ACOLYTATE. — From the Greek ἀκόλουθος δέω, to follow, to serve, it is a minor order, created in the Latin Church to relieve deacons of some of their functions; however, it is unknown, or at least not considered as forming a sacred ecclesiastical order, in the East, with the exception of the Armenians, and likewise for a long time in countries of the Gallican rite (France, Milan, Spain).
At Rome its institution probably dates back to Pope Victor (186–97): “Hic fecit sequentes — it is worth noting the etymological equivalence — cleros,” writes the Liber Pontificalis (ed. L. Duchesne, I, p. 137); however, by the time of Pope Cornelius (Epist. ad Fabium Antioch., in Eusebius, Hist. ecc., VI, 43, 11) the acolytes were already 42 in number, divided according to the seven regions of the city. Pope Gaius (283–96) lists them in his famous enumeration of 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, 53, 59, 77, 78, ed. G. Hartel, II, pp. 485, 603, 612, 616, 677, 835, 836), they were later called ceropharii, “for carrying the wax candles when the Gospel is to be read or the sacrifice offered; for then they light the lamps and carry them away” (St. Isidore, De ecclesiast. officiis, 2, 24: PL 83, 793; Etymol. VII, 12, 29). From the 4th century onward their mention becomes frequent in literary and epigraphic documents (cf. DACL, I, cols. 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, no. 56). In the 6th century, acolytes acquired greater importance at Rome: they served the deacon directly, or even the priests at the altar, and carried the vessels used in the administration of the sacraments (cf. John the Deacon, Epist. ad Senarium; PL 59, 405); in the Ordines Romani (PL 78) of the 8th and 9th centuries they are frequently mentioned. Instead, in France, Ireland, Germany and elsewhere they appear only rarely, for example in the Missale Francorum, and in De septem gradibus (ed. F. W. H. Wasserschleben, Leipzig 1885, pp. 23–26).
Besides their proper liturgical office, acolytes were also to accompany the bishop and be ever at his disposal to carry out errands and execute orders: indeed in St. Cyprian they appear as letter-bearers; in the Council of Nicaea (325) as companions of the bishops (Eusebius, Vita Constantini, III, 8), 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 retinue, and carried the sacred oils, the Gospel, the linen cloths and the bags for the oblations, and also particles of the Blessed Eucharist; according to Ordo Romanus VII, 1 (PL 78, 999) in the ordination the acolyte was given a linen bag, which he would then use to carry the Sacred Species on certain occasions, for example at the papal Mass to priests and bishops for the fractio panis (Ordo Rom. I, 19: PL 78, 946); already in the time of Innocent I (Epist. ad Decentium, 5, 8: PL 56, 516) acolytes carried the fermentum to the various churches of the city. They also carried the eulogiae, blessed loaves which prelates exchanged among themselves as a sign of communion. In the time of Charlemagne (Ordo Romanus VII, 2: PL 78, 995) they also substituted for exorcists in performing exorcisms over catechumens in the rites of Christian initiation.
At present the functions of the acolyte are much restricted: according to the present liturgical discipline (Pontificale Romanum: Ordinatio Acolythorum) this order is conferred according to the old Gallican rite (Statuta ecclesiae antiquae, 5th cent.: Mansi, III, 949) by handing to the ordinand a candlestick with an unlit candle and an empty cruet, instruments and symbols of the office: to light and carry the liturgical lamps, to prepare and present the wine and water for the sacrifice of the Mass. The CIC lists the acolyte among the minor orders in can. 949 (v. ORDER).