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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Lector</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09111a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="A lector (reader) in the West is a clerk having the second of the four minor orders. In all Eastern Churches also, readers are ordained to a minor order preparatory to the diaconate"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="09111a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/l.htm">L</a> > Lector</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Lector</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>A <em>lector</em> (reader) in the West is a clerk having the second of the four <a href="../cathen/10332b.htm">minor orders</a>. In all <a href="../cathen/05230a.htm">Eastern Churches</a> also, readers are <a href="../cathen/11279a.htm">ordained</a> to a <a href="../cathen/10332b.htm">minor order</a> preparatory to the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">diaconate</a>. The primary reason for a special class of readers was the need of some <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a> sufficiently <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">educated</a> to be able to read the books in church, for the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> continued the Jewish practice of reading the Sacred Books publicly. The first mention of a <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> reader is by <a href="../cathen/08580c.htm">Justin Martyr</a> (d. about 165) in I Apol., lxvii, 3, 4. The <a href="../cathen/07448a.htm">homily</a> known as <a href="../fathers/1011.htm">"II Clem. ad Corinthios"</a> also contains a reference to a lector, <em>anaginoskon</em> (xix, 1). The position of reader was honourable and dignified. It involved a higher standard of <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">education</a> than that of most offices. Although <a href="../cathen/08580c.htm">Justin</a> says that the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> preached the sermon, it appears that the reader himself often went on to expound what he had read. As the <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> obtained that a special blessing and dedication should be given to everyone who performs an office for the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, the reader too was instituted by <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> and some <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a>. Readers were blessed and set apart, as were the <em>fossores</em> who dug graves, the <em>notarii</em> who kept registers, and <a href="../cathen/15617c.htm">widows</a>. All the group of rituals that depend on the "Apostolic Constitutions" contain the rite of ordaining readers. "Apost. Const.", vii, xxii, tells the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> to ordain a reader by laying on his hand and saying a <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>, which is given. The derived documents however forbid an <a href="../cathen/07698a.htm">imposition of hands</a>. ("Epitome Const. Ap.", xiii; Funk, "Didascalia", <a href="../cathen/11383c.htm">Paderborn</a>, 1905, II, p. 82; see also the "Egyptian Church Order", V, ib., p. 105).</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>During the first centuries all the lessons in the liturgy, including the Epistle and Gospel, were read by the lector. <a href="../cathen/04375c.htm">Cornelius I</a> (251-53) in a letter to Fabius of Antioch mentions that the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> has forty-two <a href="../cathen/01106a.htm">acolytes</a> and fifty-two <a href="../cathen/05711a.htm">exorcists</a>, readers and doorkeepers. (<a href="../cathen/04736b.htm">Denzinger</a>, "Enchiridion", n. 45). In the fourth century in Africa the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of <a href="../cathen/04295a.htm">Cirta</a> had four <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, three <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacons</a>, four <a href="../cathen/14320a.htm">subdeacons</a>, and seven readers. The account of the <a href="../cathen/11703a.htm">persecution</a> ("Gesta apud Zenophilum" printed in the appendix to Optatus of Mileve in the <a href="../cathen/15417a.htm">Vienna</a> edition of "Corp. Script. eccl. lat.", XXVI, 185-97) describes how the readers kept the sacred books which the magistrate demanded to be given up (p. 187). An old set of Western canons, ascribed (wrongly) to a supposed <a href="../cathen/01199a.htm">Council of Carthage</a> in 398, but really of the sixth century, gives forms for all ordinations. Canon 8 is about our subject: "When a reader is <a href="../cathen/11279a.htm">ordained</a> let the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> speak about him (<em>faciat de illo verbum</em>) to the people, pointing out his <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> and life and skill. After this, while the people look on, let him give him the book from which he is to read, saying to him: Receive this and be the spokesman (<em>relator</em>) of the word of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and you shall have, if you do your work faithfully and usefully, a part with those who have administered the word of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>" (<a href="../cathen/04736b.htm">Denzinger</a>, op. cit., n. 156). But gradually the lectorate lost all importance. The <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a> obtained the office of reading the Gospel; in the West the Epistle became the privilege of the <a href="../cathen/14320a.htm">subdeacon</a>. In the <a href="../cathen/05230a.htm">Eastern Churches</a> this and other lessons are still supposed to be read by a lector, but everywhere his office (as all <a href="../cathen/10332b.htm">minor orders</a>) may be supplied by a <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">layman</a>. The lector is still mentioned twice in the Roman <a href="../cathen/10354c.htm">Missal</a>. In the <a href="../cathen/13216a.htm">rubrics</a> at the beginning it is said that if Mass be sung without <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a> and <a href="../cathen/14320a.htm">subdeacon</a> a lector wearing a <a href="../cathen/14343d.htm">surplice</a> may sing the Epistle in the usual place; but at the end he does not <a href="../cathen/08663a.htm">kiss</a> the celebrant's hand (Ritus celebr. Missam", vi, 8). On <a href="../cathen/06643a.htm">Good Friday</a> the morning service begins with a prophecy read by a lector at the place where the Epistle is usually read (first <a href="../cathen/13216a.htm">rubric</a> on <a href="../cathen/06643a.htm">Good Friday</a>).</p> <p>Everywhere the order of reader has become merely a stepping-stone to major orders, and a memory of early days. In the <a href="../cathen/13155a.htm">Roman Rite</a> in is the second <a href="../cathen/10332b.htm">minor order</a> (<em>Ostiarius, Lector, <a href="../cathen/05711a.htm">Exorcista</a>, Acolythus</em>). The <a href="../cathen/10332b.htm">minor orders</a> are conferred during Mass after the first Lesson; but they may be given apart from Mass, on <a href="../cathen/14335a.htm">Sundays</a> or doubles, in the morning. The lectorate involves no <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligation</a> of <a href="../cathen/03481a.htm">celibacy</a> or of any other kind. The Byzantine Office will be found in the "Euchologion" (<em>Euchologion to mega</em>, <a href="../cathen/15333a.htm">Venetian</a> 8th edition, 1898, pp. 186-87). The <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenians</a> (Gregorian and Uniate) have adopted the Roman system of four <a href="../cathen/10332b.htm">minor orders</a> exactly. Their rite of ordaining a reader also consists essentially in handing to him the book of the Epistles.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">WIELAND, <em>Die Genetische Entwickelung der sog. Ordines minores in den 3 ersten Jahrhunderten</em> in <em>Römische Quartalschrift</em>, Suppl. no 7 (Rome, 1892); HARNACK, <em>Über den Ursprung des Lectorats u. der anderen niederen Weihen</em> in <em>Texte u. Untersuchungen</em>, II, 5.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Fortescue, A.</span> <span id="apayear">(1910).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Lector.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09111a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Fortescue, Adrian.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Lector."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 9.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1910.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09111a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Thomas J. Bress.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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