Church Document
Paul VI, Motu Propiro Ministeria quaedam, 15 August 1972.
[The Latin text was published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis (Vatican City) Volume 64 (1972) 529-534. This English translation is from Documents on the Liturgy 1963-1979, Liturgical Press, Minnesota, 1982, pages 908-911.]
Certain ministries were established by the Church even in the
most ancient times for the purpose of suitably giving worship
to God and for offering service to the people of God according
to their needs. By these ministries, the offices to be carried
out in the liturgy and the practice of charity, deemed suitable
to varying circumstances, were entrusted to the faithful. The
conferring of these functions often took place by a special rite,
in which, after God's blessing had been implored, a Christian
was established in a special class or rank for the fulfillment
of some ecclesiastical function.
Some of these functions, which were more closely connected with
the liturgical celebration, slowly came to be considered as a
training in preparation for the reception of sacred orders. As
a result, the offices of porter, reader, exorcist, and acolyte
were called minor orders in the Latin Church in relation to the
subdiaconate, diaconate, and priesthood, which were called major
orders. Generally, though not every where, these minor orders
were reserved to those who received them as steps toward the
priesthood.
Nevertheless, since the minor orders have not always been the
same and many functions connected with them, as at present, have
also been exercised by the laity, it seems fitting to reexamine
this practice and to adapt it to contemporary needs. What is
obsolete in these offices will thus be removed and what is useful
retained; also anything new that is needed will be introduced
and at the same time the requirements for candidates for holy
orders will be established.
While Vatican Council II was in preparation, many bishops of
the Church requested that the minor orders and subdiaconate be
revised. Although the Council did not decree anything concerning
this for the Latin Church, it stated certain principles for resolving
the issue. There is no doubt that the norms laid down by the
Council regarding the general and orderly reform of the liturgy
[Footnote 1: See Sacrosanctum Concilium art. 62; see also art.
21] also include those areas that concern ministries in the liturgical
assembly, so that the very arrangement of the celebration itself
makes the Church stand out as being formed in a structure of
different orders and ministries. [Footnote 2: See 1975 GIRM no.
58] Thus Vatican Council II decreed that "in liturgical
celebrations each one, minister or layperson, who has an office
to perform, should do all of, but only, those parts which pertain
to that office by the nature of the rite and the principles of
liturgy." [Footnote 3: Sacrosanctum Concilium art. 28]
With this assertion is closely connected what was written a little
earlier in the same Constitution: "The Church earnestly
desires that all the faithful be led to that full, conscious,
and active participation in liturgical celebrations called for
by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the
Christian people as 'a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a purchased people' (I Pt 2:9; see 2:4-5) is their right
and duty by reason of their baptism. In the reform and promotion
of the liturgy, this full and active participation by all the
people is the aim to be considered before all else. For it is
the primary and indispensable source from which the faithful
are to derive the true Christian spirit and therefore pastors
must zealously strive in all their pastoral work to achieve such
participation by means of the necessary instruction." [Footnote
4: Sacrosanctum Concilium art. 14]
Among the particular offices to be preserved and adapted to contemporary
needs are those that are in a special way more closely connected
with the ministries of the word and of the altar and that in
the Latin Church are called the offices of reader and acolyte
and the subdiaconate. It is fitting to preserve and adapt these
in such a way, that from this time on there will be two offices:
that of reader and that of acolyte, which will include the functions
of the subdiaconate.
In addition to the offices universal in the Latin Church, the
conferences of bishops may request others of the Apostolic See,
if they judge the establishment of such offices in their region
to be necessary or very useful because of special reasons. To
these belong, for example, the ministries of porter, exorcist,
catechist, [Footnote 5: See AG no. 15: AAS 58 (1966) 965; ConsDecrDecl
574; see also AG no. 17] as well as others to be conferred on
those who are dedicated to works of charity, where this ministry
had not been assigned to deacons.
It is in accordance with the reality itself and with the contemporary
outlook that the above-mentioned ministries should no longer
be called minor orders; their conferral will not be called ordination,
but institution. Only those who have received the diaconate,
however, will be clerics in the true sense and will be so regarded.
This arrangement will bring out more clearly the distinction
between clergy and laity, between what is proper and reserved
to the clergy and what can be entrusted to the laity. This will
also bring out more clearly that mutuality by which "the
universal priesthood of believers and the ministerial or hierarchic
priesthood, though they differ from one another in essence and
not only in degree, are nonetheless interrelated: each of these
in its own special way is a sharing in the one priesthood of
Christ." [Footnote 6: Lumen Gentium, no. 10]
After weighing every aspect of the question, seeking the opinion
of experts, consulting with the conferences of bishops and taking
their views into account, and after taking counsel with our esteemed
brothers who are members of the congregations competent in this
matter, by our apostolic authority we enact the following norms,
amending-if and in so far as is necessary-provisions of the Codex
Iuris Canonici now in force, and we promulgate them through this
Motu Proprio.
1. First tonsure is no longer conferred; entrance into the
clerical state is joined to the diaconate.
2. What up to now were called minor orders are henceforth to be called ministries.
3. Ministries may be assigned to lay Christians; hence they are no longer to be considered as reserved to candidates for the sacrament of orders.
4. Two ministries, adapted to present-day needs, are to be preserved
in the whole Latin Church, namely, those of reader and acolyte.
The functions heretofore assigned to the subdeacon are entrusted
to the reader and the acolyte; consequently, the major order
of subdiaconate no longer exists in the Latin Church. There is,
however, no reason why the acolyte cannot be called a subdeacon
in some places, at the discretion of the conference of bishops.
5. The reader is appointed for a function proper to him, that
of reading the word of God in the liturgical assembly. Accordingly,
he is to proclaim the readings from sacred Scripture, except
for the gospel in the Mass and other sacred celebrations; he
is to recite the psalm between the readings when there is no
psalmist; he is to present the intentions for the general intercessions
in the absence of a deacon or cantor; he is to direct the singing
and the participation by the faithful; he is to instruct the
faithful for the worthy reception of the sacraments. He may also,
insofar as may be necessary, take care of preparing other faithful
who are appointed on a temporary basis to read the Scriptures
in liturgical celebrations. That he may more fittingly and perfectly
fulfill these functions, he is to meditate assiduously on sacred
Scripture.
Aware of the office he has undertaken, the reader is to make
every effort and employ suitable means to acquire that increasingly
warm and living love [Footnote 7: See Sacrosanctum Concilium
art. 24; Dei Verbum no. 25] and knowledge of Scripture that will
make him a more perfect disciple of the Lord.
6. The acolyte is appointed in order to aid the deacon and to
minister to the priest. It is his duty therefore to attend to
the service of the altar and to assist the deacon and the priest
in liturgical celebrations, especially in the celebration of
Mass; he is also to distribute communion as a special minister
when the ministers spoken of in the Codex Iuris Canonici can.
845 are not available or are prevented by ill health, age, or
another pastoral ministry from performing this function, or when
the number of communicants is so great that the celebration of
Mass would be unduly prolonged. In the same extraordinary circumstances
an acolyte may be entrusted with publicly exposing the blessed
sacrament for adoration by the faithful and afterward replacing
it, but not with blessing the people. He may also, to the extent
needed, take care of instructing other faithful who on a temporary
basis are appointed to assist the priest or deacon in liturgical
celebrations by carrying the missal, cross, candles, etc., or
by performing other such duties. He will perform these functions
more worthily if he participates in the holy eucharist with increasingly
fervent devotion, receives nourishment from it, and deepens his
knowledge about it.
As one set aside in a special way for the service of the altar,
the acolyte should learn all matters concerning public divine
worship and strive to grasp their inner spiritual meaning: in
that way he will be able each day to offer himself entirely to
God, be an example to all by his gravity and reverence in church,
and have a sincere love for the Mystical Body of Christ, the
people of God, especially for the weak and the sick.
7. In accordance with the ancient tradition of the Church, institution
to the ministries of reader and acolyte is reserved to men.
8. The following are requirements for admission to the ministries:
a.the presentation of a petition that has been freely made out and signed by the aspirant to the Ordinary (the bishop and, in clerical institutes, the major superior) who has the right to accept the petition;
b.a suitable age and special qualities to be determined by the conference of bishops;
c.a firm will to give faithful service to God and the Christian people.
9. The ministries are conferred by the Ordinary (the bishop and,
in clerical institutes, the major superior) through the liturgical
rite De institutione lectoris and De institutione acolythi as
revised by the Apostolic See.
10. An interval, determined by the Holy See or the conferences
of bishops, shall be observed between the conferring of the ministries
of reader and acolyte whenever more than one ministry is conferred
on the same person.
11. Unless they have already done so, candidates for ordination
as deacons and priests are to receive the ministries of reader
and acolyte and are to exercise them for a suitable time, in
order to be better disposed for the future service of the word
and of the altar. Dispensation from receiving these ministries
on the part of such candidates is reserved to the Holy See.
12. The conferring of ministries does not bring with it the right
to support or remuneration from the Church.
13. The rite of institution of readers and acolytes will soon
be published by the competent department of the Roman Curia.
The effective date of these norms is 1 January 1973.
We command as established and confirmed whatever this Motu Proprio
has decreed, all things to the contrary notwithstanding.