Bible Dictionaries

1910 New Catholic Dictionary

Lance, Holy

That with which Our Lord's sacred Side was opened after His death (John 19), according to a tradition found by Saint Helena at Jerusalem. In 615 the point of the lance, which had been broken off, was brought to Constantinople and in 1241 to Paris, where it disappeared during the French Revolution. The second larger portion probably was conveyed to Constantinople before the l0th century and in 1492 to Rome, where it is still preserved under the dome of Saint Peter's.