Acts of Crispina (complete)

When Diocletian and Maximian were consuls, on the Nones of December, at the colony of Theveste, in the council chamber, Anulinus the proconsul sitting on the tribunal, the clerk of the court said, “Crispina of Thagara, who despises the law of our lords the emperors, is to be heard, if you so order.” Anulinus the proconsul said, “Let her be brought in.” And when blessed Crispina had been brought in, Anulinus the proconsul said, “Do you already know the terms of the sacred command?” Blessed Crispina answered, “I do not know what that command is.” Anulinus the proconsul said, “That you sacrifice to all our gods for the welfare of the emperors, according to the law given by our lords Diocletian and Maximian, the dutiful Augusti, and Constantius, the most noble Caesar.” Blessed Crispina answered, “I have never sacrificed, nor do I sacrifice, except to the one God, and to our Lord Jesus Christ his Son, who was born and suffered.” Anulinus the proconsul said, “Cut off this superstition, and bow your head to the rites of our gods.” Blessed Crispina answered, “Every day I worship my God, and besides him I know no other.” Anulinus the proconsul said, “You are hard and contemptuous, and you will begin to suffer the force of the laws against your will.” Blessed Crispina answered, “Whatever happens, I will gladly suffer it for the faith that I hold.” Anulinus the proconsul said, “Is your mind so empty that you will not now put away your superstition and worship the sacred divinities?” Blessed Crispina answered, “Every day I worship, but my Lord, besides whom I know no other.” Anulinus the proconsul said, “I will set before you the sacred command, for you to observe.” Blessed Crispina answered, “I observe a command, but that of my Lord Jesus Christ.” Anulinus the proconsul said, “You will lose your head if you do not obey the orders of the emperors our lords, whom you will be forced to serve in submission. All Africa has done so, as you well know.” Blessed Crispina answered, “May it never go well with them, that they would make me sacrifice to demons; but I sacrifice to the Lord, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them.” Anulinus the proconsul said, “So these gods are not accepted by you, to whom you are known to owe service, so that you may come safely to devotion?” Blessed Crispina answered, “There is no devotion that compels the unwilling under pressure.” Anulinus the proconsul said, “But would that you would be devout and follow, so that with bowed head you might offer incense to the gods of the Romans in the sacred temples.” Blessed Crispina answered, “I have never done this since I was born, nor do I know how; nor will I do it as long as I live.” Anulinus the proconsul said, “Sacrifice, if you wish to escape unharmed from the severity of the laws.” Blessed Crispina answered, “I do not fear what you say; it is nothing. But if I despise God who is in heaven, I shall be sacrilegious, and he will destroy me once for all, so that I am not found on that day to come.” Anulinus the proconsul said, “You will not be sacrilegious if you obey the sacred commands.” Blessed Crispina answered, “What do you want? That I be sacrilegious before God and not before the emperors? Far from it. God is great and almighty, who made the sea and the green plants and the dry land; but men, who were made by him, what can they give me?” Anulinus the proconsul said, “Practice the Roman religion, which our lords the most invincible Caesars and we ourselves observe.” Blessed Crispina answered, “I know God alone; for those gods are stones, and figments made by the hands of men.” Anulinus the proconsul said, “You speak blasphemy; for you do not pursue what is good for your welfare.” And Anulinus the proconsul went on, and said to the clerk of the court, “Let her be brought to every disfigurement: let her hair be cut off with a razor and her head shaved, so that her shame may first be made a public show.” Blessed Crispina answered, “Let the gods themselves speak, and I will believe. If I were not seeking salvation, I would not be before your tribunal to be heard.” Anulinus the proconsul said, “Do you want to live long, or to die in torments, like your other companions, Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda?” Blessed Crispina answered, “If I wished to die, and to hand my soul over to destruction and to eternal fire, I would give my will to your demons.” Anulinus the proconsul said, “I will cut off your head if you refuse to adore the venerable gods.” Blessed Crispina answered, “I give thanks to my God if I obtain this. I lose my head once; but if I burn incense to idols …” Anulinus the proconsul said, “And do you persist altogether in this foolish opinion of yours?” Blessed Crispina answered, “My God, who is and who was, ordered me to be born; he gave me salvation through the water of baptism, the water of milk; he is with me, so that my soul does not commit sacrilege, as you wish it to.”

Anulinus the proconsul said, “Why do we bear with the impious Crispina any further? Let what has been said be read again from the record.” And when it had been read again, Anulinus the proconsul read the sentence from a tablet: “Crispina, persisting in unworthy superstition, who has refused to sacrifice to our gods, according to the commands of the law of the Augustus … to the heavenly … place … I have ordered her to be punished by the sword.” Blessed Crispina answered, “I give praise to Christ; I bless the Lord, who has thus deigned to set me free from your hands.” Blessed Crispina suffered at the colony of Theveste on the Nones of December, under Anulinus the proconsul, in the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.