SUBDEACON

subdeacon

(noun) a clergyman an order below deacon; one of the Holy Orders in the unreformed western Christian church and the eastern Catholic Churches but now suppressed in the Roman Catholic Church

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

subdeacon (plural subdeacons)

(Catholicism, chiefly historical) A Catholic clerical rank in the major orders below that of a deacon.

(Catholicism, chiefly historical) A Catholic cleric who assists the deacon at High Mass and normally reads the Epistle at the Eucharist.

(Eastern Christianity) The highest of the minor orders below that of a deacon

Usage notes

In the first sense, subdeacons still exist in the context of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), and similar groups, who exclusively celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Mass according to the practices in place prior to the Second Vatican Council. In the second sense, subdeacons do not exist in the Ordinary Form of the Mass.

Anagrams

• casebound

Source: Wiktionary

Sub*dea"con, n. Etym: [Pref. sub- + deacon: cf. L. subdiaconus.] (Eccl.)

Definition: One belonging to an order in the Roman Catholic Church, next interior to the order of deacons; also, a member of a minor order in the Greek Church.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition