March 15th.

St. Longinus.

Longinus is the name given by tradition to the soldier who pierced the side of the crucified Christ with his lance, causing blood and water to come forth, ‘sacramental signs for the life of the Church’. The name is derived from the Greek word for ‘lance’; one tradition has also linked him to the centurion who identified Christ as the Son of God after he died on the cross. As usually happens when there is a shortage of biographical information, the writers of legends, especially the medieval collection the Golden Legend, provide plenty of supplementary material. According to this, Longinus was losing his eyesight, but the blood of Christ promptly healed him; he left the army and became a hermit in Caesarea. He was brought to trial, refused to sacrifice to the gods, and smashed the pagan idols with an axe. The evil spirits which came forth from the idols caused the Roman governor to go both mad and blind, and Longinus said he would only be healed after his own death, which occurred shortly afterwards. The governor ended his days in the performance of works of charity.