Annual St Crispin Day – Henry V speech roundup!

What you have been waiting for all month, I’m sure, knowing that soon it would be St. Crispin’s.

The 3rd c. martyrs Crispin and Crispinian were killed in Soissons.  They converted people as they plied their trade as cobblers and they were generous to the poor.  They were persecuted by the local governor and eventually beheaded around on 25 Oct 286 in the time of the Emperor Diocletian.  A different version has them in England, in Faversham, which is surely the version Shakespeare worked with.   St. Eligius made a reliquary for the head of Crispinian.

Their remains are in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Panisperna. Their altar and urn in the church. HERE

Now let get to the famous speech.  I’ll bet more than one of you has it memorized.

Other times I posted this roundup there were great comments, especially from our long lost Semper Gumby whose observations we sorely miss and hope to enjoy again very soon.  I really miss him.   I should send Tracer Bullet out to find him.

Henry V (1944) directed by and starring Lawrence Olivier

Henry V (1989) directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh

Richard Burton’s version:

Tom Hiddleston from the Hollow Crown series. US HERE UK HERE


Renaissance Man with Lillo Brancato, Jr.

Here is another, from the well-reviewed Globe production.

Happy Feast of Sts. Crispin and Crispinian.

And let the revival of our liturgical worship continue.

The numbers of Holy Masses in the Extraordinary Form are growing, though but slowly.

Also, I fear that the number of bishops, priests and laity who accept what the Church teaches about marriage is shrinking.

For now content us saying “the fewer men, the greater share of honour”.

And remember… Latin is tooooo haaaaard for children.

They can’t possibly be expected to put on different clothing and recite something lofty from memory.

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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5 Comments

  1. Not says:

    My Son went to a Traditional Catholic school for 12 years. When he went to College, the Fraternities were trying to get him to join.. He wasn’t impressed with what they had to offer. He decided to start his own Fraternity. They had a Moral Code and did Charitable works.
    They watched the whole series, Band of Brothers. The Band of Brothers speech became their Theme. They are all successful and are still close. The Fraternity is still there and thriving.

  2. Olaf Haraldson says:

    Thank you for sharing these beautiful speeches. I memorized it in 8th grade and still remember it word-for-word 30 years later.

  3. Chili says:

    On a national basis, US diocesan tribunals consistently grant annulments well over 95% of the time once a petition seeking nullity has been accepted for judicial review. Many dioceses grant petitions 100% of the time. It’s been like this for decades.

    In practice, what the Catholic Church teaches about marriage RARELY survives Catholic judicial review following divorce.

    So the reason why Catholics increasingly disbelieve what the church teaches about marriage is very simple: Actions speak louder than words.

    If almost anyone can obtain an annulment by applying for it, who in their right mind is going to believe a priest when he says “marriage enjoys the favor of law, all marriages are presumed to be valid, the marital bond cannot be broken except by death, just as Christ is bound to the church, so too a bride and groom are bound to one another for life”, etc etc, etc, ad nauseam??

    Answer: no one.

    I frankly tire of hearing boilerplate homilies about marriage that never disclose the reality about what’s going on in Catholic tribunals or how the divorced can avail themselves to the annulment process and move on with their lives rather than remaining mired in “Catholic teachings about marriage” that so often serve to keep both the married and the divorced living in guilt, misery, pain and/or fear their entire lives.

    Catholics will be much better off focusing on what Catholic courts are DOING as opposed to what Catholic priests are SAYING about marriage.

  4. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    And of course there is Act IV, Scene viii: King Henry: “Do we all holy rites: / Let there be sung Non nobis and Te Deum, / The dead with charity enclos’d in clay”. The ‘Non nobis’ canon sung in the Olivier movie is something we sang in high school – and would probably be something much younger children could sing as well.

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