Upvote:2
After Ministeria Quaedem, who may be a Subdeacon for a Missa Solemnis?
There seems seems to a be about four possible solutions to this question in regards to who may perform the duties of a subdeacon (in ifficium subdeaconis) at a solemn high mass as required according to the Rite of Pope Pius V.
In the Solemn High Mass form of Tridentine Mass and the Ordinariate Mass, the duties of a subdeacon include those of crucifer, singing the Epistle, holding the Book of Gospels while the deacon sings the Gospel, carrying it back to the celebrant afterwards and assisting the priest or deacon in setting the altar. The subdeacon's specific vestment is the tunicle, in practice almost indistinguishable in form from the deacon's dalmatic (the tunicle is sometimes somewhat longer than the dalmatic or had slightly less elaborate decoration, but this is often unnoticeable by the casual church-goer). Unlike deacon and priest, he never wears a stole. In the Tridentine Mass he wears a maniple and also wears a humeral veil while holding the paten from the Offertory to the Our Father; and, if the chalice and paten with host are not already on the altar, he also uses the humeral veil when bringing these to the altar at the Offertory. In practice, the roles of deacon and subdeacon in Solemn High Mass have generally been performed by men already ordained as priests, wearing the subdiaconal or diaconal vestments. The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter uses instituted acolytes in the role of subdeacon, but also uses men ordained as priests or deacons for the subdiaconal role. - Subdeacon
On Saturday, February 9th, His Excellency the Most Reverend Robert Finn, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, conferred the subdiaconate on nine men from Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary. Seven of the new subdeacons are from the Fraternity and two are from the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer in Papa Stronsay, Scotland.
The subdiaconate is one of the final stages in a priestβs formation, usually occurring the year before priestly ordination. The duties of the subdeacon include preparing the bread and wine and sacred vessels and chanting the Epistle. These duties are evoked during the ordination ceremony, when the Bishop presents the chalice, paten, cruets and book of Epistles to the ordinandi and they place their hands upon them. - Nine Ordained to Subdiaconate
Upvote:3
The answer is straw subdeacons.
A "straw" subdeacon is any subdeacon who has not been at least ordained to the minor order of the same name. There are two ways this can be:
This practice is carried over from prior times, when it was tolerated that a man not ordained to the subdiaconate could act as a subdeacon, with some rubrical changes.
Some differences are: