Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The Acolyte by Abraham Solomon, 1842. An acolyte is an assistant or follower assisting the celebrant in a religious service or procession. In many Christian denominations, an acolyte is anyone performing ceremonial duties such as lighting altar candles. In others, the term is used for one who has been inducted into a particular liturgical ...
[6] [7] Pope Benedict XVI spoke of Saint Tarcisius as "presumably an acolyte, that is, an altar server". [8] However, within the Latin Church, the term "acolyte" is also used in a more restricted sense, often specified as "instituted acolyte", [9] to mean an adult woman or man who has received the instituted ministry of that name.
In Christianity, minor orders are ranks of church ministry. [1] In the Catholic Church, the predominating Latin Church formerly distinguished between the major orders—priest (including bishop), deacon and subdeacon—and four minor orders—acolyte, exorcist, lector, and porter (in descending order of seniority).
An instituted acolyte is an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion by virtue of his institution. [7] Such acolytes are, in practice, seminarians or former seminarians, or those in deacon formation, although canon law allows the ministry to be conferred on any lay people, men or women, who have the age and qualifications that the episcopal conference is to lay down.
The development of the ministry of altar server has a long history. By the early Middle Ages, some of these ministries were formalized under the term "minor orders" and (along with the diaconate) used as steps to priestly ordination. One of the minor orders was the office of acolyte. [1] Altar servers are a substitute for an instituted acolyte.
There is no history actually written about altar boys or use of that name during the early days of the Church, except for the word acolyte (the one who follows; a companion). It was instituted, by the Church, as a sacramental participation in the order of deacon. As preparatory steps to priesthood, an aspirant shall pass the following minor ...
In the Catholic Church, authority rests chiefly with bishops, [4] while priests and deacons serve as their assistants, co-workers or helpers. [5] Accordingly, "hierarchy of the Catholic Church" is also used to refer to the bishops alone. [6] The term "pope" was still used loosely until the sixth century, being at times assumed by other bishops. [7]
Since the Second Vatican Council, the bishops of the Catholic Church have permitted women to serve in many lay ministries. [1] While the offices of lector (reader) and acolyte were previously minor orders, with Ministeria quaedam, Pope Paul VI abolished these and the subdiaconate, creating "instituted ministries" in their stead. [2]