In a vision evidently. — The adverb seems added to distinguish the manifestation from that of a dream like Joseph’s in Matthew 1:20; Matthew 2:13, or of a trance like St. Peter’s (Acts 10:10) or St. Paul’s (Acts 22:17).
About the ninth hour of the day. — This was, as in Acts 3:1, one of the three hours of prayer, the hour when the evening sacrifice was offered in the Temple. Cornelius had therefore so far accepted the Jewish rules of devotion, and for him also the Law was “a schoolmaster” bringing him to Christ.