MEMORIAL of CORNELIUS THE CENTURION

MEMORIAL of CORNELIUS THE CENTURION
Thursday of the Second Week of Gracetide
White Vestments

PRAYER OF THE DAY
Almighty and loving Father,
by the working of the Spirit
you called Cornelius the Centurion to be the first Christian among the Gentiles.
Grant to your Church in every nation
a ready mind and will to proclaim your love to all who turn to you with unfeigned hope and faith.
We make our prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.

FIRST READING Acts 10: 1-48
PSALM 135: 19-21
GOSPEL READING John 7: 37-39

PROPER PREFACE
It is indeed right and salutary
that we should at all times and in all places
offer thanks and praise to you,
O Lord, holy Father, almighty and everlasting God,
On this day as we celebrate the memory of Saint Cornelius.

Though he was not of the blood of the Hebrews,
he professed his faith in the Messiah sent to them,
proving that the Christ was sent to seek and save all the lost,
both Jew and Greek, those near, and those far away.

Thus we join with the angels,
And we acclaim you with the powers,
As we join with all the saints
And sing this hymn to the glory of your name.

BIOGRAPHY
Cornelius, was a Roman centurion, and a God-fearing man (a term the Jews used to refer to monotheists who were not of the Jewish confession). One day, as he was praying, an angel appeared to him and told him to send a messenger to Joppa and ask Peter to come and preach to him. Peter, meanwhile, was given a vision that disposed him to go with the messenger. When Peter had preached to Cornelius and his family and friends, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as on the first Christians at Pentecost. Thus, there was ample evidence to convince Jewish Christians who hesitated to believe that it was the will of God that Gentiles should be brought into the Church.

As such, Cornelius was one of the earliest Gentile converts to Christianity, along with his household, and Luke, recording this event, clearly regards it as an event of the utmost importance in the history of the early Church, the beginning of the Church's decision to admit Gentiles to full and equal fellowship with Jewish Christians. Cornelius lived in Caesarea, the political capital of Judea under Herod and the Romans. Although he is not mentioned again, he and his household presumably formed the nucleus of the Christian community that we find mentioned later in this important city.