As anyone who has ever attended a Solemn High
Mass according to the Extraordinary Form knows, the role of the deacon
is integral. In fact, it is indispensable: without a deacon, you cannot
celebrate it properly. Or at all, actually.
And as we are all well aware, the Second Vatican Council (1962-65)
“restored” the clerical order of the diaconate to a “permanent” role in
the triad of Holy Orders—while, strangely, dispensing all the minor
orders, as well as tonsure which led up to it.
The restoration of the diaconate has turned out to be a real boon for
the Church on a number of levels: Deacons provide a return to the
balance in the three ancient orders (diaconate, presbyterate,
episcopate). Of course, deacons existed all along from the very earliest
days of Christianity: the proto-martyr St. Stephen was a deacon.
However, over the centuries, the order as a discrete group languished
and became “transitional”, as in transitioning into a priest.
Read more here: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/dicamillo/the-role-of-the-deacon-in-the-traditional-latin-mass
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