The Ministry of Lector in the Universal Legislation of the Latin Church

Lectors were known in the Church from the its very beginning. They were included in the clerical state in the third century. Pope Caius listed them among the hierarchy of the Church. Pope Siricius later described the rules associated with stages and levels ascending to Holy Orders indicating that the lectorship is one of the routes towards priesthood. In terms of the liturgical aspect, these decisions were confirmed by the Roman Germanic Pontifical of the tenth century which established the same structure of rite of the lector's order as that of other minor orders. The lector ceased to be a minor order in 1972 under the Ministeria quaedam by Pope Paul VI. The Pope decided that a lector would be called a 'ministry' from then on. Although for men, it was not solely reserved for those candidates preparing for Holy Orders. The Pope's disposition was included in the 1983 Code of Canon Law. The lector's main task is the ministry of the Word of God during the liturgy.