Congratulations, Abbé Alex!

Today Abbé Alex received the minor orders of and Porter and  Lector at the seminary in Gricigliano!  Make sure you ask him to bless your food (fresh fruit and nuts) when he returns.

I was hoping he would be able to bless bread so he could bless my beer - it is liquid bread, is it not?  I may have to turn to others for this...
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I did a little research into minor orders and found a most informative website: http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/ where she explains a little about minor orders here:

"Some notes about minor orders: The minor orders, suppressed by Pope Paul VI in 1972 after the Second Vatican Council, were Acolyte, Exorcist, Lector and Ostiarus/Porter. They were called minor orders because they were not part of the Sacrament of Ordination and the seminarians who filled their ceremonial roles were not required to be celibate, yet. The Porter was the lowest office; the Acolyte the highest. Note that the Exorcist assisted only with the Rite of Exorcism that is part of the Sacrament of Baptism. Two minor orders survived the suppression as ministries, open to the laity: acolyte and reader, although I have never seen those ministries practiced as outlined in Pope Paul's decree. Note also that in the orders now dedicated to the celebration of the usus antiquior (for example the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest) these minor orders and the sub-diaconate are permitted for their seminarians."

...and for their Abbés!