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CORNELIUS.—A ‘proselyte of the gate’ or ‘devout man’ (Act_10:1, see art. Acts of the Apostles, § 6), whose baptism was a step forward towards admitting the Gentiles into the Church. He was a Roman centurion of the Italic cohort (see art. Band). An inscription recently discovered near Vienna shows that an Italic cohort was stationed in Syria c [Note: circa, about.] . a.d. 69, and this makes St. Luke’s statement (once said to be an anachronism) quite probable. If the presence of such an officer in Cæsarea was not possible during the semi-independent rule of Agrippa (a.d. 41–44), we must date the episode before that; but we cannot assert such an impossibility.
A. J. Maclean.