark of divine favor, an angel came to them by night with supplies of leather; while yet another fable, not very creditable to their morals, avows that Saint Crispin stole the leather, so that he might be able to give shoes to the poor. Hence the term Crispinades to denote charities done at the expense of other people. To crown all, it is averred on one authority that after suffering a horrible death by the sword, their bodies were thrown into the sea, and were cast ashore at Romney Marsh.82 Such tales are worthless, except as indicating the wide extent of popularity the shoemakers of Soissons secured by virtue of their piety and benevolence.83
Mrs. Jameson, in her interesting work on “Legendary Art,”84 says, “The devotional figures which are common in old French prints represent these saints standing together, holding the palm in one hand, and in the other the awl or shoemaker’s knife. They are very often met with in old stained glass working at their trade, or making shoes for the poor—the usual subjects in shoemakers’ guilds all over France and Germany. Italian pictures of these saints are rare. There is, however, one by Guido, which presents the throned Madonna, and St. Crispin presenting to her his brother, St. Crispianus, while angels from above scatter flowers on the group. Looking over the old French prints of St. Crispin and St. Crispinian, which are in general either grotesque or commonplace, I met with one not easily to be forgotten. It represents these two famous saints proceeding on their mission to preach the gospel in France. They are careering over the sea in a bark drawn by sea-horses and attended by tritons, and are attired in the full court-dress of the time of Louis XV., with laced coats and cocked hats and rapiers!”
Probably many of these curious prints may still be seen in the library of the cathedral at Soissons, famous for its rare mss. and books. But a better memorial of these patron saints than any of the absurd representations of legendary art was the church erected in their honor in the sixth century, and the religious house which stood on the traditionary site of their prison. This house was afterward transformed into a monastery dedicated to St. Crispin, and in the year 1142 received the sanction of Pope Innocent II.85
The Learned Baudouin
The eminent French antiquary, Benoit Baudouin, is by far the most learned man who has risen from the ranks of the shoemaker class in France. A native of Amiens, he was born somewhere about the middle of the sixteenth century. His father, who was also a cordonnier in that city, taught him the art and mystery of the craft; but the clever youth soon rose above his lowly circumstances, and became first a theological student, and afterward the principal of the college in the old town of Troyes. Here the ancient and extensive library delighted him, and his studies as a historian and antiquary were determined to some extent by his former occupation as a shoemaker; for, besides a translation of certain ancient tragedies,86 he is not known to have written any original work excepting his “Chaussures des Anciens,” or “The Shoes of the Ancients.” Baudouin never blushed to own his former vocation,87 and in writing this remarkable work he was evidently moved by a desire to do it honor.88 A strange book indeed it must be, full of the most curious and out-of-the-way learning and singular notions; for, not content with describing the various kinds of shoes worn by Roman and Greek and other ancient peoples who have flourished within the historic period, the enthusiastic and daring scholar pushes his inquiry back to the days “when Adam delved and Eve span,” until, at length, he discovers the origin of the foot-covering in the communication of the secret by the Almighty Himself to “the first man, Adam!” Spite of its preposterous speculations, the work of the ex-shoemaker of Amiens is learned and valuable, contains a vast amount of curious lore in regard to a not unimportant subject, and helps to confirm his claim to the ambitious title of “the learned Baudouin.” The first edition of this work seems to have been published in Paris, 1615.89 It was afterward issued at Amsterdam, 1667, and at Leyden, 1711, and Leipsic, 1733, in Latin. A writer in the Biographie Universelle says that Baudouin held at one time the office of director of the Hotel Dieu at Troyes. This illustrious French shoemaker died and was buried in that town in 1632.
Henry Michael Buch — “Good Henry.”
Whether the story of the shoemaker-saints of Soissons be regarded as apocryphal or not, it has undoubtedly had considerable influence for good, either directly or indirectly, over the minds of those who call themselves sons of Crispin. Much of this has been due to the character and work of a man who was evidently inspired by the story of St. Crispin. Through the agency of this man a very important movement was begun in the middle of the seventeenth century, which ultimately issued in a widespread religious and social reform among the shoemakers and other operatives of Western Europe. We allude to the foundation of a society called “The Pious Confraternity of Brother Shoemakers,” having as their patrons and models the saints Crispin and Crispianus. The founder of this society was Henry Michael Buch, who was known throughout Paris, in his day and long after, as Good Henry.
Henry Michael Buch came from the Duchy of Luxemburg, where he had been born, and where his parents, who were day-laborers, had brought him up in a very simple manner. As a child, Buch was remarkably gifted and very pious. He was early apprenticed to a shoemaker, and was accustomed to spend his Sundays and holidays in public worship or private devotion. During his apprenticeship he began the work of reform among the members of his own craft, for his young heart was grieved to see them living in ignorance and vice. Enlisting the help of the more serious among them in his good work, he endeavored to instruct the apprentices of the town in the doctrines of religion, to draw them away from ale-houses and vicious company, and to persuade them to spend their time in a sensible and profitable manner. Taking the patron saints of the trade for a model, he cultivated habits of self-denial and beneficence, went always meanly clad, abandoned luxuries in food and clothing, and frequently gave away his own garments in order to clothe some poor brother shoemaker. While at Luxemburg and Messen, he lived chiefly on bread and water, so that he might be able to feed the hungry and destitute.
Having removed to Paris, his good deeds soon attracted the attention of Gaston John Baptist, Baron of Renti, who was so much impressed by the shoemaker’s simplicity of manner, intelligence, and missionary zeal, that he persuaded Buch to establish in that city a confraternity among the members of his own humble craft for the purpose of instructing them in the principles and practices of a holy life. With a view to strengthen his hands for such a task, the freedom of the city was purchased for him, and means were supplied him for starting in business as a master shoemaker, “so that he might take apprentices and journeymen who were willing to follow the rules that were prescribed them.”90
Seven men and youths having joined him on these terms, the foundation of his Confraternity was laid in 1645, Good Henry being appointed the first superior.91
Two years after this, the tailors of the city, who had noticed the conduct of the shoemakers, and had been delighted with the goodly spectacle presented in their happy and useful lives, resolved to follow the example. They borrowed a copy of the rules, and started a similar society in 1647.
These brotherhoods, but notably those of the shoemakers, were spread through France and Italy, and were the means of doing an immense amount of good among the members of the two crafts.
The rules of the fraternity founded by Buch were assimilated to certain monastic orders. They enjoined rising at five o’clock and meeting for united prayer before engaging in work, prayers offered by the superior as often as the clock strikes, at certain hours the singing of hymns while at work, at other times silence and meditation; meditation before dinner, the reading of some devotional work by one of the number during meals; a retreat for a few days in every year; assisting on Sundays and holy days at sermons and “the divine office;” the visitation of the poor and sick, of hospitals and prisons; self-examination, followed by prayer together at night and retiring to rest at nine o’clock.
Henry Michael Buch, the founder of this remarkable society with its offshoots all over Western Europe, succeeded in making the title Sons of Crispin something more than a name in the case of thousands of his brother workmen. Bearing in mind his humble birth and training, his scanty means, his social position, the unpromising materials he had to work with, it will be allowed that the moral reform he inaugurated among working-men deserves to be classed among the best things of the kind of which we read in history. Buch died at Paris on the 9th June, 1666, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Gervaise.92