DEACON. A man specially ordained to the service of the Church's ministry. In the ordination of deacons the "matter" is the imposition of a bishop's hands on individual candidates, which is done before the consecratory prayer; the "form" consists of the words of the consecratory prayer, of which the following pertain to the essence of the order and therefore are required for the validity of the act: "Lord, we pray, send forth upon them the Holy Spirit so that by the grace of your seven gifts they may be strengthened by Him to carry out faithfully the work of the ministry." The role of deacons is to assist priests in preaching, the conferral of baptism, performance of marriage, the administration of parishes, and similar duties. (Etym. Latin diaconus; from Greek diakonos; a servant, a deacon.)
+++++
One of the Orders that Paul VI didn't try to destroy.
I would argue with Father that the 'matter' in the ordination of a deacon is the baptised, Catholic male on whom the Sacrament of Orders is performed, and the form is the imposition of hands, since the 'matter cannot be an action, just as the 'matter' of the Eucharist is bread and wine, and the 'matter' of the Sacrament of Matrimony is the man and woman marrying.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are subject to deletion if they are not germane. I have no problem with a bit of colourful language, but blasphemy or depraved profanity will not be allowed. Attacks on the Catholic Faith will not be tolerated. Comments will be deleted that are republican (Yanks! Note the lower case 'r'!), attacks on the legitimacy of Pope Francis as the Vicar of Christ (I know he's a material heretic and a Protector of Perverts, and I definitely want him gone yesterday! However, he is Pope, and I pray for him every day.), the legitimacy of the House of Windsor or of the claims of the Elder Line of the House of France, or attacks on the legitimacy of any of the currently ruling Houses of Europe.