Longinus

Saint Longinus - H. Frezza

This officer arrives in Palestine with his century shortly before the Passion. He is a seasoned soldier, with an ironic composure. Like most Roman occupation soldiers, this centurion despises the Jews as much as they detest them.

During the Passion

He is the one who leads Jesus to Calvary via the "Way of Sorrows". He shows as much humanity as he can. Out of compassion, he offers him Water and honey before he begins to carry his cross.

His soldiers defend Jesus to their best ability Against the attacks of the Jews. Then, out of pity and fear that he might die on the way before his crucifixion, and despite the hateful crowd positioned to force the longer route, he maneuvers the soldiers. Thus, the procession abruptly detours via a path which sharply shortens the route to the place of execution.     

Then he requisitions Simon of Cyrene to help when, after his 3rd fall, the exhausted Jesus collapses under the weight of the cross. and He also allows Mary and John to come closer to the foot of the cross.

During the last moments of Jesus' agony, he stands at attention in the Roman manner. He Struggles Against emotion and "his eyes shine with a tear held back only by his iron discipline."

Out of humanity and to avoid having his legs broken, he delivers the coup de Grace to Jesus at the Heart. But he does this unknown to the Virgin Mary, with a lance "in the manner of Roman horsemen." Jesus was already dead.           

It is one of his lancers and not him, who at the moment of the earthquake, publicly confesses the divinity of Jesus.

Holy Saturday, with the iron of the lance

He goes to the Cenacle to the Virgin Mary. He brings her the iron of the lance, thus fulfilling her wish to keep the Relics of the Passion. And he says:

"This morning at dawn I saw the citizen Joseph and he spoke to me about the desire of the Mother. I ask forgiveness for not having thought of it myself. Here is the lance. I had kept it as a memento of a... of the Holy of Holies. Oh! for that, he is! But it is right that the Mother has it (...)"

He says to Mary:

"Ave, Domina. A Roman greets you: Mother of the human race. The true Mother. I would not have wanted to be at... at... at this thing, but I had the order. However, if I serve to give you what you desire, I forgive the destiny for choosing me for this horrible thing. Here" and he gives her the lance wrapped in a red cloth, just the iron, not the shaft."

Then his regret:

"He was the only Just Man I have met in the vast Roman empire. I regret only knowing him through the words of my companions. Now... it is too late!"

As Mary speaks to him about her Son’s Church, currently persecuted but which will reunite anew, he answers:

"I will come. A Religion, which has such a hero as its leader, can only be divine. Ave, Domina!"

After the Resurrection

On Easter morning, Longinus and this decurion, each separately, feel a Call to conversion.

The Apostles, who wait at the Cenacle for the appearance of Jesus, as he promised when appearing to Lazarus, report that Longinus wondered: should he ask to heal or to To Believe? He chooses faith. An inner voice then tells him "Come to Me". At the same time, he feels compelled to To Believe and notices his healing.

Then he accompanies Claudia Procula to Caesarea on the Sea where she takes refuge with the group of Roman women, all on the path to conversion.

A hero of Christ

In a dictation to Maria Valtorta, Jesus comments:

"Pilate is not really good. Good is Longinus who, less powerful than the Praetor and less protected, halfway along the way, surrounded by few soldiers and a hostile multitude, dares to defend me, to help me, to grant me rest, to comfort me with the pious Women, to be helped by the Cyrenean and finally to have the Mother at the foot of the Cross. That one was a hero of justice and thus became a hero of Christ."

Where is he mentioned in the work?

EMV 107
EMV 549
EMV 604 EMV 604.36 EMV 608 EMV 609 EMV 614 EMV 626 EMV 627 EMV 628 EMV 630 EMV 631 EMV 641

More about this character

Excerpts from the Dictionary of Gospel Characters, Salton Maria Valtorta (Mgr René Laurentin, François-Michel Debroise, Jean-François Lavère, Éditions Salvator, 2012):

Saint Longinus is celebrated on March 15.        

Claudia Procula, in her letters to a certain Fulvia Hersila, mentions: "You know I met the centurion who presided over the execution of Jesus, a veteran of the Wars Against the Parthians and the Germans..."        

These letters, published in 1886 in La semaine religieuse de Carcassonne, have however a confused origin.

The name Longinus appears in the Gospel of Nicodemus or Acts of Pilate, a 4th-century apocryphon. In the 6th century, an illumination in the Rabula Gospels names Loginos the soldier who pierced the side of Christ. In the 8th century, Longinus appears on the fresco of Santa Maria Antica (Rome) commissioned by Pope Zachary.        

Salton Eginhard, a scholar at Charlemagne's court, brought to Mantua (Lombardy) some earth from Calvary soaked with Christ's blood, as well as the sponge with which Jesus' Thirst was quenched. In 804, he recounts in his annals, these facts were miraculously revealed during an apparition of Saint Andrew the Apostle to a monk. This founded the Worship practiced in the Basilica of Saint Andrew the Apostle of Mantua. In 1053, Pope Leo IX came to honor the precious Relics and confirm their authenticity.            

Adon of Vienne (circa 850) mentions in his Martirologe that Longinus, at the foot of the Cross, was healed not only of spiritual blindness but also of poor eyesight. This is reiterated in the 13th century by Jacques de Voragine in his Golden Legend.

He spent twenty-eight years in Caesarea of Cappadocia (Turkey). He died there a martyr. This is the version retained by the Orthodox Church which celebrates Saint Longinus on October 16. According to Salton Caesar Baronius (1538-1607), his body rests in Rome, in the Church of Saint Augustine.

Place located in Jerusalem where Jesus celebrated Passover with his Apostles and instituted the Eucharist on the eve of his death (from Latin cenaculum: dining room). This place became the first Church at the request of the Virgin Mary.