For the Gallican Rite, short statements concerning the ordination of the lower orders, among them that of the ostiaries, are found in the " Statuta ecclesi?antiqua " a collection of canons which appeared at Arles about the beginning of the sixth century.
12.
They are first referred to in the letter of Pope Cornelius to Bishop Fabius of Antioch written in 251, where it is said that there were then at Rome 46 priests, 7 deacons, 7 subdeacons, 42 acolytes, and 52 exorcists, lectors, and ostiaries, or doorkeepers.
13.
In the ordination of ostiaries their duties are thus enumerated in the Pontifical : " Percutere cymbalum et campanam, aperire ecclesiam et sacrarium, et librum ei aperire qui pr�dicat " ( to ring the bell, to open the church and sacristy, to open the book for the preacher ).
14.
In the Latin Church before 1972, tonsure admitted someone to the clerical state, after which he could receive the four minor orders ( ostiary, lectorate, order of exorcists, order of acolytes ) and then the major orders of Eastern Catholic, or " Uniate ", Churches have what are called " minor clerics ".
15.
In his letter of 11 March, 494, to the bishops of southern Italy and Sicily, Pope Gelasius says that for admission into the clergy it was necessary that the candidate could read ( must, therefore, have a certain amount of education ), for without this prerequisite an applicant could, at the most, only fill the office of an ostiary.
16.
According to these the ostiaries are first instructed in their duties by the archdeacon; after this he brings them before the bishop who takes the keys of the church from the altar and hands them to the candidate for ordination with the words : " Fulfil thine office to show that thou knowest that thou wilt give account to God concerning the things that are locked away under these keys . " Then follows a prayer for the candidate and a prayer for the occasion that the bishop pronounces over him.
