Crescas (or Kreskas), Chasdai Ben-abraham

Crescas (or Kreskas), Chasdai Ben-Abraham a Spanish rabbi, was born at Barcelona about 1340, and died in 1410 at Saragossa. He was the scion of a. noble family, and stood high in reputation at the royal court and among the rabbinical authorities of his time, who solicited his opinion on momentous questions. In 1391 he witnessed the fanatical persecution of the Jews in Spain, in which he lost his son. He is the author of a polemical work, entitled מִאֲמִר, "On the Dogmas of Christianity," with a refutation of the same, treating of (1) original sin; (2) redemption; (3) incarnation; (4) virginity of Mary; (5) eucharist, etc., written in Spanish, and translated into Hebrew by Joseph ibn-ShemTob. Another work of his is Or Adonai, אוֹר אֲדוֹנָי, "light of the Lord," a logical masterpiece of the dogmatics of Judaism, published at Vienna in 1860. See Furst, Bibl. Jud. 2:209; De' Rossi, Dizionario Storico (Germ. transl.), page 173, and Bibl. Judaica Antichristiana, page 24, 29; Griatz, Gesch. d. Juden, 8:32 sq., 98 sq., 410. sq.; Jost, Gesch. d. Juden. u.s. Sekten, 3:84; Finn, Sephardim, page 393; Lindo, History of the Jews in Spain, page 268; Frankel, Monatsschrift, 1867, page 311 sq.; especially Joel, Don Chasdai Creska's Religionsphilosophische Lehren (Breslau, 1866). (B.P.) Crescens is the name of several early Christians:

1. The disciple of St. Paul, afterwards bishop in Galatia, variously commemorated on June 27 or April 15.

2. One of the seven sons of St. Symphorosa, martyr at Tivoli under Hadrian, commemorated July 21 or June 27.

3. Or Crescentius, martyr at Tomi, commemorated October 1.

4. Crescens, Paulus, and Dioscorides were three boy martyrs of Rome, commemorated May 28.

5. Bishop of Cirta, in Numidia, now Constantine. Crescens is a particularly common name on monuments of Cirta (8th Suffrag. in Syn. Carth. sub. Cyp. 7, A.D. 256).