ACOLYTE. — From ἀκολουθέω, to follow, to serve, it is a minor order, created in the Latin Church to relieve deacons of some of their functions; it was unknown, however, or at least was not regarded as constituting a sacred ecclesiastical order, in the East, with the exception of the Armenians, and likewise for a long time in the countries of the Gallican rite (France, Milan, Spain).
In Rome its institution probably dates back to Pope Victor (186–97): «Hic fecit sequentes — the etymological equivalence should be noted — cleros», writes the Liber Pontificalis (ed. L. Duchesne, I, p. 137); in any case, at the time of Pope Cornelius (Epist. ad Fabium Antioch., in Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VI, 43, 11), the acolytes already numbered 42, divided according to the seven regions of the City. Pope Caius (283–96) lists them in his celebrated enumeration of the ecclesiastical orders (Liber Pontif., I, p. 161) under the name of Sequens. At Carthage, where their existence is attested by St. Cyprian (Epist., 7, 45, 49, 52, 59, 77, 78, ed. G. Hartel, II, pp. 485, 603, 612, 616, 677, 835, 836), they were later called cerferarii, «a deportandis cereis, quando legendum Evangelium est, aut sacrificium offerendum; tunc enim accenduntur luminaria ab eis, et deportantur» (St. Isidore, De ecclesiast. officiis, 2, 24: PL 83, 793; Etymol. VII, 12, 29). From the fourth century onward, mention of them becomes frequent in literary and epigraphic documents (cf. DACL, I, col. 350 ff.; Liber Pontif., I, p. 223, notes 6 and 7; De Rossi, Bull., ser. 1°, 1 (1863), p. 25; E. F. Le Blant, Inscript. chrét. de la Gaule, I Paris 1856, p. 77, n. 56). In the sixth century, the acolytes acquired greater importance in Rome: they directly served the deacon, or even the priests at the altar, and carried the vessels to be used in the administration of the sacraments (cf. John the Deacon, Epist. ad Senarium; PL 59, 405); they are frequently mentioned in the Ordines Romani (PL 78) of the eighth and ninth centuries. In France, Ireland, Germany, and elsewhere, on the other hand, they appear only rarely, for example in the Missale Francorum and in the De septem gradibus (ed. F. W. H. Wasserschleben, Leipzig 1885, pp. 23–26).
In addition to their properly liturgical office, the acolytes also had to accompany the bishop and
always be at his disposal to carry out missions and execute orders: thus, in St. Cyprian, they appear as bearers of letters; at the Council of Nicaea (325), as companions of the bishops (Eusebius, Vita Constantini, III, 8); and in St. Gregory the Great (Epist., VIII, 1), as executors of disciplinary orders.
According to the Ordines Romani (e.g., Ordo Romanus I: PL 78, 937 ff.), they formed part of the papal procession, carrying the sacred oils, the Gospel, the linens, and the pouches for the offerings, as well as particles of the Most Holy Eucharist; according to Ordo Romanus VIII, 1 (PL 78, 999), at ordination the acolyte was given the linen pouch, which he would subsequently use on certain occasions to carry the Sacred Species, for example at the papal Mass to the priests and bishops for the fractio panis (Ordo Rom. I, 19: PL 78, 946); already at the time of Innocent I (Epist. ad Decentium, 5, 8: PL 56, 516), the acolytes carried the Eucharistic fermentum to the various churches of the City. They also carried the eulogiae, blessed loaves that prelates exchanged among themselves as a sign of communion. In the time of Charlemagne (Ordo Romanus VII, 2: PL 78, 995), they also took the place of exorcists for the exorcisms to be performed on catechumens during the ceremonies of Christian initiation.
At present the functions of the acolyte are very restricted: according to current liturgical discipline (Pontificale Romanum: Ordinatio Acolythorum), this order is conferred according to the old Gallican rite (Statuta ecclesiae antiquae, fifth century: Mansi, III, 949), by having the ordinand touch a candlestick with an extinguished candle and an empty cruet, instruments and symbols of the office: to light and carry the liturgical lamps, and to prepare and offer the wine and water for the sacrifice of the Mass. The CIC lists the a. among the minor orders in canon 949 (v. ORDINE).