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lib. v. cap. 43), he gives no hint that the office was a new one, but speaks of them as holding an already established position. Their institution has there-fore to be sought for at an earlier date than his pontificate. It is possible that the See also:

LIBER

Liber Pontificalis refers to the office under the Latin synonym, when it says of Pope See also:

Victor (186-197) that he made sequentes cleros, a term—sequens—which Pope See also:

GAIUS

Gaius (283-293) uses in the sense of acolyte. While the office, was well known in Rome, there is nothing to prove that it was also an See also:

order through which, as to-See also:

day, every See also:

CANDIDATE

candidate to the See also:

PRIEST (Ger. Priester, Fr. pretre)

priest-See also:

hood must pass. The contrary is a fact proved by many monumental See also:

INSCRIPTIONS (from Lat. inscribere, to write upon)

inscriptions and See also:

AUTHENTIC (from Gr. aOO 'rns, one who does a thing himself)

authentic statements. Though the office is found at Carthage, and St See also:

CYPRIAN, SAINT [Caecilius Cyprianus, called THASCIUS] (c. 200–258)

Cyprian (200?-258) makes many references to acolytes, whom he used to carry his letters, this seems to be the only See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place in See also:

Africa where they were known. See also:

TERTULLIAN (c. 155-c. 222)

Tertullian, while speaking of readers and exorcists, says nothing about acolytes; neither does St See also:

Augustine.

The Irish Church did not know them; and in See also:

Spain the council of See also:

Toledo (400) makes no mention either of the office or of the order. The Statuta Ecclesiae Antiqua (falsely called the Canons of the See also:

FOURTH

Fourth Council of Carthage in 397), a Gallican collection, originating in the See also:

province of See also:

Arles at the beginning of the 6th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century, mentions the acolyte, but does not give, as in the See also:

case of the other orders, any See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form for the ordination. The Roman books are silent, and there is no mention of it in the collection known as the Leonine Sacramentary; while in the so-called Gelasian See also:

Mass-See also:

BOOK

book, which, as we have it, is full of Gallican additions made to St See also:

Gregory's reform, there is the same silence, though in one MS. of the loth century given by See also:

MURATORI

Muratori we find a form for the ordination of an acolyte. While there is frequent mention of the acolyte's office in the Ordines Romani, it is only in the Ordo VIII. (which is not earlier than the 7th century) that we find the very See also:

SIMPLE

simple form for admitting an acolyte to his office. At the end of the mass the cleric, clad in See also:

CHASUBLE

chasuble and See also:

STOLE (Lat. stela and orarium, Fr. etole, It. stola, Sp. estola, Ger. Stela)

stole and bearing a See also:

LINEN

linen bag on one See also:

ARM (a common Teutonic word; the Indo-European root is ar, to join or fit; cf. the Lat. armus, shoulder, and the plural word arma, weapons, Gr. apphs, joint, and the reduplicated apapilKSV, to join)

arm, comes before the pope or See also:

bishop and receives a blessing. There is no See also:

COLLATION (Lat. collatio, from conferre, to bring together or compare)

collation of See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power or order but a simple See also:

ADMISSION

admission to. an office. The See also:

EVIDENCE (Lat. evidentia, evideri, to appear clearly)

evidence available, there-fore, points to the fact that the acolyte was only a local office and was not a necessary step or order for every candidate. In See also:

England, though the ecclesiastical organization came from Rome and was directed by See also:

Romans, we find no trace of suchan office or order until the See also:

time of See also:

Ecgbert of See also:

York (767), the friend of See also:

ALCUIN (Marmara)

Alcuin and therefore subject to Gallican See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence. The Pontifical known as Ecgbert's shows that it was then in use both as an office and as an order, and Aelfric (ioo6) in both his See also:

PASTORAL (from Lat. pastor, a shepherd)

pastoral See also:

EPISTLE

epistle and canons mentions the acolyte. The conclusion, then, which seems warranted by the evidence, is that the acolyte was an office only at Rome, and, becoming an order in the Gallican Church, found its way as such into the Roman books at some See also:

period before the See also:

FUSION

fusion of the two See also:

RITES

rites under See also:

Charlemagne. The duties of the acolyte, as given in the Roman Pontifical, are identical with those mentioned in the Statuta Ecclesiae Antiqua of Arles: " It is the See also:

DUTY (from " due," that which is owing, O. Fr. deu, dil, past participle of devoir; Lat. debere, debitum; cf. " debt ")

duty of acolytes to carry the See also:

CANDLE (Lat. candela, from candere, to glow)

candle-sticks, to See also:

LIGHT

light the lamps of the church, to administer See also:

WINE (Lat. vinum, Gr. oivos)

wine and See also:

WATER

water for the See also:

EUCHARIST (Gr. evXapurria, thanksgiving)

Eucharist." It might seem, from the number forty-two mentioned by Pope Cornelius, that at Rome the acolytes were divided among the seven ecclesiastical regions of the See also:

CITY (through Fr. cite, from Lat. civitas)

city; but we have no See also:

PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)

proof that, at that date, there were six acolytes attached to each region.

From the See also:

ancient See also:

DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division of the Roman acolytes into Palatini, or those in attendance on the pope at the Lateran See also:

PALACE (Lat. Palatium, the name given by Augustus to his residence on the Palatine Hill)

palace, Stationarii, or those who served at the churches where there was a " station," and Regionarii, or those attached directly to the regions, it would seem that the number forty-two was only the actual number then existing and not an See also:

OFFICIAL (Late Lat. QJicialis, for class. Lat. apparitor, from officium, office, duty)

official number. We get a glimpse of their duties from the Ordines Romani. When the pope rode in procession to the station an acolyte, on See also:

FOOT

foot, preceded him, bearing the See also:

HOLY

holy See also:

CHRISM (through Lat. chrisma, from Gr. xpavua, an anointing substance, Xpiew , to anoint; through a Romanic form cresma comes the Fr. creme, and Eng. " cream ")

chrism; and at the church seven regionary acolytes with candles went before him in the procession to the See also:

ALTAR (Lat. altare, from alias, high; some ancient etymological guesses are recorded by St Isidore of Seville in Etymologiae xv. 4)

altar, while two others, bearing the See also:

VESSEL (O. Fr. vaissel, from a rare Lat. vascellum, dim. of vas, vase, urn)

vessel that contained a pre-consecrated See also:

HOST

Host, presented it for his See also:

ADORATION (Lat. ad, to, and os, mouth; i.e. " carrying to one's mouth ")

adoration. During the mass an acolyte See also:

BORE

bore the See also:

THURIBLE (Lat. thuribulum or turibulum, thus or tus, incense, Gr. Ms, from Ou&av, to offer a burnt sacrifice, cf. Skr. dhuma and Lat. fumus, smoke)

thurible (Ordo VI.) and three assisted at the washing of the hands. At the moment of communion the acolytes received in linen bags the consecrated Hosts to carry to the assisting priests. This office of bearing the See also:

SACRAMENT

sacrament is an ancient one, and is mentioned in the See also:

LEGEND (through the French from the med. Lat. legenda, things to be read, from legere, to read)

legend of Tarcisius, the Roman acolyte, who was martyred on the See also:

APPIAN (Gr. 'Aairtavbs)

Appian Way while carrying the Hosts from the catacombs. The official See also:

DRESS (from the Fr. dresser, to set out, arrange, formed from Lat. directus, arranged, dirigere, to direct, arrange)

dress of the acolyte, according to Ordo V., was a See also:

close-fitting linen garment (camisia) girt about him, a napkin See also:

HANGING

hanging from the See also:

LEFT

left See also:

side, a See also:

white See also:

TUNIC (0. Eng. tunice, tunical, taken, before the Norman con-quest, directly from Lat. tunica, of which the origin is unknown)

tunic, a stole (orarium) and a chasuble (planeta) which he took off when he sang on the steps of the ambone. At the See also:

PRESENT

present day, despite the See also:

EARNEST (probably a corruption of the obsolete arles or erles, adapted from Lat. equivalent arrha, due to a confusion with the adjective " earnest," serious, O. Eng. eornust, cognate with Ger. ernst)

earnest wish of the council of See also:

Trent (Sess. See also:

XXIII

xxiii. cap. 17 d.r.), the acolyte, while remaining an order, has ceased to be essentially a clerical office, since the duties are now performed, almost everywhere, by laymen. The office has been revived, though unofficially, in the Church of England, as a result of the Tractarian See also:

MOVEMENT

movement. See See also:

MORIN, JEAN (latinized JOANNES MORINUS) (1591-1659)

Morin, Commentarius in sacris Ecclesiae ordinationibus (See also:

Antwerp, 1685), ii. p. 209, iii. p.

152; Martene, De Antiquis Ecclesiae ritibus (Antwerp, 1739), ii. pp. 47 and 86; See also:

MABILLON, JOHN (1632-1707)

Mabillon, Musaeum Italicum IL for the Ordines Romani; Muratori, Liturgia See also:

ROMANA

Romana Vetus; Cabrol, Dictionnaire d'archeologie chretienne et de liturgie, vol. i. See also:

col. 348-536. (E.

End of Article: ACOLYTE (Gr.axokouOos, follower)

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