Email us for help
Loading...
Premium support
Log Out
Our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy have changed. We think you'll like them better this way.
“The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (Matthew 27:54).
According to Church Tradition, St. Longinus was the soldier who pierced the side of the Crucified Savior with a spear. Longinus was chief of the soldiers who were present at the Crucifixion of the Lord on Golgotha.
The legend of St. Longinus states that having been wounded in a past battle, he was blind in one eye.
He was healed when he pierced the side of Jesus with his spear and some of the blood and water from Jesus fell into his eyes.
Longinus was also the chief of the watch that guarded the tomb. When the Romans and the elders in Jerusalem learned of the Resurrection of Christ, they bribed the soldiers to spread the false news that Christ did not resurrect, but rather that His disciples stole His body.
