Steven Till

Orders

1) The grades or steps of the Christian ministry; the so-called minor orders were acolyte, lector, exorcist, and doorkeeper; the so-called major orders, which bound their holders to celibacy, were bishop, priest, deacon and subdeacon.
(Lynch, Joseph H. The Medieval Church: A Brief History, 363)

2) Referring either to the grades of clerkship (holy or minor orders) or to the different associations of religious.
(Heath, Peter. Church and Realm, 1272-1461, 365)

*definitions retreived from NetSERF’s Medieval Glossary (http://www.netserf.org/Glossary/)

Filed under: Middle Ages History, Medieval Glossary, Medieval History on February 26th, 2010