Subdeacon

The subdeacon is the first of the higher orders, which was donated in the Catholic church since the 3rd century. The reorganization of the ordination offices by Pope Paul VI. in 1972 the subdiaconate for the Roman rite with papal motu proprio ministerial quaedam was deleted and its liturgical functions in the assignment ( in the original Latin institutional ) to the lecturer and continued to acolytes.

Since the Middle Ages the Subdiakonatsweihe was understood as a sacramental. Your reception instructed the sub-deacon, and blessed him for the task to assist the deacon in his duties in the celebration of the Holy Mass. Its main task was the service at the altar and the presentation of the Epistle in levitated high offices. He was therefore also called epistolary. Recently, however, the subdiaconate was only as an intermediate for ordination, which was applied for only a short time, so that in the liturgy the tasks of the subdeacon were usually carried out by a priest.

The subdeacon was cleric and had taken over, in contrast to the holders of minor orders ( Ostiarier, lector, exorcist and acolyte ) to provide hours of prayer and celibate life with the Subdiakonatsweihe.

The subdeacon wore the maniple in the celebration of the Holy Mass as a sign of his office.

In the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite subdeacon for the function of the so-called levitated high offices is necessary. Since there are hardly any subdeacons in the Roman rite, in levitated high offices the duties of the subdeacon are usually performed by a priest, sometimes by a deacon; there is also the possibility to use laity according to the canon law. In societies of apostolic life who celebrate Holy Mass in the extraordinary form, such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, the Subdiakonatsweihe will continue to be issued as a precursor to priestly ordination.

The subdeacon in other churches

In the Eastern Churches, especially the Byzantine Rite the office of subdeacon exists - it is known there as sub-deacon; the consecration of one of the minor orders. A sub-deacon, as well as priests and deacons, not bound to celibacy. But he can not marry after ordination or consecration before been more than one marriage ( Quinisextum / Trullanum can. 3, 4, 6).

In the Evangelical Lutheran Church subdeacon was used as the title of the deacon in the following ranking clerics. In the Moravian Church, the title has received, " while the deacon and the like disappeared as a Lutheran official titles with equality minister of a church."