Ostiarius

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Ostiarius (from Latin ostium 'door, entrance' , Germanized Ostiarier ; also Janitor / Ianitor , from Latin ianua 'door, entrance' ) is the Latin name for a gatekeeper or doorkeeper. In medieval Latin Ostiarius was the name for a court official at the royal or papal court who had the function of gatekeeper.

Ostiarier as ecclesiastical office

In the early church , the Ostiarier had the task of guarding the church building and the entrances and keeping them in order, if necessary also the cemetery . He received the worshipers, provided the Eternal Light with the relics and rang the bells since they came into use. At Holy Mass it was customary until the early Middle Ages that the not full members of the congregation - the baptismal applicants , penitents and possibly non-Christians present - had to leave the church after the readings and prayers of the pre-mass ; in some regions the deacon dismissed them with a prayer of blessing, and it was the task of the Ostian to see that everyone left the church without hesitation ( “ne quis retardaretur in templo” ).

The Ostiarians soon became clergy and were part of the bishop's retinue . Their real service was increasingly performed by lay workers ( mansionarii , today sexton ); In Rome, as early as the 4th century, the appointment as Ostiarier was only the lowest of the four minor orders that had to be passed on the course honorum on the way to priestly ordination . An ordination rite to the Ostiarier is known in the Roman liturgy in the 10th century, in the Franconian Empire it was already in use earlier. It was revised by Durandus von Mende in the 13th century and was included in the Roman Pontifical until the liturgical reform by the Second Vatican Council .

Since the Motu proprio Ministeria quaedam Pope Paul VI. of August 15, 1972, the minor ordinations are understood as "assignments" or "services" that no longer have to be carried out by clerics. Only the tasks of the lecturer and the acolyte are binding for the whole church , Ostiarians and exorcists no longer belong to them.

In some monasteries, the Ostiarier is named who, when the community moves into or out of the choir or refectory, has to open the doors of the and close them again after the procession. This service is commissioned on a weekly basis, beginning with the first Vespers on Sunday, in a special rite.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Baier (ed.): The new Georges. Detailed Latin-German concise dictionary [...] prepared by Karl Ernst Georges . On the basis of the 8th, improved and enlarged edition 1913, revised by Tobias Dänzer, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2013, Volume 2, Sp. 3458 (Ostiarius) or 2404 (Ianitor).
  2. ^ Jan F. Niemeyer, Co van de Kieft: Mediae Latinitatis lexicon minus. (= Medieval Latin dictionary. ) Volume 2: M – Z. Edition remaniée by Jan WJ Burgers. Brill, Leiden et al. 2002, ISBN 90-04-12900-6 , p. 976.
  3. ^ Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ: Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume 1, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, pp. 606–612, the quotation there p. 612 Note 24 from: Expositio Antiquae Liturgiae Gallicanae (7th century).
  4. ^ Kai Gallus Sander: Ostiarier . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 7 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1998, Sp. 1202 f .