Which Roman centurion is recorded as a devout man in Acts?

Cornelius is the Roman centurion recorded as a devout man in Acts. Acts 10 presents him as a God-fearing Gentile who prayed regularly and gave generously to the poor.

Cornelius was stationed at Caesarea, the Roman administrative capital of Judaea. During a vision, an angel instructed him to send messengers to Joppa for Simon Peter. Peter separately received a vision teaching him not to call people “unclean” whom God had accepted.

When Peter visited Cornelius, the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and the Gentiles gathered with him. They began speaking in tongues, and Peter ordered them to be baptized. The episode became a decisive sign that Gentiles could join the Christian movement without first becoming Jews or undergoing circumcision.

A common mix-up is treating Cornelius as an apostle or as a Jewish convert. Acts identifies him as a Roman officer and a Gentile; his importance lies in being among the earliest Gentile converts. The Ethiopian eunuch is sometimes proposed as an earlier Gentile believer, but Cornelius remains the standard answer to this question.