caption death_date death_place birth_place attributes feast_day imagesize venerated_in birth_date major_shrine image article_title name
'' jesus with the holy lance . fresco by fra angelico ` -lrb- 1395 -- 1455 -rrb- , san marco , florence longinus '' ' pierces the side of 1st century prob . cappadocia lanciano , italia military attire march : eastern orthodox churches ; october 22 : armenian apostolic 15 church ; november 14 : coptic orthodox church : roman catholic church ; october 16 200px coptic catholic church orthodox church eastern orthodox churches oriental orthodoxy roman 1st century inside vatican . the st. peter 's basilica , in the fra angelico 027.jpg saint longinus
 saint longinus
saint longinus

longinus is a legendary figure of christian history as the name given in medieval and some modern christian traditions to the roman soldier who pierced jesus in his side with a lance , the `` holy lance '' -lrb- `` lancea '' , as related in the latin vulgate bible -rrb- while he was on the cross .
this act created the last of the five holy wounds of christ .
the figure is unnamed in the gospels .
the longinus legend further identifies this soldier as the centurion present at the crucifixion of jesus , who testified `` this man certainly was the son of god . ''
longinus ' legend grew over the years to the point that he was said to have converted to christianity after the crucifixion , and he is traditionally venerated as a saint in the roman catholic church , eastern orthodox church , and several other christian communions .
