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| | CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Centurion |
 | | A Roman officer commanding a century or company, the strength of which varied from fifty to one hundred men; But in the Vulgate and the D.V. the term is also applied to an officer of the Hebrew army. |
 | | The post of centurion, it should be noted, was not, as a rule, held by men of family, though occasionally a young man of rank aspiring to a higher military career served first as centurion in a legion. |
 | | The other, who commanded the detachment of soldiers at the Crucifixion (Matt., xxvii, 54, Mark, xv, 39,44, Luke, xxiii, 47) was of course an officer of the Imperial cohort stationed at Jerusalem (Acts, xxi, 31). |
| www.newadvent.org /cathen/03535a.htm (663 words) |
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