Ordinal (liturgy)
Liturgical book for ordinations / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An ordinal (Latin: ordinale), in a modern context, is a liturgical book that contains the rites and prayers for the ordination and consecration to the Holy Orders of deacons, priests, and bishops in multiple Christian denominations, especially the Edwardine Ordinals within Anglicanism.[1] The term "ordinal" has been applied to the prayers and ceremonies for ordinations in the Catholic Church, where the pontificals of the Latin liturgical rites typically compile them along with other liturgies exclusive to bishops.[2][3] In medieval liturgies, ordinals supplied instruction on how to use the various books necessary to celebrate a liturgy and added rubrical direction.[4]
This article is about texts for ordination liturgies. For the fixed texts for Masses, see Order of Mass.