The Ordinal

As has been mentioned in Book I. Ch. IX. three Orders of Ministers — Bishops, Priests, and Deacons — have been recognized from Apostolic times, though in the earliest times they were called by a variety of names. In addition to these three were several Minor Orders.

In a letter of Pope Cornelius in 251 to Fabius, Bishop of Antioch, mention is made of sub-deacons, acolytes, and minor clerks (exorcists, lectors, and door-keepers). The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, otherwise known as the Egyptian Church Order, circa 200–235, mentions widows, readers, virgins, and sub-deacons. The Didascalia, circa 250, mentions sub-deacons, readers, singers, deaconesses, and widows. The Apostolic Church Order, circa 300, mentions readers and widows. The Apostolic Constitutions, circa 375, mentions deaconesses, sub-deacons, and readers.

The laying on of hands always accompanied the ordination of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons (cf. Acts vi. 6, and xiii. 3, 1 Tim. iv. 14, and 2 Tim. i. 6). In the East this also applied to the Minor Orders (cf. Apostolic Constitutions, lib. viii.), but not at Rome, nor according to the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, nor the Egyptian Church Order in use at Alexandria.

The diaconate of women maintained its existence down to 400–500, but as it was chiefly concerned with the baptism of grown-up women the introduction of affusion in the place of immersion and the general spread of Christianity, whereby with but rare occasions all were baptized in infancy, this office gradually fell to desuetude.

Exorcists — these in the East were regarded as obtaining their powers direct from God and not through the instrumentality of the Church, but in the West their functions were chiefly concerned with the preparation for baptism and became part of the office of acolytes after 300 or 400. The Roman epitaphs of exorcists are only found in the period 200–300. According to the Constitutum Silvestri, circa 314, the term of the functions of an exorcist lasted only one day, but according to the Lib. Pont. it was a month, and according to the second pseudo-Silvestrian Council, ten years.

Between 300 and 400 the office of lector seems to have been that in which those destined for the Superior Orders commenced their vocation, but as the lections other than that of the Gospel became reduced between 400 and 500 these lections were undertaken by the sub-deacons, so that the adult lectors disappeared and the members of the schola cantorum to which the lectors belonged had no other function than that of singing.

At Rome there was no solemn ordination of acolytes and sub-deacons. These at an ordinary Mass presented the one the linen bag (for carrying the oblatae or consecrated hosts), the other an empty chalice, over whom the Pope or Bishop pronounced the blessing: “Intercedente beata et gloriosa semperque virgine Maria et beato Apostolo Petro, salvet et custodiat et protegat te Dominus”.

At Rome the ordination of priests and deacons took place on Saturday in one of the Ember Weeks. On the preceding Wednesday and Friday the candidates were presented to the people and a notary announced them from the ambo and called for objections. At first it was at night, but by 700 it took place in the afternoon, after reading of long lections at Mass and the conclusion of the Gospel, the Pope called upon the congregation to pray for the candidates, and the Litany was sung. Then, placing his hands on the heads of those to be made deacons, he recited a double prayer consisting of an ordinary prayer and a eucharistic prayer, after which they received the Kiss of Peace from the Pope, Bishops, and Priests, and took their place among the other deacons. Those sub-deacons intended for the priesthood, after receiving this benediction, immediately joined the candidates for the priesthood and were consecrated with them. This certainly was the case from 800 to 900; thus the Lib. Pont. for the period, as to each Pope, gives the dates of their becoming sub-deacons and priests only.

Similar prayers were recited over those who were made priests and they were embraced by the Pope, Bishops, and Priests, and took their places at the head of the priests. The formulary in the Gregorian or Adrian Sacramentary is so drawn as to be applicable to either the diaconate or the priesthood. The Consecration of a Bishop was not limited to any particular time of year, but always took place on a Sunday. They were not chosen by the Pope, but elected and the candidate examined, and if the election was regular, the Pope approved and consecration followed. The ceremony was very similar to that for the consecration of priests and deacons: the Litany and Kyrie were postponed until after the Gradual, all prostrated themselves whilst the Litany was sung, then the Pope arose and recited over the candidate a prayer of exactly the same type as used for priests and deacons; the new Bishop then arose and was embraced by the Pope, Bishops, and Priests, and took his place at the head of the Bishops. The Alleluia or Tract was then sung and the Mass continued. This consecration by the Pope is the only exception to the rule, that a single Bishop cannot consecrate another and is specially mentioned in the Council at Rome, 386.

The Ordination of the Pope was but little different. Prior to 800 he was never a Bishop, but preferably a Deacon of Rome: the Bishops of Albano, Porto, and Ostia each recited three similar prayers, during the last of which an open Book of the Gospels was held over his head: the archdeacon then placed the Pallium upon the new Pontiff, who was otherwise already arrayed in Papal liturgical vestments. He at once went up to his throne and began the Gloria in Excelsis, and the Mass proceeded.

In the Gallican Church it was otherwise: there was a Traditio Symboli by the Bishop in each case with appropriate formula and subsequent blessing; the door-keeper received the keys, the lector his book, and the exorcist his book, the sub-deacon the paten and chalice, and from the arch-deacon also the ewer, basin, and napkin. The acolyte was not found everywhere in the Gallic Church; the Statuta Ecclesiae Antiqua drawn up at Arles, circa 500, and everywhere accepted, gives a form of ordination, his symbols being the candle and the cruet; but in Missale Francorum, circa 700, a prayer only is found; and in the Irish Canons he is not counted as of ecclesiastical degree, but is placed with the psalmist and cantor.

In the Gallic Church the congregation had to make the reply ‘dignus est’ when the Bishop presented the candidates for the diaconate and priesthood. They were blessed with the imposition of hands by the Bishop, and the priests were anointed on the hands with holy oil and chrism, as were also deacons in some cases. In the case of priests not only the Bishop but all the priests present placed their hands on the candidate. In the Gallic Church a Bishop was generally consecrated in the church over which he was going to preside; whilst the Metropolitan or Presiding Bishop said the consecration prayer, two other Bishops held an open Book of the Gospels over the candidate’s head and placed their hands upon him: after this his hands were anointed. After about 900 it also became customary to anoint his head. As has been shown, the so-called Gelasian Sacramentary consisted of a fusion of the Roman and Gallic Uses. In the case of the Ordinal, this was accomplished in a very simple manner. With regard to the Minor Orders the Gallic Rite with its regular tradition of symbols completely ousted the meagre Roman Use. But as to the Superior Orders the fusion consisted of a duplication of the rite, by first employing the Roman Consecratory Prayers and then using the Gallican Bidding and Consecratory Prayers after them; whilst those parts of the Statuta Ecclesiae Antiqua, which had been incorporated into the Gallic Rite itself, were relegated to the rubrics to which they properly belonged.

Between 800 and 1000 the idea of the Traditio Symboli became extended, and formulae were inserted not only for the investiture of the candidates with the robes appropriate to their rank, but also for the ‘tradition’ of the Gospel Book to the deacon and the paten and chalice to the priest. At the same time the prayer for the latter was extended by the addition of the words “quaecunque consecraverint consecrentur” — whatsoever they shall have consecrated shall be consecrated.

The robes just referred to, it may be of interest to explain, were for the Deacon the Stole, for the Priest the Dalmatic and Stole and Chasuble, for the Bishop the Gloves, the Pastoral Staff, the Ring, and the Mitre and also the Gospel Book.

There was no exact uniformity of the Pontifical, as each Bishop had his own MS. and followed those of the numerous traditions which he considered most fitting for the occasion.

In course of time the essential consecration was thought to lie in this Traditio Symboli rather than in the imposition of hands, so much so that Pope Eugenius IV., in his decree addressed to the Armenians at the Council of Florence in 1439, laid it down that it was so, but between 1600 and 1700 it had only been recognized that it had only been introduced into the Roman Pontifical about 900.

The Revisers in 1549 had before them not only the Roman Pontifical but also an Ordinal prepared for them by Bucer, consonant no doubt with those Lutheran services which obtained in Germany. But whilst they utilized the latter for forms and exhortations, yet it cannot be said that they adopted his proposed doctrinal changes. As is set forth in the Preface, their object was to continue in valid succession the three Orders of the Ministry, as they had been received from Apostolic times by episcopal consecration. In accordance with their aim, to include those who wished for the reduction of ceremonial to a minimum, no provision was made for the continuance of the Minor Orders as such.

It has already been shown how, though the priests and deacons were chosen by the Bishops, the Bishops had been elected. Consequently, we find that the public examination of Bishops as to their faith and doctrine had always formed part of the service for their consecration: further, in some later pontificals, such examination during the rite had been extended to the consecration of priests. There was therefore no inherent difficulty to the inclusion of such examinations in the rites of consecration for each of the orders, which in times of change rendered it the more important, that they were only those “first called, tried and examined and known to have such qualities as are requisite” as set out in the Preface to the new Ordinal. The public demand for any objections, known as ‘Si quis’, was therefore supplemented.

The double imposition of hands, arising out of the fusion of the Roman and Gallic Uses, was reduced to one, accompanied by the Charge. The Vesting of the Candidate with the appropriate robes of his office, and the Unction, which was only a mediaeval innovation, were omitted in 1549, but the Traditio Symboli was retained, though instead of the Priest receiving the paten and chalice, he and the Bishop also received the Bible, the Deacon continuing to receive the Gospels: whilst a Bishop had also a Bible placed on his neck and staff placed in his hand, but these were omitted in 1552. Slight changes only have been subsequently made; the apparel of the candidates, which in 1549 was an albe for Deacon or Priest and surplice and cope for a Bishop, was unspecified in 1552, but since 1662 the Priest and Deacon are to be ‘decently habited’ and the Bishop to be vested in a rochet.

In 1549, in the Consecration of Deacons, the presentation and Litany came before the Communion Service, but in the Rite for Priests after the Gospel; in 1662 this was made the same as for deacons in both cases. Further, the Veni Creator in the Rite for Priests, which came before their examination, was deferred to a more suitable position, just prior to the Consecration. An alternative rendering of the Veni Creator, written in 1627 by Cosin, Bishop of Durham, was inserted. Finally, in the formula based on John xx. 22, and for a Bishop, 2 Tim. i. 6-7, the description of the office was inserted, e.g. “Receive the Holy Ghost for the office of (priest or bishop)” to combat a plea advanced by the Puritans that there was no difference between the Episcopate and the priesthood. The Oath of Supremacy, which has taken various shapes, is now taken before the service according to the Clerical Subscription Act, 1865. The rubric, in connection with the newly ordained priests, that they shall remain in the same place, where hands were laid upon them, until such time as they have received the Communion, though the words are drawn from Bucer, continues the old custom of the Roman Rite of Con-celebration.

A direction is found in the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, circa 200–235, enjoining the Bishop to put his hand on the oblation ‘with the Presbyters’, and in the Lib. Pont., vol. i. and Ordo I. of Mabillon c. 48, for a Stational Mass at Rome, circa 500, the Pope said the consecration prayer and the titular priests said the Canon at the same time and celebrated the Eucharistic Liturgy with him. However, between 700 and 800 this was only done at the Nativity, Easter, Pentecost, and St. Peter’s Day. In Palermo in Sicily this custom is still performed by three priests at Christmas.

Closely associated with this ceremony of Con-celebration was the custom for the Pope to place in the chalice at the Pax a fragment of consecrated bread, which was brought to him at the beginning of Mass; thus there was a continuity at Rome of the same Sacrifice, same Eucharist, and same Communion which was extended by the sending of the ‘fermentum’, that is, the consecrated bread, from the Bishops’ Mass to the priests, who celebrated in the titular churches. But Innocent I. in 416 directed that this practice was not to be followed outside Rome.