St. Alban the Martyr

The Call of Cornelius of Caesarea


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Here we see an angel appearing to the centurion Cornelius as he kneels at his devotions in Caesarea and calling him by name. (The piece of glass with the ‘C’ has faded badly, as has the text on several of the other scrolls in this south-facing window.) The scroll held by the angel beneath this scene reads "Acts X" without any verse number. 

This chapter of the Acts of the Apostles begins with the scene shown here, following which the angel tells Cornelius, who is devout and God-fearing but not a Jew, to send for St Peter at Joppa, who will tell what he ought to do. While the messengers from Cornelius are approaching Joppa, St Peter is having a vision. Three times he is ordered to eat the flesh of animals that are ritually unclean in Judaism and when he refuses he is told not to call unclean what God has cleansed. When the messengers arrive Peter understands that this vision means that the teaching of Jesus is for the gentiles as well as the Jews. He goes to Caesarea and preaches to Cornelius and his household about Jesus. Before he had finished, the whole household received the Holy Spirit as the Apostles had at Pentecost and then received baptism. This was the begining of the spread of Christianity beyond its Jewish origins.

Next look at the two panels in the right-hand light, both of which relate to the Revelation of John. Start with the upper right panel, showing the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.