CRESCENS. S. Paul in his second Epistle to Timothy, chap. iv. v. 10. says, Crescens is departed to Galatia, or Gaul1, and Titus to Dalmatia. Eusebius, Theodoret, Epiphanius, the Chronicon Alexandrinum, Nicephorus, an anonymous Author cited by Oecumenius, and Dorotheus maintain, that Crescens preached in Gaul. S. Jerom, Usuardus and Ado affirm the same. It is believed by some, that he founded the Church of Vienne in Dauphiny; and this is a Tradition handed down in this Church. Serrarius in his History of Mentz, says, he was the Apostle of the Church of Mentz, and cites Abbot Rupert to justify his Opinion: But he confesses, that neither the Missal nor Breviary of this Church, nor any antient Monument whatever, speaks of Crescens as Founder of the Church of Mentz.
The Tradition of the Church of Vienne is not much better grounded. This Tradition is not very antient; it is not two hundred years since the name of S. Crescens was first put into the Litanies of this Church. In the Disputes which were afoot between the Churches of Arles and Vienne, concerning the right of a Metropolitan, no one ever thought of taking any advantage from the Mission of S. Crescens. It is true, there is a Letter produced from Pope Paul I. to Charlemain, wherein he says, that Crescens, a Collegue of the Apostles, was Master of the City of Vienne: But this Letter having been produced in these later Times only, there is reason to suspect, that it is spurious. Crescens died, as the Latins say, on the twenty seventh of June, as the Greeks on the thirtieth of July. The Apostolical Constitutions2 fix his Apostleship in Galatia, and declare that he died there.
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