Altar server

An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian liturgy. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell, among other things. A young male altar server is commonly called an altar boy, whereas a young female altar server is commonly called an altar girl.

Altar servers are a post-Trent innovation in parish churches. Formerly, professed acolytes performed these functions, except in women's monasteries where nuns substituted for acolytes. When priestly training developed in seminaries, professed acolytes were no longer available in parishes. So as in convents, substitutes called altar servers developed. In the parishes, only men and boys served at the altar, but canon 230 of the Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1983 allowed local ordinaries to permit girls and women to do so (see Female altar servers). In the United States, only the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska has not granted permission. Even where the bishop grants permission, the priest in charge of a church is not obliged to avail of it. Traditionalist Catholic groups such as the FSSP and the Institute of Christ the King and some individual priests do not.

The term "acolyte" is sometimes applied to altar servers, but in the proper sense means someone who has been received the ministry of that name, usually reserved for those who are to be promoted to the permanent or transitory diaconate. These must receive the ministry of acolyte, which historically was classified as a minor order, at least six months before being ordained as deacons.

In the ordinary (normal) form of the Roman Rite of the celebration of Mass, provided no instituted acolyte is participating, altar servers have the following responsibilities during:

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