Antoine de Lamothe, Sieur de Cadillac
Tommaso de Vio Gaetani Cajetan
Diocese of Calahorra and La Calzada
Polidoro (da Caravaggio) Caldara
Vicariate Apostolic of Lower California
Congregation of Our Lady of Calvary
Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan
Jean-Pierre Camus de Pont-Carré
Vicariate Apostolic of Canelos and Macas
Canons Regular of the Immaculate Conception
Baptiste-Honoré-Raymond Capefigue
Episcopal and Pontifical Capitulations
Apostolic Prefecture of Caquetá
Diocese of Carcassonne (Carcassum)
Bartolommeo and Vincenzo Carducci
Caroline Books (Libri Carolini)
Diocese of Casale Monferrato (Casalensis)
Vicariate Apostolic of Casanare
Diocese of Castellammare di Stabia
Diocese of Castellaneta (Castania)
Count Carlo Ottavio Castiglione
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione
Francesco Castracane degli Antelminelli
Archdiocese of Catania (Catanensis)
Catholic University of America
German Roman Catholic Central Verein of North America
Archdiocese of Chambéry (Camberium)
Vicariate Apostolic of Changanacherry
Character (in Catholic Theology)
Civil Law Concerning Charitable Bequests
Congregation of the Brothers of Charity
François-René de Chateaubriand
Timoléon Cheminais de Montaigu
Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini
Ancient Diocese of Chester (Cestrensis)
Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus
Ancient Catholic Diocese of Chichester (Cicestrensis)
Children of Mary of the Sacred Heart
Domingo (San Anton y Muñon) Chimalpain
Etienne-François, Duc de Choiseul
Gilbert Choiseul du Plessis-Praslin
Order of the Knights of Christ
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine
Brothers of Christian Instruction
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
Congregation of Christian Retreat
Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano
Prefecture Apostolic of Cimbebasia (Upper)
Diocese of Cività Castellana, Orte, and Gallese
Diocese of Civitavecchia and Corneto
Mathieu-Nicolas Poillevillain de Clémanges
Clerks Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca
Abbey and School of Clonmacnoise
Pierre-Suzanne-Augustin Cochin
Diocese of Colle di Val d'Elsa
Diocese of Concordia (Concordia Veneta)
Diocese of Concordia (Corcondiensis in America)
Congo Independent State and Congo Missions
Diocese of Constantine (Cirta)
Philippe du Contant de la Molette
Convent Schools (Great Britain)
Order of Friars Minor Conventuals
Convocation of the English Clergy
Vicariate Apostolic of Cooktown
François Edouard Joachim Coppée
Diocese of Cordova (Cordubensis)
Diocese of Cordova (Cordubensis in America)
Elena Lucrezia Piscopia Cornaro
Michel Corneille (the Younger)
Charles-Edmond-Henride Coussemaker
Brothers of the Cross of Jesus
Diocese of Cuenca (Conca in Indiis)
Vicariate Apostolic of Curaçao
(Kornelios)
A centurion of the Italic cohort, whose conversion at Cæsarea with his household is related in Acts 10. The Roman name Cornelius would indicate that he was either a member of the distinguished gens Cornelia, or a descendant of one of its freedmen - most likely the latter. The cohort in which he was centurion was probably the Cohors II Italica civium Romanorum, which a recently discovered inscription proves to have been stationed in Syria before A.D. 69.
The description of Cornelius as "a religious man, and fearing God . . . ., giving much alms to the people" [i.e. the Jews (cf. 10:22)], shows that he was one of those gentiles commonly, though incorrectly, called proselytes of the gate, who worshipped the one true God and observed some of the prescriptions of the Mosaic Law, but who were not affiliated to the Jewish community by circumcision. He was certainly not a full proselyte (Acts 10:28, 34 sq., 45; 11:3).
The baptism of Cornelius is an important event in the history of the Early Church. The gates of the Church, within which thus far only those who were circumcised and observed the Law of Moses had been admitted, were now thrown open to the uncircumcised Gentiles without the obligation of submitting to the Jewish ceremonial laws. The innovation was disapproved by the Jewish Christians at Jerusalem (Acts 11:2, 3); but when Peter had related his own and Cornelius's vision and how the Holy Ghost had come down upon the new converts, opposition ceased (Acts 11:4-18) except on the part of a few extremists. The matter was finally settled at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15).
According to one tradition Cornelius became Bishop of Cæsarea; according to another, Bishop of Scepsis in Mysia.
RAMSAY, Cornelius and the Italic Cohort in Expositor (1896), 194 sq.; Acta SS., Feb., I, 279 sq.; BARONIUS, Annales ad an. 41, n. 2; P. G., I, 1049; CXIV, 1287; P. L., XXIII, 265.
F. BECHTEL