What is "ostiarius"

n. the lowest of the minor Holy Orders in the unreformed Western Church but now suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church [syn: doorkeeper, ostiary]

An ostiarius, a Latin word sometimes anglicized as ostiary but often literally translated as porter or doorman, originally was a servant or guard posted at the entrance of a building. See also gatekeeper.

In the Roman Catholic Church, this "porter" became the lowest of the four minor orders prescribed by the Council of Trent. This was the first order a seminarian was admitted to after receiving the tonsure. The porter had in ancient times the duty of opening and closing the church-door and of guarding the church; especially of ensuring no unbaptised persons would enter during the Eucharist. Later on, the Porter would also guard, open and close the doors of the Sacristy, Baptistry and elsewhere in the church.

The porter was not a part of Holy Orders administering sacraments but simply a preparatory job on the way to the Major orders: subdiaconate (until its suppression, after the Second Vatican Council by Paul VI), diaconate and the priesthood. Like the other minor orders and the subdiaconate, it is retained in Indult Catholic societies such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.