On that day in 1938 when Germany declared Austria to be a part of the Third Reich, he was in Vienna to personally take charge of the lance and had it put on an armored SS train which took to Nuremburg, the spiritual capital of the regime. There, it was kept in St. Catherine's church for six years before being moved to an underground vault to keep it safe from the Allied bombing raids.
From that point on, the history of this lance becomes quite specific. An Army officer took possession of the lance in the name of the U.S. Government on April 30, 1945. With the exception of General George Patton, Commander of the U.S. Third Army, American generals and political leaders showed little interest in the spear. Patton, on the other hand, was terribly interested in it and had its history traced and its authenticity confirmed. After a time, General Eisenhower had the spear returned to the Hofburg Treasure House, where it remains.
Now we have two spears of Longinus, one somewhere outside of Rome and one in Vienna. Rome claims her relic is the authentic one, and had enshrined it on the altar of St. Peter's Basilica. Pope John II used the Roman version of the spear to christen Otto the Great as Holy Roman Emperor. The other, its history traced and authenticated by General Patton, a man known to have had an interest in reincarnation and other pagan beliefs, resides in the Hofburg Museum in Vienna. Are there others?
Reformer Jean Chauvin (John Calvin), in his Admonitio de Reliquiis, reported that the spear of Longinus was being kept at Glastonbury Abbey, in England. He added that the abbey also possessed a vial of the Virgin's milk. I find it interesting that the Virgin would have been passing out samples of her breast milk or that people would have been interested in having them, since Christ did not start His public ministry until some 30 years after he was born. Of course, she had at least six other kids, so she likely spent a lot of years lactating.
That makes three spears of Longinus. In the Arthurian legend, Chretien de Troyes tells how Parsifal, an honorable and sinless knight, undertook a trial to show his worthiness to succeed a godly king who was dying. Parsifal sat on a magical chair. Now this was a risky undertaking, for anyone who sat on the chair and was not the knight selected by God to be guardian of both the spear of Longinus and the Holy Grail was put to death. Parsifal passed the test, was made king and kept the spear and grail with him until his death. Nice story.
Those who are into the darker religions and crafts claim that the spear, which they call the Spear of Destiny, has been around since the beginning of recorded time. There also is a legend that an ancient Hebrew prophet named Phineas forged the spear. Unfortunately, neither of these legends explains how an iron spear could have been forged in or before the Bronze Age.
The spear in the Hofburg Treasure House (Schatzkammer) is a wreck. The shaft is long gone and the spearhead is something of a shambles, being bound together with threads of gold, silver and bronze. Supposedly a nail from the True Cross is contained in the spearhead. This "sacred relic" is not being held in the dusty vaults of some cathedral, but sits in an ornate case in the museum, out in the open where all may view it and think on its legends.
Granted, some of the above is legend and some just plain mythology. On the other hand, is documented history that a number of powerful European rulers had possession of something called the Spear of Longinus. The Spear in the Vienna museum has been authenticated. That Rome is promoting the story of the spear may be adduced from several facts: Longinus is a member of the pantheon of Roman demi-gods they call "saints;" the RCC has ascribed miracles to the agency of Longinus the Centurion and his spear; that spear was enshrined in one of the principle altars of Roman Catholicism.
As to the reported spear at Glastonbury Abbey and the one that was in Parsifal's care, I dunno what to say. Perhaps it suffices to say there are for certain at least TWO spears of Longinus, plus another probable and one possible.
