Monday, January 8, 2007

The Spear Of Longinus

The Holy Lance is on display at the National Museum until the end of this month. This is an opportunity not to be missed. The Holy Lance, also known as the Spear of Desitny, can be found at the Basement, together with other personal collections of Queen Mother Maria Teresa of Hungary. If you look closely, you can see a nail lodged in between the spear head. That nail is claimed to be from the True Cross.

It is interesting to note that there are 'two' spears of Longinus. One in Rome and one in Vienna. Mother Church has the authentic relic, and it's enshrined on the altar of St. Peter's Basilica. The other, its history traced and authenticated by General Patton, resides in the Hofburg Museum in Vienna (The one on display now at the National Museum).

Some people dispute that the Lance in the picture above is the authentic relic. Whatever the truth, just make a trip down to the museum and view the exhibit. It's the next closest to the one in St. Peter's anyway. You'll also get to see the (1st class) Relic of St. Francis- Heart tissue, along with the uniforms of the Knights of the Order of St. Stephen.

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Comments:
I always think of how amazing it is that relics could be preserved for thousands of years. The early Christians must have taken extreme care to preserve these relics. We should not take them for granted.
 
It's sad though to see many Catholics nowadays disregarding relics (along with sacramentals). One Church here had almost all her relics destroyed by fire. Those that were not destroyed are now being kept in glass cabinets- in a Seminar Room- as if they were decorative/display items. Even the relic of the True Cross is being kept in the same manner! That's very disrespectful! It's so sad that people no longer respect/venerate relics. We must pray hard for the "restoration of the sacred".
 
I sympathize completely.

Our relic of the true cross is kept in a cabinet. In another Church, the relic of the True Cross is kept in a foot locker, behind old Missals.

Sigh...

When my parish set up a museum, I blogged on this here.
 
Provoking article! The reverence due to the True Cross should be equal to that given to the Blessed Sacrament. All True Cross relics should be veiled in a red shroud.
 
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