noun
definition
The rank of a deacon.
definition
Deacons considered as a group; a body or board of deacons.
definition
The period of office of a deacon.
Examples of diaconate in a Sentence
The traditionary position of the diaconate as one of the "three orders" is here maintained.
In the first place he was ordained to the permanent diaconate in 1997.
In my nineteenth year I was admitted to the diaconate, in my thirtieth to the priesthood, both by the hands of the most reverend Bishop John (of Hexham), and at the bidding of Abbot Ceolfrid.
This ancient idea of the diaconate, ignored in the Roman Pontifical, has been restored in the English ordinal.
The minor orders, and even the subdiaconate and diaconate, are now regarded as no more than steps to the priesthood.
Some account has been already given of scholastic opinion on presbyteral ordination to the diaconate and even to the priesthood.
Historical, liturgical and theological arguments make it impossible to uphold the legitimacy of a female diaconate as part of the ordained clergy.