Acolytate

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The minor order of acolytes.

    "Secondly, only men are eligible to be "installed" or "instituted" in the lay ministries of lector and acolyte (c.230 §1). These two ministries used to be among the “minor orders,” but Pope Paul VI suppressed the minor orders and established the lectorate and acolytate as lay ministries in 1972; since that time, lay men—and only men—may be installed (or instituted) as lectors and acolytes (c.230 §1)."

Example

More examples

"Secondly, only men are eligible to be "installed" or "instituted" in the lay ministries of lector and acolyte (c.230 §1). These two ministries used to be among the “minor orders,” but Pope Paul VI suppressed the minor orders and established the lectorate and acolytate as lay ministries in 1972; since that time, lay men—and only men—may be installed (or instituted) as lectors and acolytes (c.230 §1)."

Etymology

From acolyte + -ate.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.