ACOLYTATE. - From ἀκολουθέω, to follow, to serve, it is a minor order, created in the Latin Church to relieve deacons of some of their functions; unknown, however, or at least not considered as forming an ecclesiastical sacred 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 - note the etymological equivalence - 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 Gaius (283-96) lists them in his famous catalogue 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, 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 4th century onward their mention 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 6th century, the acolytes acquired greater importance in Rome: they served the deacon directly, 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); in the Ordines Romani (PL 78) of the 8th and 9th centuries they are frequently mentioned. In France, Ireland, Germany and elsewhere, on the other hand, they barely appear, for example in the Missale Francorum, and in the De septem gradibus (ed. F. W. H. Wasserschleben, Leipzig 1885, pp. 23-26).
Besides their properly liturgical office, the acolytes also had to accompany the bishop and be always at his disposal to carry out embassies and execute orders: indeed in St. Cyprian they appear as bearers of letters; 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 (for example, Ordo Romanus I: PL 78, 937 ff.) they were part of the papal procession, and there carried the holy oils, the Gospel, the lintei and the bags for the oblations, and also particles of the Most Holy Eucharist; according to the Ordo Romanus VIII, 1 (PL 78, 999) at ordination the acolyte was given the linen bag, which he would then use to carry the Sacred Species in certain circumstances, 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 brought the eucharistic fermentum to the various churches of the City. They also carried the eulogiae, blessed breads that prelates exchanged among themselves as a sign of communion. In the time of Charlemagne (Ordo Romanus VII, 2: PL 78, 995) they also replaced the exorcists for the exorcisms to be performed on catechumens in 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, 5th cent.: Mansi, III, 949) by having the ordinand touch a candlestick with an unlit candle and an empty cruet, instruments and symbols of the office: to light and carry the liturgical lights, to prepare and present the wine and water for the sacrifice of the mass. The CIC lists the a. among the minor orders in can. 949 (v. ORDINE).