St. Longinus is the centurion who pierced the side of Our Lord while He was hanging on the Cross. He was the Roman Centurion who commanded the Roman soldiers at Christ’s crucifixion. St. Longinus, who was nearly blind, was healed when some of the blood and water from Jesus fell into his eyes. It was then he exclaimed "Indeed, this was the Son of God!" [Mark 15:39]. This miracle and everything that led up to Christ’s crucifixion led to Longinus’ conversion. What is known about Longinus is what he said at the crucifixion: Luke’s Gospel says this about Longinus: Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” (Luke 23:47) Accordingly Church tradition, accepts Longinus’ words at face value to mean what they say. The painting in left of the above banner illustrates the scene of Longinus piercing the side of Jesus and on the right, is “The Confession of Longinus” meaning that Longinus truly recognized Jesus as the Son of God and is confessing his belief.
It should be remembered that as a Roman Officer Longinus would have been in close proximity to Pilate and all the events leading up to Pilate ordering him to be in charge of the legionnaires who would crucify Jesus and the two thieves. So it is believe that he would have understood why Jesus was being crucified just as he was aware that Pilate seemed reluctant to crucify Jesus since Jesus had committed no crime against Rome and simply went along with the crowd who were on the verge of rioting. (See Matthew 27) After his conversion, Longinus left the army, and took instruction from the apostles. He later became a monk in Cappadocia. There he was arrested for his faith, his teeth forced out and tongue cut off. However, St. Longinus miraculously continued to speak clearly and managed to destroy several idols in the presence of the governor. The governor, who was made blind by the demons that came from the idols, had his sight restored when St. Longinus was being beheaded, because his blood came in contact with the governors' eyes. St. Longinus' relics are now in the church of St Augustine, in Rome. His Lance is contained in one of the four pillars over the altar in the Basilica of St Peter's in Rome. There really is no reason to doubt that Longinus and the soldiers with him were struck with awe (or fear) and at the moment of Jesus’ death recognized him for exactly who he said he was, the Son of God. If God can open the eyes of a hard-bitten Roman Centurion to truth the he certainly can open anyone’s eyes to the same truth. |
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January 2024
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