St. Longinus – the Centurion at the Crucifixion - Part One.

The Way of the Cross from the Praetorium to Calvary and the great sympathy Longinus shows towards Our Lord. He is listed among the martyrs of the Church in the Martyrologium Romanum, with a feast day of March 15. Maria Valtorta’s Poem of the Man-God provides a detailed account of his actions during the Passion.

Pontius Pilate has just decided to have Jesus crucified, bowing to the frenzied demands of the Jews. After washing his hands, literally and symbolically, he goes back to his little throne and summons the centurion Longinus. Standing upright, he stretches his hand forward with its palm turned down, while ordering: “Let Him go to the cross. Soldier, go. Prepare the cross.” Then he descends from his throne without even looking at Jesus or the uproarious crowd. 

 

Some time goes by, not more than half an hour, while the cross is prepared. Valtorta writes in chapter 604: 

 

“Then Longinus, who is entrusted with the task of superintending the execution, gives his orders. But before Jesus is taken outside, into the street, to receive the cross and set out, Longinus, who has looked at Him twice or three times, with a curiosity that is already tinged with compassion and with the expert eye of one who is accustomed to certain situations, approaches Jesus with a soldier and offers Him a refreshment.” Valtorta surmises that it was a cup of wine. “In fact he pours a light blond rosy liquid out of a real military canteen.” Longinus speaks to the Lord: «It will do You good. You must be thirsty. And the sun is shining outside. And the way is a long one.» And Jesus replies to him: «May God reward you for your compassion. But do not deprive yourself of it.»

 

«I am healthy and strong... You... I am not depriving myself... And even if I were... I would do it willingly, to give You some solace... A draught... to show me that You do not hate heathens.»

 

Jesus no longer refuses and takes a draught of the drink. As His hands are already untied […] He can do it by Himself. But He refuses to take more, although the good cool drink should be a great relief to His fever, which is already showing itself in the red streaks that inflame His pale cheeks and His dry lips. 

 

«Take some, take it. It is water and honey. It will give You strength and quench Your thirst... I feel pity for You... yes... pity... It was not You Who was to be killed among the Jews... Who knows!... I do not hate You... and I will try to make You suffer only what is necessary.»

 

But Jesus does not drink any more... He is really thirsty... The dreadful thirst of those who have lost much blood and are feverish... He knows that it is not a drink with narcotics, and He would drink it willingly. But He does not want to suffer less.” Valtorta writes that she has been enlightened to understand [...] that the compassion of the Roman is of greater solace to Him than the water sweetened with honey.

 

«May God reward you with His blessings for this solace» He then says. And He smiles again... a heart-rending smile with His swollen wounded lips, which move with difficulty, also because the severe contusion between His nose and His right cheek-bone, caused by the blow with a cudgel He received in the court-yard after the flagellation, is swelling consider ably.

Following is a condensed version of Valtorta’s long chapter on the Way of the Cross (604), removing whatever is extraneous to the role of Longinus in this tragedy.

The two robbers are brought forward, and it is time to go. Longinus gives his instructions. As a centurion he has one hundred soldiers at his command, some are mounted. They are now ready. And Longinus gives the order of march. First the Nazarene, behind Him the two robbers; a decury [a unit of ten soldiers] around each of them, with the other seven decuries positioned on the flank as reinforcements. 

 

Jesus comes down the three steps that from the lobby take one into the square. And it is immediately clear that Jesus is in an extremely weak condition .The Jews laugh seeing Him stagger along like a drunk man and they shout to the soldiers: «Push Him. Make Him fall. In the dust the blasphemer!» But the soldiers do only what they have to do, that is, they order the Condemned One to stay in the middle of the road and walk.

 

Longinus spurs his horse and the procession begins to move slowly. 

 

Jesus is panting more and more. He stumbles and falls on His right knee, but He can hold Himself up with His left hand. The crowd howls with joy… Longinus urges to make haste and the soldiers, striking with the flat of their daggers, press poor Jesus to proceed. Longinus, who turns round now and again, feels sorry for Him and orders a few minutes' stop. And the rabble insults him so much that the centurion orders the soldiers to charge them. And the faint-hearted crowds at the sight of the shining threatening lances, run away shouting and hurling themselves here and there down the mountain.

 

And immediately afterwards, the pain of the third fall, a complete one. 

 

«Make sure that He dies only on the cross!» shout the crowd. «If you let Him die beforehand, you will answer to the Proconsul, bear that in your minds. The culprit must arrive alive at the execution place» say the chief scribes to the soldiers. The latter cast withering glances at them, but discipline prevents them from speaking. But Longinus is just as afraid as the Jews that the Christ may die on the road, and he does not want to have troubles. Without needing to be reminded, he knows what is his duty as officer responsible for the execution and he takes action.

 

So Longinus gives the order to take the longer road that winds up the mountain and is therefore not so steep. This road seems a path that by dint of being used by many people has changed into a rather comfortable road. 

 

And in the midst of the loud noise of weeping women and cursing Judaeans, Jesus sets out again. Jesus is once again completely wet with perspiration. The road continues. It goes round the mountain, it comes back almost to the front, towards the steep road. Here, there is Mary with John. John looks at Her with desolate pity.

 

The other women – Mary and Martha of Lazarus, Mary of Alphaeus and Mary of Zebedee, Susanna from Cana, the mistress of the house, and some others – are all in the middle of the road looking to see whether the Saviour is coming. And when they see Longinus arrive, they rush towards Mary to inform Her. And Mary, supported by John who is holding Her by the elbow, departs from the hillside, stately in Her grief, and places Herself resolutely in the middle of the road, moving aside only at the arrival of Longinus, who from the height of his black horse looks at the pale Woman and at Her blond wan companion, whose meek eyes are blue like Hers. And Longinus shakes his head while passing by followed by the eleven soldiers on horseback.

 

Mary tries to pass through the dismounted soldiers, who, being warm and in a hurry, strive to drive Her back with their lances, all the more now that stones are thrown from the paved road, as a protest against so much compassion. It is the Jews, who once again curse because of the halt brought about by the pious women . 

 

Longinus spurs his horse against the reviling pack of hounds, who run away for the second time. And in doing so he sees a cart standing still, and is waiting for the crowds to pass, so that it may go down towards the town with its load of greens. Curiosity has made the man from Cyrene and his sons go up there. The man, instead, a very strong man, about forty-fifty years old, standing near the little donkey, which is frightened and tries to draw back, looks attentively at the procession.

 

Longinus looks him up and down. He thinks that he can be useful and says to him in a commanding voice: «Man, come here.» The man from Cyrene feigns he has not heard. But one cannot trifle with Longinus. He repeats the order in such a way that the man throws the reins to one of his sons and approaches the centurion.

 

«Do you see that man?» he asks. And in doing so, he turns round to point out Jesus and he sees Mary, Who is imploring the soldiers to let Her pass. He takes pity on Her and he shouts: «Let the Woman pass.» He then resumes speaking to the man from Cyrene: «He cannot proceed further laden as He is. You are strong. Take His cross and carry it in His stead as far as the summit.»

 

«I cannot... I have the donkey... it is restive... the boys cannot hold it...» But Longinus says: «Go, if you do not want to lose your donkey and get twenty blows as punishment.» The man from Cyrene delays no longer. He shouts to the boys: «Go home and be quick. And say that I am coming at once» and he then goes towards Jesus.

 

Bernini's Statue at the Vatican

Jesus turns towards His Mother, Whom only now He sees coming towards Him, because He is proceeding so bent and with His eyes almost closed, as if He were blind, and He shouts: «Mother!»

 

Since He began being tortured, it is the first word that expresses His sufferings. Because in that cry there is the confession of everything, and all the dreadful sorrow of His spirit, of His morale, of His body. 

 

Mary presses Her hand against Her heart, as if She had been stabbed, and She staggers lightly. But She collects Herself, quickens Her step and while going towards Her tortured Son with outstretched arms, She shouts: «Son!» But She says so in such a way that whoever has not got the heart of a hyena, feels it is breaking because of so much grief. There are signs of compassion even among the Romans... and yet they are soldiers, accustomed to slaughters, marked by scars... But the words: «Mother!» and «Son!» are always the same for all those who are not worse than hyenas, they are understood everywhere and they raise waves of compassion everywhere...

 

The man from Cyrene feels such pity... And as he sees that Mary cannot embrace Her Son because of the cross, he hastens to remove the cross, and he does so with the gentleness of a father, in order not to give a shove to the crown or rub against His sores. 

 

Behind Jesus there is now the man from Cyrene with the cross. And Jesus, freed of that weight, is proceeding more easily. He is panting violently, He often presses His hand against His heart, as if He had a great pain or a wound there, but He can walk better.

 

Longinus stops and orders his men to inexorably repel everybody farther down, so that the top, the place of the execution, may be free.

 

The soldiers, who have driven the people away from the top, with convincing blows of their lances subdue quarrels and make room, so that the procession may pass without any hindrance on the last stretch of the road. The mountain, on the three sides on which the slopes descend gently towards the valley, is all crowded with people. While the men responsible for the execution prepare their instruments, finishing emptying the holes, and the men condemned await in the middle of the square formed by the soldiers, the Jews insult them. They insult also the Mother: «Death to the Galileans. Death! Galileans! Galileans! Curse them! Death to the Galilean blasphemer. Nail on the cross also the womb that bore Him! Away from here the vipers that give birth to demons! Death to them! Clear Israel of the females who copulate with the billy-goat!...»

 

Longinus, who has dismounted, turns round and sees the Mother... He orders his men to stop the uproar... The fifty soldiers who were behind the condemned men charge the rabble and clear the second esplanade completely, as the Jews run away along the mountain, treading on one another. The centurion sets out towards the top. Everything is ready on the summit. They make the condemned men go up. And once again Jesus passes near His Mother, Who utters a groan, which She tries to stifle, by pressing Her mantle against Her lips. The Jews notice it, they laugh and deride. John, the meek John, who has one arm round Mary's shoulders to support Her, turns round and glares at them.

 

As soon as the condemned men are on the fatal platform, the soldiers surround the open space on three sides. Only the one that drops sheer is empty. The centurion orders the man from Cyrene to go away. And he goes away, unwillingly now, and I would not say out of sadism, but out of love. The two robbers throw their crosses on the ground swearing. Jesus is silent. The sorrowful way has come to its end.

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