Labadists

 Laban

 Labarum

 Jean-Baptiste Labat

 Philippe Labbe

 Labour and Labour Legislation

 Moral Aspects of Labour Unions

 Jean de La Bruyère

 Labyrinth

 Stanislas Du Lac

 Lace

 Diocese of Lacedonia

 François d'Aix de la Chaise

 Jean-Baptiste-Henri Dominique Lacordaire

 Diocese of La Crosse

 Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius

 James Laderchi

 St. Ladislaus

 René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec

 Laetare Sunday

 Pomponius Laetus

 Marie Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette

 Joseph-François Lafitau

 Louis-François Richer Laflèche

 Jean de La Fontaine

 Nicolas-Joseph Laforêt

 Charles de La Fosse

 Modesto Lafuente y Zamalloa

 Lagania

 Pierre Lagrené

 Jean-François La Harpe

 Jean de La Haye (Jesuit Biblical scholar)

 Jean de La Haye

 Philippe de la Hire

 Diocese of Lahore

 Diocese of Laibach

 Laicization

 James Lainez

 Laity

 Lake Indians

 Charles Lalemant

 Gabriel Lalemant

 Jerome Lalemant

 Jacques-Philippe Lallemant

 Louis Lallemant

 Teresa Lalor

 César-Guillaume La Luzerne

 Jean-Baptiste-Pierre-Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck

 Alphonse de Lamartine

 Paschal Lamb

 Lamb in Early Christian Symbolism

 Peter Lambeck

 St. Lambert

 Lambert Le Bègue

 Lambert of Hersfeld

 Lambert of St-Bertin

 Jacques and Jean de Lamberville

 Louis Lambillotte

 Denis Lambin

 Luigi Lambruschini

 Ven. Joseph Lambton

 Diocese of Lamego

 Félicité Robert de Lamennais

 Jean-Marie-Robert de Lamennais

 Family of Lamoignon

 Johann von Lamont

 Louis-Christophe-Leon Juchault de la Moricière

 Wilhelm Lamormaini

 Lampa

 Lamp and Lampadarii

 Lamprecht

 Early Christian Lamps

 Lampsacus

 Lamuel

 Lamus

 Bernard Lamy

 François Lamy

 Thomas Joseph Lamy

 Francesco Lana

 The Holy Lance

 Giovanni Paolo Lancelotti

 Archdiocese of Lanciano and Ortona

 Land-Tenure in the Christian Era

 Pope Lando

 Jean-François-Anne Landriot

 Lanfranc

 Giovanni Lanfranco

 Matthew Lang

 Rudolph von Langen

 Benoit-Marie Langénieux

 Simon Langham

 Langheim

 Ven. Richard Langhorne

 Richard Langley

 Diocese of Langres

 Stephen Langton

 Lanspergius

 Lantern

 Luigi Lanzi

 Laodicea

 Vicariate Apostolic of Laos

 Diocese of La Paz

 Pierre-Simon Laplace

 Lapland and Lapps

 Diocese of La Plata

 Archdiocese of La Plata

 Albert Auguste de Lapparent

 Volume 10

 Victor de Laprade

 Lapsi

 Ven. Luis de Lapuente

 Laranda

 Lares

 Armand de La Richardie

 Diocese of Larino

 Larissa

 Joseph de La Roche Daillon

 The Duke of La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt

 Henri-Auguste-Georges du Vergier, Comte de la Rochejacquelein

 Diocese of La Rochelle

 Dominique-Jean Larrey

 Charles de Larue

 Charles de La Rue

 La Salette

 Missionaries of La Salette

 René-Robert-Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle

 Ernst von Lasaulx

 Constantine Lascaris

 Janus Lascaris

 John Laski

 Baron Joseph Maria Christoph von Lassberg

 Orlandus de Lassus

 Marie Lataste

 Flaminius Annibali de Latera

 Christian Museum of Lateran

 Saint John Lateran

 Lateran Councils

 Ecclesiastical Latin

 Latin Church

 Christian Latin Literature

 Classical Latin Literature in the Church

 Brunetto Latini

 La Trappe

 Pierre-André Latreille

 Latria

 Lauda Sion

 Lauds

 Laura

 Pierre-Sébastien Laurentie

 Diocese of Lausanne and Geneva

 Jean de Lauzon

 Pierre de Lauzon

 Lavabo

 Diocese of Laval

 François de Montmorency Laval

 Jean Parisot de La Valette

 Laval University of Quebec

 Lavant

 Charles-Honoré Laverdière

 Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de Lavérendrye

 Jean-Nicolas Laverlochère

 Charles-Martial-Allemand Lavigerie

 Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier

 Law

 Canon Law

 Influence of the Church on Civil Law

 Common Law

 Moral Aspect of Divine Law

 International Law

 Natural Law

 Roman Law

 St. Lawrence (2)

 St. Lawrence (1)

 St. Lawrence Justinian

 St. Lawrence O'Toole

 Lay Abbot

 Lay Brothers

 Lay Communion

 Lay Confession

 Paul Laymann

 Lay Tithes

 Lazarus

 Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem

 St. Lazarus of Bethany

 Diocese of Lead

 The League

 German (Catholic) League

 League of the Cross

 St. Leander of Seville

 Diocese of Leavenworth

 Lebanon

 Lebedus

 Edmond-Frederic Le Blant

 Charles Lebrun

 St. Lebwin

 Emile-Paul-Constant-Ange Le Camus

 Etienne Le Camus

 Joseph Le Caron

 Diocese of Lecce

 François Leclerc du Tremblay

 Chrestien Leclercq

 Lecoy de La Marche

 Claude Le Coz

 Lectern

 Lectionary

 Lector

 Miecislas Halka Ledochowski

 Diocese of Leeds

 Camille Lefebvre

 Family of Lefèvre

 Jacques Le Fèvre

 Guy Lefèvre de la Boderie

 Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples

 Legacies

 Legate

 Literary or Profane Legends

 Legends of the Saints

 Diocese of Leghorn

 Legio

 Oliver Legipont

 Legists

 Legitimation

 Charles Le Gobien

 Louis Legrand

 Ven. Louise de Marillac Le Gras

 Arthur-Marie Le Hir

 Abbey of Lehnin

 The System of Leibniz

 Ven. Richard Leigh

 Leipzig

 University of Leipzig

 Diocese of Leitmeritz

 Jean Lejeune

 Jacques Lelong

 Louis-Joseph Le Loutre

 Diocese of Le Mans

 Lemberg

 Henry Lemcke

 François Le Mercier

 Jacques Lemercier

 Thomas de Lemos

 Le Moyne

 Simon Le Moyne

 Pierre-Charles L'Enfant

 Adam Franz Lennig

 Charles Lenormant

 François Lenormant

 Denis-Nicolas Le Nourry

 Lent

 Publius Lentulus

 Pope St. Leo I (the Great)

 Pope St. Leo II

 Pope St. Leo III

 Pope St. Leo IV

 Pope Leo V

 Pope Leo VI

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 Pope St. Leo IX

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 Brother Leo

 St. Leocadia

 St. Leodegar

 Leo Diaconus

 Diocese and Civil Province of Leon

 Diocese of León

 Luis de León

 Leonard of Chios

 St. Leonard of Limousin

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 St. Leonidas

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 Leontius Byzantinus

 Leontopolis

 Lepanto

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 Leptis Magna

 Diocese of Le Puy

 Michel Le Quien

 Diocese of Lérida

 Abbey of Lérins

 Leros

 Alain-René Le Sage

 Lesbi

 Marc Lescarbot

 Pierre Lescot

 Diocese of Lesina

 John Leslie

 Leonard Lessius

 Lessons in the Liturgy

 Louis-Henri de Lestrange

 François Eustache Lesueur

 Lete

 Charles-Maurice Le Tellier

 Michel Le Tellier (1)

 Nicolas Letourneux

 Ecclesiastical Letters

 Leubus

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 Michael Levadoux

 Louis Levau

 Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier

 Levites

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 Lex

 Juan Bautista de Lezana

 Michel de L'Hospital

 Libel

 Libellatici, Libelli

 Liberalism

 Libera Me

 Libera Nos

 Matteo Liberatore

 Liberatus of Carthage

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 Liberia

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 Ven. Francis Mary Paul Libermann

 Liber Pontificalis

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 Libraries

 Ancient Diocese of Lichfield

 St. Lidwina

 Ernst Maria Lieber

 Moriz Lieber

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 Diocese of Liège

 Liesborn

 The Master of Liesborn

 Liessies

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 Archdiocese of Lima

 Limbo

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 Limyra

 Thomas Linacre

 Archdiocese of Linares

 Diocese of Lincoln

 Diocese of Lincoln (Ancient)

 William Damasus Lindanus

 Justin Timotheus Balthasar, Freiherr von Linde

 Wilhelm Lindemann

 Ancient Diocese and Monastery of Lindisfarne

 Abbey of Lindores

 Anne Line

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 Linoe

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 Diocese of Linz

 Lippe

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 School of Lismore

 Thomas Lister

 Franz Liszt

 Litany

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 Lithuania

 Litta

 Little Office of Our Lady

 Diocese of Little Rock

 Paul-Maximilien-Emile Littré

 Liturgical Books

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 Liutprand of Cremona

 Diocese of Liverpool

 Livias

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 Diocese of Llandaff

 Llanthony Priory

 Ven. John Lloyd

 Garcia de Loaisa

 Vicariate Apostolic of Loango

 Loaves of Proposition

 Benedictine Abbey of Lobbes

 Ann Lobera

 Loccum

 Lochleven

 Stephan Lochner

 Loci Theologici

 Matthew Locke

 William Lockhart

 Ven. John Lockwood

 Diocese of Lodi

 Logia Jesu

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 The Logos

 Johann Lohel

 Tobias Lohner

 Diocese of Loja

 Lollards

 St. Loman

 Peter Lombard (1)

 Lombardy

 Etienne-Charles de Loménie de Brienne

 London

 Diocese of London (Ontario)

 James Longstreet

 Félix Lope de Vega Carpio

 Francisco Lopez-Caro

 The Lord's Prayer

 Lorea

 Francisco Antonio de Lorenzana

 Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti

 St. Lorenzo da Brindisi

 Lorette

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 Claude de Lorrain

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 Lot

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 Bl. Louis Allemand

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 St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort

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 Giovanni Battista de Luca

 Frederick Lucas

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 St. Lucy

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 St. Ludmilla

 Ludolph of Saxony

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 Francisco de Lugo

 John de Lugo

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 Bernardino Luini

 Gospel of Saint Luke

 Lulé Indians

 Jean-Baptiste Lully

 Lumen Christi

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 Gottfried Lumper

 Pedro de Luna

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 Diocese of Luni-Sarzana-Brugnato

 Lupus

 Christian Lupus

 Ottmar Luscinius

 Jean-Baptiste-Alphonse Lusignan

 Melchior Lussy

 Lust

 Martin Luther

 Lutheranism

 Aloys Lütolf

 Diocese of Lutzk, Zhitomir, and Kamenetz

 Luxemburg

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 Lycopolis

 Lydda

 John Lydgate

 Lying

 John Lynch

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 Archdiocese of Lyons

 Councils of Lyons

 First Council of Lyons (1245)

 Second Council of Lyons (1274)

 Lyrba

 Lysias

 Lystra

The Holy Lance


We read in the Gospel of St. John (xix, 34), that, after our Saviour's death, "one of the soldiers with a spear [lancea] opened his side and immediately there came out blood and water". Of the weapon thus sanctified nothing is known until the pilgrim St. Antoninus of Piancenza (A.D. 570), describing the holy places of Jerusalem, tells us that he saw in the basilica of Mount Sion "the crown of thorns with which Our Lord was crowned and the lance with which He was struck in the side". The mention of the lance at the church of the Holy Sepulchre in the so-called "Breviarus", as M. de Mely points out (Exuviae, III, 32), is not to be relied on. On the other hand, in a miniature of the famous Syriac manuscript of the Laurentian Library at Florence, illuminated by one Rabulas in the year 586, the incident of the opening of Christ's side is given a prominence which is highly significant. Moreover, the name Longinus — if, indeed, this is not a later addition — is written in Greek characters (LOGINOS) above the head of the soldier who is thrusting his lance into our Saviour's side. This seems to show that the legend which assigns this name to the soldier (who, according to the same tradition, was healed of ophthalmia and converted by a drop of the precious blood spurting from the wound) is as old as the sixth century. And further it is tempting, even if rash, to conjecture that the name Logginos, or Logchinos is in some way connected with the lance (logche). Be this as it may, a spear believed to be identical with that which pierced our Saviour's body was venerated at Jerusalem at the close of the sixth century, and the presence there of this important relic is attested half a century earlier by Cassiodorus (In Ps. lxxxvi, P.L., LXX, 621) and after him by Gregory of Tours (P.L., LXXI, 712). In 615 Jerusalem was captured by a lieutenant of the Persian King Chosroes. The sacred relics of the Passion fell into the hands of the pagans, and, according to the "Chronicon Paschale", the point of the lance, which had been broken off, was given in the same year to Nicetas, who took it to Constantinople and deposited it in the church of St. Sophia. This point of the lance, which was now set in an "yeona", or icon, many centuries afterwards (i.e., in 1244) was present by Baldwin to St. Louis, and it was enshrined with the Crown of Thorns (q.v.) in the Sainte Chapelle. During the French Revolution these relics were removed to the Bibliotheque Nationale, and, although the Crown has been happily preserved to us, the other has now disappeared.

As for the second and larger portion of the lance, Arculpus, about 670, saw it at Jerusalem, where it must have been restored by Heraclius, but it was then venerated at the church of the Holy Sepulchre. After this date we practically hear no more of it from pilgrims to the Holy Land. In particular, St. Willibald, who came to Jerusalem in 715, does not mention it. There is consequently some reason to believe that the larger relic as well as the point had been conveyed to Constantinople before the tenth century, possibly at the same time as the Crown of Thorns. At any rate its presence at Constantinople seems to be clearly attested by various pilgrims, particularly Russians, and, though it was deposited in various churches in succession, it seems possible to trace it and distinguish it from the companion relic of the point. Sir John Mandeville, whose credit as a witness has of late years been in part rehabilitated, declared, in 1357, that he had seen the blade of the Holy Lance both at Paris and at Constantinople, and that the latter was a much larger relic than the former. Whatever the Constantinople relic was, it fell into the hands of the Turks, and in 1492, under circumstances minutely described in Pastor's "History of the Popes", the Sultan Bajazet sent it to Innocent VIII to conciliate his favour towards the sultan's brother Zizim, who was then the pope's prisoner. This relic has never since left Rome, where it is preserved under the dome of St. Peter's. Benedict XIV (De Beat. et Canon., IV, ii, 31) states that he obtained from Paris an exact drawing of the point of the lance, and that in comparing it with the larger relic in St. Peter's he was satisfied that the two had originally formed one blade. M. Mély published for the first time in 1904, an accurate design of the Roman relic of the lance head, and the fact that it has lost its point is as conspicuous as in other, often quite fantastic, delineations of the Vatican lance. At the time of the sending of the lance to Innocent VIII, great doubts as to its authenticity were felt at Rome, as Burchard's "Diary" (I, 473-486, ed. Thusasne) plainly shows, on account of the rival lances known to be preserved at Nuremberg, Paris, etc., and on account of the supposed discovery of the Holy Lance at Antioch by the revelation of St. Andrew, in 1098, during the First Crusade. Raynaldi, the Bollandists, and many other authorities believed that the lance found in 1098 afterwards fell into the hands of the Turks and was that sent by Bajazet to Pope Innocent, but from M. de Mely's investigations it seems probable that it is identical with the relic now jealously preserved at Etschmiadzin in Armenia. This was never in any proper sense a lance, but rather the head of a standard, and it may conceivably (before its discovery under very questionable circumstances by the crusader Peter Bartholomew) have been venerated as the weapon with which certain Jews at Beirut struck a figure of Christ on the Cross; an outrage which was believed to have been followed by a miraculous discharge of blood.

Another lance claiming to be that which produced the wound in Christ's side is now preserved among the imperial insignia at Vienna and is known as the lance of St. Maurice. This weapon was used as early as 1273 in the coronation ceremony of the Emperor of the West, and form an earlier date as an emblem of investiture. It came to Nuremberg in 1424, and it is also probably the lance, known as that of the Emperor Constantine, which enshrined a nail or some portion of a nail of the Crucifixion. The story told by William of Malmesbury of the giving of the Holy Lance to King Athelstan of England by Hugh Capet seems to be due to a misconception. One other remaining lance reputed to be that concerned in the Passion of Christ is preserved at Cracow, but, though it is alleged to have been there for eight centuries, it is impossible to trace its earlier history.

The one work of authority which thoroughly discusses all the available evidence is that of M.F. DE MELY published at Paris in 1904 as the third volume of the Exuviae Sacrae Constantinopolitanae of the COMTE DE RIANT. It contains authentic drawings never before published and a valuable selection of Pieces justificatives. Besides this all-important work, the reader may be referred to ROHAULT DE FLEURY, Memoire sur les Instruments de la Passion (Paris, 1870), 272- 75; BEURLIER, s.v. Lance in Dict. de la Bible; SCHROD in Kirchenlex., VII, 1419- 22; MARTIN, Reliques de la Passion.

Herbert Thurston.