The people depicted on either side of Jesus at the "San Damiano Crucifix," which led St Francis of Assisi to his conversion, are those who stood by the cross in the Gospel of John 19 (cf. John 19:25-27). However, among them, the centurion is an exception. No "centurion" appears in John's Gospel even once. 

Michael Goonan, author of the previously mentioned book The Crucifix that Spoke to St Francis, says: "Significantly, the three fingers of the centurion are, in traditional icon painting, a sign that says, 'I am speaking.' In a Christian context, this means 'I testify that Jesus is Lord.'" This explanation is very interesting.

 Above the head of the central image of Jesus Christ in the San Damiano Crucifix, it reads "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." This is a title found only in the Gospel of John (cf. John 19:19), where the chief priests asked Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.'" (19:21), which he did not take up, saying, "What I have written I have written" (19:22). 

We still recite the name of Pilate, the Roman governor of the province of Judea, every time in the Creed, which is something extraordinary. The Roman Empire was stamped with the name of Jesus when he suffered under Pilate and underwent the crucifixion, the penalty of the Roman Empire. Having foretold the fall of Jerusalem, Jesus was already looking to Rome for Christians. 

Jesus responded to Pilate's interrogation: "My kingship is not of this world" (John 18:36) and "For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice" (18:37). When Pilate was confronted with these words, which spoke clearly of God's reality, he asked back, "What is truth?"(18:38), but at this moment he had already become the one who "hears my voice." 

The Gospel says that when Pilate said, "I find no crime in him" (19:6), the Jews replied, "We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God" (19:7), and that "When Pilate heard these words, he was the more afraid; he entered the praetorium again and said to Jesus, 'Where are you from?'" (19:8-9). The words "Son of God" caught his ear. 

On his last day, Jesus left the pathway to Rome by getting involved with the Roman governor Pilate. The pathway led him to the cross, on which he was appealed to by the chief priests and stood before the governor and the king. Paul followed this same path to Rome as Jesus (cf. Acts 22:30-28:16). 

After Jesus breathed his last on the cross, "Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph" (Mark 15:44-45). This centurion was the one who stood towards Jesus as he breathed his last on the cross and said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" (15:39). These words suggest that he had pondered this earlier. 

According to the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached Jesus and pleaded for the healing of his servant, who was sick. Hearing this, Jesus said, "I will come and heal him" (Matthew 8:7). He may have already begun to walk as he said so. People would have been surrounding them. The centurion must have approached Jesus blindly, staking his last chance of healing his servant on Jesus’ reputation, but he, a Roman soldier, must have wanted to avoid having Jesus come to his house with onlookers in tow. 

He therefore refused Jesus' visit, saying, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed" (8:8). He then explained his reasons, citing his relationship with his own men, "For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me ..." (8:9). But Jesus sees in his words, by which he refuses his coming, his intuitive and genuine belief that Jesus is the Christ. The centurion's words were an echo of Jesus' desire for Rome. The will of the Father was in them. The words of Jesus must go to Rome. 

Jesus was amazed at these words because they were of one Gentile, and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith" (8:10). Yes indeed. That is because it was a new way of being in faith, in which what is seen comes from what is unseen, that is, believing in Jesus as the Christ. That is as the risen Jesus said in John's Gospel, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe" (John 20:29). Jesus said, "Go; be it done for you as you have believed" (Matthew 8:13), and let him go home. At that moment, his servant was healed. 

The Word had come to Rome before Paul, as Paul wrote to the Romans (cf. Romans 1:6-7). The centurion's words, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed," were a manifestation of God's plan that the Word would reach Rome. And it did come true. The centurion depicted in the "San Damiano Crucifix" was portrayed as a symbol of the Roman Empire that had come to believe in Jesus Christ. Without that fact, there would have been no people depicted here in a harmonious atmosphere, and no encounter between this crucifix and St Francis. 

The centurion's intuitive and pure faith, which sought Jesus and saw him, eventually led him to the point where he stood facing Jesus as he breathed his last on the cross and said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" It is precisely these words that are in line with Michael Goonan's "In a Christian context, this means 'I testify that Jesus is Lord.'" The "San Damiano Crucifix" presents us with that. 

(This article is the one I contributed to Japanese Internet magazine, Catholic AI.)

Maria K.M.