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An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a religious service. Altar servers attend to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing a bell etc. An altar server usually has no formal training and holds no formal religious position; however, in some regions and religions, altar servers are expected to be recognizable through behavior and relation to others. Roman Catholic image of Jesus Christ as the Sacred Heart - no copyright This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... In religious organizations, the laity comprises all lay persons collectively. ... Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. ... Look up Altar in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Altar servers in the Roman Catholic Church

Two Roman Catholic altar boys

Formerly, only young men, among whom the Church hoped to recruit for the priesthood, and seminarians, who needed the training, were altar servers; and so altar boy was the usual term for all servers. The term altar server, which was also in use, has almost completely replaced altar boy, because, with the permission of the diocesan bishop, girls may now be allowed to serve in this capacity; besides, an increasing number of adults serve at the altar, especially at solemn services in cathedrals or basilicas. Another term that was used more in the past than now is acolyte. This term is now usually reserved for the ministry that all who are to be promoted to the diaconate, whether permanent or transitory, must receive at least six months beforehand (canon 1035 of the Code of Canon Law). Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1280x1024, 400 KB) Summary two roman catholic altar boys in Alba County, Romania Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Altar server Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1280x1024, 400 KB) Summary two roman catholic altar boys in Alba County, Romania Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Altar server Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... A seminary or theological college is a specialized and often live-in higher education institution for the purpose of instructing students (seminarians) in philosophy, theology, spirituality and the religious life, usually in order to prepare them to become members of the clergy. ... A cathedral is a Christian church building, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Anglican, Catholic and some Lutheran churches, which serves as the central church of a diocese, and thus as a bishops seat. ... St. ...

Duties of an altar server

A Catholic Priest or Seminarian serving as a Server, or specifically as a Thurifer.

In the Roman Rite of the celebration of Mass, altar servers have the following responsibilities during ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (394x1207, 84 KB) Summary First Annual (2005) Southeastern Eucharistic Congress, Charlotte, NY Actually, thats a Censer, not a censor. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (394x1207, 84 KB) Summary First Annual (2005) Southeastern Eucharistic Congress, Charlotte, NY Actually, thats a Censer, not a censor. ... Stained glass window depiction of a thurible, St. ... Latin Rite, in the singular and accompanied, in English, by the definite article, refers to the sui juris particular Church of the Roman Catholic Church that developed in the area of western Europe and northern Africa where Latin was for many centuries the language of education and culture. ... For other uses of Mass, see Mass (disambiguation). ...

• Gathering: Altar servers carry the processional cross and candles (the so-called flambeaux) at the front of the gathering procession. Others may carry incense and a thurible.
• Opening prayer (collect), if recited at the chair: Usually, an altar server holds the missal, so that the priest has both hands free.
• Proclamation of the Gospel: If it is a regional habit, flambeaus and/or incense can be carried.
• Receiving the gifts of bread and wine: When the priest receiving these gifts, altar servers may assist him by carrying them.
• Preparation of the chalice: Altar servers present the cruets of wine and water for the deacon or priest to put in the chalice.
• Lavabo: An altar server administers the water to the priest as he ritually washes his hands.
• Ceremony of the eucharist: Where customary, altar servers ring bells at important points during the Eucharistic Prayer.
• Postcommunion prayer, if said at the chair: As for the opening prayer, an altar server holds the missal in front of the priest.
• Ending procession: When the priest and the servers leave the altar, again the processional cross is carried, perhaps with flambeaux.

In most ordinary situations, one altar server is enough, but many parishes prefer two or more altar servers. The weekday Liturgy usually only requires a single server, if any. If a bishop celebrates Mass solemnly, more are required, so as to take care of mitre and crosier, as well as other functions. A Greek cross (all arms of equal length) above a saltire, a cross rotated by 45 degrees A famous khachkar at Goshavank (Notice the cross). ... Incense is a preparation of aromatic plant matter, often with the addition of essential oils extracted from plant or animal sources, intended to release fragrant smoke for religious, therapeutic, or aesthetic purposes as it smolders. ... Stained glass window depiction of a thurible, St. ... Missal, in the Roman Catholic Church, is a liturgical book containing all instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Masses throughout the year. ... In the Eastern Christian liturgy, the anaphora is that part of the Liturgy having to do specifically with the consecration and offering of the Eucharist, as opposed to scripture readings, etc. ... Missal, in the Roman Catholic Church, is a liturgical book containing all instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Masses throughout the year. ... A Greek cross (all arms of equal length) above a saltire, a cross rotated by 45 degrees A famous khachkar at Goshavank (Notice the cross). ... A mitre. ... Crosiere of arcbishop Heinrich of Finstingen, 1260-1286 A crosier (crozier, pastoral staff) is the stylized staff of office carried by high-ranking Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican and some Lutheran prelates. ...

Vestments

Altar servers normally wear an alb or the surplice during a liturgy. According to the general rule of the Latin Rite a surplice should be worn always over a cassock, but in Poland and other Eastern European countries it is worn over appropriate civil attire. The decision about what to wear depends on custom and diocesan and parochial directives. Latin Rite, in the singular and accompanied, in English, by the definite article (the Latin Rite), designates the particular Church, within the Catholic Church, which developed in western Europe and northern Africa, when Latin was the language of education and culture, and so also of the liturgy. ...

The number of buttons on a cassock is of no concern in modern times, if it ever was. Traditionally, a server wore the same colour as the church's pastor or rector. Thus, a red cassock would be worn if the pastor had that privilege. Black and red are the most common colours for a server's cassock. If an alb is worn, the cincture may be of the liturgical colour of the day. Liturgical colours are colours of vestments and church decorations within a Christian liturgy. ...

Servers do not wear a clerical collar or rabat (clothing). In English-speaking countries that collar was traditionally worn from ordination as a subdeacon onward, but in others it was worn by all seminarians.

If no special vestments are available, the altar servers wear appropriate ordinary clothes.

Female altar servers

It was customary to reserve all service at the altar to males. It was strictly forbidden to have women serving near the altar within the sacred chapel, that is, they were prohibited from entering the altar area behind the altar rails during the liturgy.^[1] In his encyclical Allatae Sunt of 26 July 1755, Pope Benedict XIV explicitly condemned females serving the priest at the altar with the following words: July 26 is the 207th day (208th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 158 days remaining. ... 1755 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Benedict XIV, born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini (Bologna, March 31, 1675 – May 3, 1758 in Rome), was Pope from 17 August 1740 to 3 May 1758. ...

"Pope Gelasius in his ninth letter (chap. 26) to the bishops of Lucania condemned the evil practice which had been introduced of women serving the priest at the celebration of Mass. Since this abuse had spread to the Greeks, Innocent IV strictly forbade it in his letter to the bishop of Tusculum: "Women should not dare to serve at the altar; they should be altogether refused this ministry." We too have forbidden this practice in the same words in Our oft-repeated constitution Etsi Pastoralis, sect. 6, no. 21."^[2]

In the period of liturgical experimentation following the Second Vatican Council, some dioceses allowed girls to act as altar servers. For example, this practice started as early as 1965 in Germany. The Vatican sought to put an end to such experimentation with the 1970 instruction Liturgicae instaurationes,^[3] and affirmed that only males could serve the priest at the altar.^[4] However, the practice nonetheless continued in some places, and the Vatican reaffirmed the prohibition against female altar servers in the 1980 instruction Inaestimabile donum.^[5] The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965. ...

With the promulgation of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, some argued that this reservation to males no longer held,^[6] based of the inclusion of both males and females in canon 230 §2: "Lay persons can fulfill the function of lector in liturgical actions by temporary designation. All lay persons can also perform the functions of commentator or cantor, or other functions, according to the norm of law." In some dioceses, girls were allowed to act as altar servers under the new canon law, without any explicit decision on the matter from the Holy See. Canon Law is the ecclesiastical law of the Roman Catholic Church. ...

The decision came in the form of a circular letter [1] from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments to presidents of episcopal conferences on 15 March 1994, which announced a 30 June 1992 authentic interpretation (confirmed on 11 July 1992 by Pope John Paul II) from the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts. This authentic interpretation said that canon 230 §2 states that service at the altar is one of the liturgical functions that can be performed by both lay men and women. The circular letter, written by the cardinal-prefect of the Congregation, also clarified that canon 230 §2 has a permissive and not a preceptive character, that is, it allows, but does not require, the use of female altar servers. Thus it was for each diocesan bishop to decide whether to allow them in his diocese. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (Congregatio de Cultu Divino et Disciplina Sacramentorum) is the congregation of the Roman Curia that handles most affairs relating to liturgical practices of the Latin Catholic Church as distinct from the Eastern Catholic Churches and also some technical matters... In the Roman Catholic Church, an Episcopal Conference, Conference of Bishops, or National Conference of Bishops is a conference consisting of all the bishops within a given territory. ... March 15 is the 74th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (75th in Leap years). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... June 30 is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 184 days remaining. ... Media:rofl. ... An authentic interpretation is an official interpretation of Catholic canon law given by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts. ... July 11 is the 192nd day (193rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 173 days remaining. ... Media:rofl. ... Coat of Arms of Pope John Paul II. The Letter M is for Mary, the mother of Jesus, to whom he held strong devotion Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), (Italian: Giovanni Paolo II), born   [] (May 18, 1920, Wadowice, Poland – April 2, 2005, Vatican City) reigned as Pope of the Roman... The Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts is part of the Roman Curia. ...

A later document [2] made clear that, even if a bishop decided to permit girl altar servers, the priest in charge of a church in that diocese was not obliged to accept them, since there was no question of anyone, male or female, having a right to become an altar server.

The 1994 declaration that there was no canonical prohibition against girl altar servers was published shortly before Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis of 22 May 1994, which affirmed that the male-only priesthood is a matter of Divine Law and cannot be changed. Ordinatio Sacerdotalis however said nothing about girl altar servers being forbidden, as was expected as the subject of this apostolic letter was priestly ordination. The first American altar girl was Sofia Maria Romanowski at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Ft. Myers, Florida.^{[citation needed]} Coat of Arms of Pope John Paul II. The Letter M is for Mary, the mother of Jesus, to whom he held strong devotion Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), (Italian: Giovanni Paolo II), born   [] (May 18, 1920, Wadowice, Poland – April 2, 2005, Vatican City) reigned as Pope of the Roman... May 22 is the 142nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (143rd in leap years). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ...

Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, altar servers assist the higher clergy during services. They might carry candles or fans in processions and entrances; maintain the censer, ensuring it has enough live charcoal, loading it with incense and giving it to the priest or deacon when required; preparing the hot water (zeon) in time for it to be added to the chalice at the Divine Liturgy; prepare the antidoron for the people to receive after Holy Communion; and any other necessary tasks so that the celebrant need not be distracted during the service. An altar server is vested in the sticharion only. The Eastern Orthodox Church is a Christian body that views itself as the historical continuation of the original Christian community established by Jesus and the Twelve Apostles, preserving the traditions of the early church unchanged, accepting the canonicity of the first seven ecumenical councils held between the 4th and the... In Eastern Orthodoxy, an entrance is a liturgical movement from one part of the sanctuary to another. ... Stained glass window depiction of a thurible, St. ... Chalice For other uses, see Chalice A chalice (from Latin calix, cup) is a goblet intended to hold drink. ... The Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. ... The remains of the loaves or cakes from which the various portions are cut for consecration in the Mass, according to the Greek Rite, are gathered up on a plate, or salver, in the sanctuary and kept upon the prothesis, or side-altar, during the celebration of the Mass. ... The Eucharist is either the Christian sacrament of consecrated bread and wine or the ritual surrounding it. ... The sticharion is a liturgical vestment of the Eastern Orthodox Church, roughly analogous to the dalmatic or tunicle of the Roman Catholic Church. ...

It is the custom in some traditions, such as the Greek Orthodox or Melkite Catholic, to set aside altar servers by the tonsure. In many places where this is the case, altar servers will also vest in the orarion, worn crossed over the back like that of a subdeacon but with the ends hanging parallel in front. Tonsure is the practice of some Christian churches of cutting the hair from the scalp of clerics as a symbol of their renunciation of worldly fashion and esteem. ... The Orarion is the distinguishing vestment of the deacon in the Eastern Orthodox Church. ... Subdeacon is a title used in various branches of Christianity. ...

The minimum age varies by local circumstance, but boys must be mature enough to carry out their duties without disrupting the sanctity of the altar. Although it is common in North America for boys to act as altar servers, in some places this practice is virtually unknown and these duties are always carried out by adult men. In other places where altar servers are normally boys, adult men will not vest if called upon to serve. In yet other places, boys are not permitted to serve on the Altar on reaching their teens on the grounds that the young man is no longer innocent enough to serve in the altar.

Altar servers, regardless of age, are subject to all the normal restrictions for those not of higher clerical position. They may not touch the altar table or anything on it under any circumstances, nor the prothesis without a blessing. They may not touch the sacred vessels, the chalice and diskos, even when these are not on the altar table. They may not stand directly in front of the altar table or pass between the front of it and the iconostasis, but must cross between the altar and the High Place if they need to move to the opposite side. It has been suggested that Altar of Prothesis be merged into this article or section. ... A paten is a small plate, usually made of silver or gold, used to hold Eucharistic hosts. ... 17th-century iconostasis of Prophet Elias church, Yaroslavl. ... High Place, in the English version of the Old Testament, the literal translation of the Heb. ...

Women may not serve in the altar except in women's monasteries. In that case they do not vest in the sticharion, but wear their normal habit for attending services and serve at a certain distance from the actual sanctuary. Monastery of St. ... St. ...

Other Churches

In lower Anglican churches, all who serve in the above positions are called acolytes. The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... This article is about religious acolytes. ...

In Anglo-Catholic and some Episcopal Churches however, the vast majority of roles associated with an Altar server are the same as those in the Catholic Church, and the same titles for each individual role are retained from Catholic tradition - mostly restored during the Oxford Movement in the 19th century. ... The word episcopal is derived from the Greek επίσκοπος, transliterated epískopos, which literally means overseer; the word, however, is used in religious contexts to refer to a bishop. ... The Oxford Movement was a loose affiliation of High Church Anglicans, most of them members of the University of Oxford, who sought to demonstrate that the Church of England was a direct descendant of the Christian church established by the Apostles. ...

References

1. ^ Catholic Moral Theology, Fr. Jone OFMCap, Nr. 315.
2. ^ Encyclical Allatae Sunt, 26 July, 1755, Pope Benedict XIV, paragraph 29.
3. ^ "All earlier permissions for experimentation with the Mass, granted in view of the liturgical reform as it was in progress, are to be considered as no longer in effect", Liturgicae instaurationes, n. 12.
4. ^ "In conformity with norms traditional in the Church, women (single, married, religious), whether in churches, homes, convents, schools, or institutions for women, are barred from serving the priest at the altar", Liturgicae instaurationes, n. 7.
5. ^ "Women are not, however, permitted to act as altar servers", Inaestimabile donum, n. 18
6. ^ The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary, ed. by James A. Coriden, Thomas J. Green, and Donald E. Heintschel, Paulist Press, 1985, ISBN 0-8091-0345-1.

External links

• Polish forum of Altar servers

Latin Rite Catholic

• Altar Server Manual
• Altar Server Guide
• Another Altar Server Manual