LONGINUS. The Soldier who pierced our Lord’s Side with his Spear is called by John xix. 34.this Name. We have many Stories of Longinus, but none very authentick. That which the Bollandists have published, in the Acts of the Saints on the 15th of March imports, that Longinus was one of the Soldiers appointed to guard the Cross, and the Persons who were crucified, that he observing the Miracles which happened at the Death of Jesus Christ, was converted, and acknowledged him to be a just Man; that afterwards having been set by Pilate as a Guard over our Saviour’s Sepulcher, he refused the Money, offered by the Priests in Order to corrupt him, and thereby induce him to give out, that the Disciples of our Lord had taken away his Body; which so far provoked Pilate, that he resolved upon his Destruction, but was not able to succeed in his Design: That in Order to his devoting himself intirely to Jesus Christ, he renounced a military Life without Pilate’s Leave, and retired to his own House in Cappadocia, with two of his Fellow Soldiers, who followed his Example. As soon as he came into Cappadocia, he began to preach the Gospel there, whereupon the Jews sollicited Pilate to write to the Emperor, and desire that these Deserters might be punished. At the same Time they sent Money to Rome, the more effectually to procure what they wished. Tiberius commanded Longinus and his Companions to be executed as Deserters; and Pilate accordingly sent Soldiers into Cappadocia, who cut off their Heads, and brought them to him.
Surius relates the History of him from other Acts, taken from Metaphrastes, which are still more dubious than those which we have cited. Allatius1 quotes others besides these, which he believes were written by an Eye Witness: But Bollandus who saw them, has not thought fit so much as to take a Copy of them. Saint Chrysostom2 tells us, that in his Time there were People who maintained, that the Centurion mentioned Matth. xxvii. 54.in the Gospel, who gave Glory to God, saying of a Truth this was the Son of God; that this Centurion, I say, was so well confirmed in the Faith, as to suffer Martyrdom, and that the Acts of his Martyrdom were in the Hands of some Persons: But he does not affirm that this was he who pierced our Saviour’s Side; and much less still that his Name was Longinus. The Greeks assert, that Longinus suffered Martyrdom at Andrales or Sandrales, near Thyane in Cappadocia, and they honour him upon the sixteenth of October. The Latins believe Longinus not to be the Centurion, but the Soldier who pierced the Son of God’s Side. They keep his Festival upon the fifteenth of March: See Bollandus on the fifteenth of this Month, and M. de Tillemont’s Ecclesiastical History, Tom. i. Note 38. upon Jesus Christ. p. 477, 478.
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