Subdeacon

SUBDEACON. - It is the first, in ascending order, of the sacred and major Orders. The term s. (Gk. ὑποδιάκονος: subminister) indicates the office of a minister of the second degree, entirely subordinate to the deacon. On the sacramental nature of the subdiaconate, following the affirmative opinion of St. Thomas, a theological debate unfolded that is not yet entirely concluded; today it is commonly held that it is not a Sacrament.

I. HISTORY

The first mention of the subdiaconate in the West occurs at the beginning of the 3rd century in the Traditio apostolica, 14 (ed. B. Botte, Paris 1946, p. 4; ed. A. Casamassa, Rome 1947, p. 22 [for private use]), then in the letters of St. Cyprian (e.g., Ep., 24: PL 4, 294) and in the letter of St. Cornelius to St. Fabius of Antioch (c. 251), in which the Pope mentions seven subdeacons (as many as there were deacons) for the Church of Rome (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VI, 43: PG 20, 622). Further mentions are found in the Council of Elvira at the beginning of the 4th century (can. 30) and later in the First Council of Toledo (cann. 2, 3, 5, 20). In the East the subdiaconate is mentioned for the first time, at the end of the 3rd century, in the Didascalia of the Apostles (IX, 34, 3), then in the Canons of the Apostles (can. 43 [42]), in the Council of Antioch of the year 341 (can. 10).

II. ORDINATION

According to the Apostolic Tradition 14: "Let not hands be imposed on a subdeacon, but let him be named, that he may follow the deacons." The imposition of hands is likewise excluded by the Canones Hippolyti, cann. 48-49 (ed. L. Duchesne, Origines du culte chrétien, 5th ed., Paris 1909, p. 534), by St. Basil (Ep. 217, 51: PG 22, 706) and by the Statuta Ecclesiae antiqua: "When a subdeacon is ordained, since he does not receive the imposition of hands, let him receive from the hand of the bishop an empty paten and an empty chalice. But from the hand of the archdeacon let him receive a cruet with water and a maniple and a towel" (F. Cavallera, Thesaurus doctrinae catholicae, n. 1311, 2nd ed., Paris 1936, p. 675). The Constitutiones Apostolicae (VIII, 21, 1-4), on the other hand, require the imposition of hands. In the 5th century in the Roman Church it was conferred with a simple blessing (cf. A. Michel, Ordre, in DThC, col. 1264). In the Gallican rite, almost all the elements are found that are reproduced in the present-day Pontificale Romanum: an exhortation to consider the gravity of the obligations attached to the order, the singing of the litanies, the admonition Adepturi on the functions proper to it, the handing over of the chalice with the paten performed by the bishop with corresponding formulas, of the cruets performed by the archdeacon, two Oremus, the handing over of the vestments (amice, maniple, tunic) and of the book of the epistles with the relevant formula (cf. Michel, op. cit. in bibl., coll. 1266, 1268-79).

III. OBLIGATIONS AND FUNCTIONS

Only at the end of the 12th century was the subdiaconate numbered among the sacred and major Orders, and especially from that time the obligation of celibacy (v.) was imposed on the subdeacon, and subsequently that of the daily recitation of the Breviary (v.). The functions of subdeacons in ancient times were varied and manifold and concerned also the external life of the Church (for example, the administration of the patrimonies of the Roman Church, the exercise of judicial power in ecclesiastical tribunals; v. DIACONO E ARCIDIACONO). At present their functions are reduced to pouring water into the chalice, singing the epistle, assisting the deacon at the altar and presenting him with the chalice and paten, washing the corporals and the sacred linens (cf. Pontificale Romanum, admonition Adepturi).

Antonio Piolanti