Saint Crescentinus (died June 1, 303) is the patron saint

Patron saint

A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...

 of Urbino

Urbino

Urbino is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482...

 whose feast day

Calendar of saints

The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the feast day of said saint...

 is celebrated on June 1. Venerated as a warrior saint, he is sometimes depicted on horseback, killing a dragon

Dragon

A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...

, in the same manner as Saint George

Saint George

Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...

. However, as Martin Davies writes, "S. Crescentino’s story, so far as I am aware, excludes a Princess

Princess

Princess is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or his daughters....

 or other female victim."

The coin

Coin

A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....

 known as the armellino (and popularly as the volpetta) issued by the duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria I della Rovere

Francesco Maria I della Rovere

Francesco Maria I della Rovere was an Italian condottiero, who was Duke of Urbino from 1508 until 1538.- Biography :...

, featured Saint Crescentinus on horseback.

Legend

Crescentinus is traditionally said to have been a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 soldier who converted to Christianity. To escape the persecutions of Diocletian

Diocletian

Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244  – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....

, he fled to Umbria

Umbria

Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...

, and found refuge at Thifernum Tiberinum (the present-day Città di Castello

Città di Castello

Città di Castello is a city and comune in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of the Umbria region of Italy. It is situated on a slope of the Apennines, on the flood plain of the river Tiber. The city is north of Perugia and south of Cesena on the S3bis. It is connected to the A1...

). His defeat of a dragon led to a successful evangelization of the region together with his companions. His mission was confined particularly to the Tiber

Tiber

The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It drains a basin estimated at...

 valley and the ancient Thifernum Tiberinum. He was subsequently beheaded

Decapitation

Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...

.

Veneration

Blessed Mainard (Mainardo), bishop of Urbino, wishing to enrich its cathedral, brought the saint's relics to the city in 1068.http://www2.chiesacattolica.it/cci/diocesi/allegati_applet2/documenti/2002-06/07-215/la%20fede21-07_06.rtf

He is still venerated at Urbino, and on Saint Crescentinus' Day, a statue of the saint is carried through the streets. A ceremony practiced involves tapping a worshipper's head with Crescentinus' relics to free the supplicant from headache

Headache

A headache or cephalalgia is pain anywhere in the region of the head or neck. It can be a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and neck. The brain tissue itself is not sensitive to pain because it lacks pain receptors. Rather, the pain is caused by disturbance of the...

.http://www.prourbino.it/UrbinatiIllustri/Crescenziano/Crescentino.htm

External links

San Crescentino L'omelia di S.E.R. il Cardinale Sergio Sebastiani

Further reading

Information about this saint may be found in the Acta Sanctorum

Acta Sanctorum

Acta Sanctorum is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, which is organised according to each saint's feast day. It begins with two January volumes, published in 1643, and ended with the Propylaeum to...

, as well as in Angelo Conti, Fiori Vaghi delle Vite dei Santi e Beati delle Chiese, e Reliquie della Città di Castello (1627), pp-45ff.