ACOLYTE: A member of the highest of the
minor orders of the Roman Catholic Church. The
order was established in the fourth or fifth decade
of the third century, at the same time as the other
minor orders, probably by Pope Fabian (236-250),
but was not known to the East. The name (from
the Gk.
akolouthos,
'° a follower, attendant ")
indicates that the acolyte was originally the personal attendant of the bishop or of the presbyters.
In this capacity he appears in Cyprian's epistles,
where acolytes carry letters and fraternal gifts as
Aeolyu 26
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
directed by their bishop; and the same thing is
seen in Augustine's time. This close connection
with the higher clergy explains the position of the
acolytes at the head of the minor orders. In the
year
251
the local Roman Church had not less than
forty-two acolytes (Eusebius,
Hist. eccl., VI. xliii.
11). When the canonical age for the different
orders was fixed, acolytes were required to be under
thirty (Siricius,
Ad Himerium, xiii.; 385
A.D.).
In
the Middle Ages the liturgical functions of the
acolyte assumed greater prominence, including the
charge of the altar-lights and the eucharistic wine.
In Rome the acolytes were divided by special assign
ment among the various churches and
regionea of
the city. Since the close of the Middle Ages, the
order has had only a nominal existence, though
the Council of Trent (Session xxiii.,
De reform.,
xvii.) expressed a desire to see it restored to
its former practical activity. In his investigation
of the origin of the minor orders, Harmck has
given Fabian as the founder of that of the acolytes;
but he considers that it was an imitation of the
pagan ritual system, in which special attendants
(calatores)
were assigned to the priests. However,
this and the other minor orders may perfectly well
have grown out of the needs of the Church without
any copying of the pagan system. H. AcHEms.
Since the Middle Ages the order has been under
stood as conferring the right to act as official assist
ant of the subdeacon in a solemn mass. No
canonical age is now explicitly prescribed, but
the requirement of a knowledge of Latin excludes
the very young. J. T. C.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Bingham, Oriyinu, book i.; J. Mabillon,
Museum ItaEieam, ii. 84, Paris. 1687-89; L. A. Muratori
liturpia Romans roetus, ii. 407, Venice, 1748; A. Harnsek,
Die Quallen der aopenannten apoetoliacltsn Kirchenordnunp
ne6st einer Untsranchunp fiber die Ursprunp des Lectomta
and der anderen niadersn Weihsn, TU, ii. b (1888), 94 eqq.;
Ii. 3ohm,
Kirchenrecht, i
ACOSTA, JOSE DE: Jesuit; b. at Medina dal
Cameo
(26
m. s.s.w. of Valladolid), Spain, about
1539;
d. at Salamanca as rector of the university
Feb. 11, 1800. He joined the Jesuits as early as
1553. In 1571
he went to the West Indies and
later became second provincial of Peru. He wrote
Confesaionario pare los cures de Irtdios,
in Keehua
and Aymara
(1b83),
perhaps the first book printed
at Lima; a catechism in Spanish and the native
tongues (Lima,
158b);Denatura novi orbis et de
promulgatione evangelic aPtid barbrsroa
(Salamanca,
1b89),
which he afterward translated into Spanish
and incorporated in the
Historic natural y moral
do lea Indies
(Seville,
1690;
Eag. transl.,
The Nat
ural and Moral History of the East and Weat Irtdiea,
London,
1604 ),
one of the most valuable of the
early works on America;
De Chriato revelato et de
tempon'bva nwrisaimis
(Rome,
1590); Concilium
provincials Limenae in anno MDL%XXlll.
(Ma
drid,
1590); Coracionum tomi iii.
(Salamanca,
1596)
