acolytate

English

Etymology

acolyte +‎ -ate

Noun

acolytate (plural acolytates)

1. (Catholicism) The minor order of acolytes.
   • 2016, Marie Failinger, Feminism, Law, and Religion, page 352:

     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).