This is another story of Martyrdom, written by stepnash.
“A CHRISTIAN GIRLS MARTYRDOM”
It was not often that centurion Gellius looked forward to a crucifixion with much enthusiasm. He had participated in many during his career in the Fourth Legion, and generally regarded them as sordid, unpleasant affairs. Service in the Roman army accustomed one to acts of barbarism and brutality, and soldiers generally were unmoved by scenes of human suffering. But this execution promised to be rather more entertaining than most, the crucifixion of a girl always tended to excite a particular interest even among the most hardened veterans, because torturing a helpless girl to death addressed their meanest instincts. It had been some time now since Gellius had been in charge of the crucifixion of a female victim - especially one so young and attractive as this.
Gellius' unit was presently serving in Gaul, a dingy, troublesome little corner of the Empire. The inhabitants of the country were a race of people who had openly begun to accept Christianity.
The condemned 18 year old girl was the daughter of a Christian teacher who had been captured by the Romans and after refusing to deny his faith under torture, was sentenced to death and executed by crucifixion.
After the death of her father she carried on his teachings with great courage but was betrayed, she was captured and arrested, and in a public show trial the Procurator sentenced her to death.
She was sentenced to die by crucifixion and even after hearing the sentence, she still cried out to the court to accept the Christian faith, and that she was not worthy to be crucified like her master.
We will see thought Gellius as he ordered her to be gagged, he shouted to her and the crowd that for her insolence she would indeed not die like Jesus.
It was early morning and the sun was just rising, but the garrison was already a hive of activity. Outside, the city was also astir. Carts and beasts of burden made their way through narrow streets carrying produce for sale in the market. Tradesmen and craftsmen were already about their business.
Gellius decided to take a look at the prisoner. He found her lying on the ground, chained to the wall. The night had been cold and she had been given no blanket. There was no need to waste compassion on a condemned Christian, though Gellius had to admit that the entire proceedings were unseemly for a girl so young.
A virgin when captured she had been roughly treated. Through the night she had been raped many times by soldiers who had been deprived of women for a long while. Now her woollen robe and thin linen underdress were soiled and torn, evidence of the abuse she had suffered. Gellius shrugged. It was the inevitable fate of a beautiful girl in the custody of brutal soldiers. He had seen it all before. But now the night was over. The day had dawned. It was time to get on with the business. Gellius strode away to assemble a punishment squad and an escort securing them against sudden attacks.
The soldiers selected for the task were in high spirits, impatient to get on with the job. But before they would start their procession to the place of execution, it was standard practice that the prisoner would be scourged. Gellius had decided to do the whipping himself. Though he knew it would at least shorten the prisoner's struggle on the cross, he had chosen the bullwhip, long and lean and guaranteed to cut the skin with each lash. He was anxious how the girl would act under the whip; her faith did not seem to be broken by the rapes she had suffered.
The girl was released from her chains and dragged to the whipping post in the centre of the courtyard. Rough hands divested her of her woollen robe and tore her linen dress down to the waist, then ripped it completely away. Now she was only wearing a small loincloth, held by two strings at the sides. The girl sought to cover her breasts with her arms, ashamed by the soldiers' scornful laughter. Gellius' face twisted in a wry smile, because the girl's instinctive attempt to preserve her modesty was a futile gesture, however. Within moments her arms were forced above her head while her wrists were tied with two leather straps dangling from the top of the post.
Gellius regarded the bound prisoner with a renewed interest, casting an appraising eye over her exposed body her small breasts full and firm, her belly was flat her back and shoulders slender.
Gellius stepped behind her and passed his hand over her back to sweep her long fair hair away. She turned around and gave him a sad look, "I will pray for you she said" and turned away.
Gellius smiled on this gesture, being sure she wouldn't keep this attitude for long as he stepped back and uncoiled the whip. Contemplatively he let it sneak on the floor, then he swung it in a wide bow over his head and delivered the first lash with all strength he could muster. The whip whistled sharply through the air before it cracked on the victim's bare back, right across her shoulders, and when he yanked it back the thong left a bloody mark in its way.
One of the soldiers began to count the lashes while the prisoner's head was tossing back, but despite the searing pain she managed to choke off the cry. Gellius was impressed by the self-control of the girl. Defiance he always regarded as a special encouragement, and in some sort of respect he waited till she had regained full composure to face the next lash. She winced, but once again no single moan escaped the prisoner's mouth as the whip indented her back, and this time Gellius didn't give her any time to recover.
In short intervals the cruel whip-cracks echoed through the backyard, followed by the monotonous enumeration of the lashes. By the eleventh lash Gellius had the prisoner where he wanted her to: she finally could no longer stand the pain nor stifle her moans, and from this point on, her reactions became more and more intense with each lash. Several times her body twisted so hard that she faced her tormentor for an instant and Gellius took these opportunities to lash her front, leaving bloody welts also across her chest and belly. One lash even grazed the tender tip of her breast, causing a particular loud scream and an approving laughter from the onlooking soldiers.
After twenty lashes her knees began to weaken, and for the last few strokes the formerly so brave girl hung limply at her bonds with tears running down her face.
When she was released from the post, she slid on the floor, and for a moment she squatted with her face in the dust of the yard, displaying the marks of the brutal flogging. Her slender back was torn to pieces by criss-crossing welts, and streamlets of blood trickled down at her sides. In this condition even the smooth draft of air made her quiver in pain, but this was only the beginning of long and agonising day, she knelt down and prayed for her tormentors.
The soldiers mocked the kneeling girl “Where is your God now they chanted when will he save you” her woollen Robe was placed back on her.
She was rudely dragged to her feet and a rough crown of thorns was forced onto her head, two soldiers brought forward the patibulum, the wooden crosspiece she would have to carry to the place of execution. She cried out as it was laid across her shoulders and her arms were outstretched and bound firmly to the splintered wood., the barracks gates swung open, and the condemned girl was prodded forward.
Bustling crowds of onlookers lined the city streets, drawn by curiosity about the prominent victim and eager to witness the procession of death. The prisoner staggered under the weight of her burden, her head bowed. There were some - mainly women - who lowered their eyes as she passed, to mitigate her humiliation. Others stood in silence, their eyes filled with horror. But most of the crowd took pleasure in the Christian girl’s shameful ordeal. They taunted her, spat at her, shook their fists and hurled abuse as she passed. There was little support for the Christians here, because the inhabitants of the garrison had always been the first to pay for assaults on Roman troops, which were blamed on the Christians. At least, in the presence of the numerous Roman soldiers securing the event it was prudent to show some support for peace and order to the masters.
The procession passed through the city gates and made its way towards the execution site, the route lined with spectators and others who hurried behind the crowd to reach the site in time. As the journey progressed the prisoner showed increasing signs of exhaustion, reeling and tottering with strain. Within sight of the place of execution she stumbled and fell on one knee; the heavy beam bowed aside and hit the ground, but to the amusement of the crowd, the whip landed on her thighs and buttocks to urge her remorselessly back on her feet.
Gellius had ordered that because of her outburst in court she was to be crucified upside down. Gellius took great pleasure in informing her and the crowd of how she would be crucified.
The Christian Girl bravely gave thanks that she was not to be executed like her master; again she called out to the people to accept Jesus.
A few yards from the wooden scaffold the execution party halted allowing the girl to view the terrible structure on which she was condemned to die.
It consisted of an upright post about 10 feet high with pulley wheel at the top. A rope ran through this and had already been attached to one end of the upright which was to form part of the cross, soldiers removed the beam from her shoulders and began to fashion a cross from the wood using nails and ropes.
Once the entire procession had gathered, she kneeled to pray but was immediately dragged upright to be stripped, this time in full view of the crowd, as her body was exposed she tried to cover herself praying to Jesus as soldiers hands explored her breasts and thick pubic hair.
Completely naked she was handed over to the executioners, who held her upright while Gellius read out her death sentence.
“Julia of Gaul you have been found guilty of teaching the banned religion of Christianity, as a warning to other Christians you are to be crucified naked this day and according to Roman law you will not die a virgin”.
She shuddered at these words but with serenity and complete obedience to her faith, she submitted without resistance to the executioners, her body was stretched firmly on the cross and her arms tied down with ropes, her legs were now pulled apart and held firmly by the executioners ready for her deflowering
The crowd was now given the spectacle it had been waiting for, not knowing she had been raped during the night; they watched the deflowering and humiliation of this Christian virgin by a 7 ft tall Nubian slave, chosen for the huge size of his penis. Even as he forced his massive member into her, between her gasps of agony, she whispered that she forgave him.
As the giant Nubian worked hard at his task, the suffering Julia allowed her mind to drift back to when she first accepted the faith of Jesus, she had often wondered what it would be like if she was called on to bear witness and suffer martyrdom, she had been told that many of the young Christian women had been raped and had their bodies terribly mutilated and even their breasts cut off, she was jolted back to reality by the rhythmic pumping of the giant man inside her, just for a moment a feeling stirred inside her body which she had never known before and concentrating on this and the sufferings of Jesus who had died for her she managed to reach a trance like state of ecstasy oblivious to the goings on around her, even as the giant Nubian climaxed and withdrew she hardly seemed to notice.. The final part of Julia’s execution began, her spread legs were pulled back together and tightly bound either side of the upright with course ropes, after checking her wrists still secure the executioners were ordered to begin nailing her to the cross, although she was firmly bound it was customary at crucifixions for as many executioners as possible to secure the victim to prevent them from struggling free while the long iron spikes were hammered. Immediately Julia almost disappeared from view as six executioners descended on her and began to drive the spikes through her wrists and ankles, at this point the expectant crowd were waiting for the crescendo of screams and bellows of agony as Julia’s body was fixed in place, but there was no sound other than the grunts of the executioners and the sound of the spikes being hammered in place. To the amazement of the executioners and the crowds, only a few subdued moans and quiet prayers to Jesus escaped her lips, which impressed and moved even the most hardened men at the scene.
Now according to her sentence the ropes cut away leaving her affixed to the cross only by the four spikes, slowly he cross was hauled upright and set into place, Julia with her head hanging down supported only by the four spikes, could no longer suppress the agonising pain of her crucifixion and she screamed at the top of her voice for several minutes before she regained her composure, then cried aloud " JESUS FORGIVE THEM" ! The intense agony of being suspended upside down by nothing more than four nails was quite unimaginable, in her agony she still prayed to her lord Jesus drawing strength from remembering how he had died.
There executioners stepped back to admire their awful work they had fixed a sign above her feet bearing the inscription:
CHRISTIAN ENEMY OF ROME
As if her faith had helped her, she soon became unconscious, and died within six hours, cheating the crowds of watching a prolonged and agonising death Gellius not realising that the inverted position had caused her early death angrily refused to allow her family to take her body, instead he ordered that her body remain in place on the cross until it rotted.
Her bravery and courage had inspired others to embrace the faith; Christianity was soon flourishing out of the Romans control, throughout Gaul.