PORTER
285
PORTER
XXIV; ed. Gothofredi, VI, I, 57) intended for the
Vicariate of Italy, the ostiaries are also mentioned
among the clergy who have a right to personal im-
munity. In his letter of 1 1 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 (P. L., LVI, 691). In Rome itself this office
attained to no particular development, as a large part
of these duties, namely the actual work necessary in
the church building, what is now probably the duty
of the sexton, was at Rome performed by the man-
sionarii. The clergy of the three lower grades (minor
orders) were united at Rome into the Schola cantorum
and as such took part in the church ceremonies. There
are no special prayers or ceremonies for the ordination
of the lower clergy in the oldest liturgical books of the
Roman Church. For the Galilean Rite, short state-
ments concerning the ordination of the lower orders,
among them that of the ostiaries, are found in the
"Statuta ecclesise antiqua", a collection of canons
which appeared at Aries about the beginning of the
si.\th century (Maassen, "Qucllen des Kirchen-
rechts " , 1 , 3S2) . The ' ' Sacramentarium Gelasianum ' '
and the "Missale Francorum" contain the same rite
with the prayers used on this occasion.
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 pro- nounces over him. This ceremony was also at a later date adopted by the Roman Church in its liturgy and has continued with slight changes in the formula" until now. In Latin Western Europe, outside of Rome, in the late Roman era and the one following, the ostiaries were still actually employed as guardians of the church buildings and of their contents. This is shown by the epitaph of one Ilrsatius, an ostiary of Trier (Corpus inscr. latin., XIII, 3789). An ostiary of the church of Salona is also mentioned in an epitaph (Corpus inscr. latin., Ill, 13142). Later, however, in the Latin Church the office of ostiary universally re- mained only one of the degrees of ordination and the actual work of the ostiary was transferred to the laity (sacristans, sextons, etc.). In the ordination of ostiaries at the present day their duties are thus enumerated in the Pontifical: "Percutere cymbalum et campanam, aperire ecclesiam et sacrarium, et librum ei aperire qui pra;dicat" (to ring the bell, to open the church and sacristy, to open the book for the preacher). The forms of prayer for the ordination are similar to those in the old Galilean Rite. In the East there were also doorkeepers in the service of the Church. They are enumerated as ecclesiastical per- sons by the Council of Laodicea (343-81). Like the acolytes and exorcists, they were only appointed to serve the church, but received no actual ordination, and were not regarded as belonging to the ecclesias- tical hierarchy. According to the "Apostolic Con- stitutions", belonging to the end of the fourth century, the guarding of the door of the church during the service was the duty of the deacons and subdeacons. Thus the doorkeepers exercised their office only when siTvice was not being held.
Duchesne, Origines rfu culte chrilien (5th ed., Paris, 1909), 349 SQ.; WiELAND, D. genftiache Entwicklung d. aogeti. Ordines miitore.f in den drei erslen Jahrhunderten (Home. 1897), 54 sqq., 161 sqq.; Thom.\8SIMU8, Vetus et nova ecdesice disciplina circa beneficia el beneficiarioi, pt. i, lib. I, cap. xxx-xxxiii, I (Lyona, ed. 170B), 319 Bqq.
J. P. KmscH.
Porter, Francis, controversialist and historian,
b. at Kingston, near Navan, Ireland, 1622; d. at
Rome, 7 April, 1702. He was descended from the
Norman family of Le Porter, which had been settled
in Ireland from the time of Henry II, and were great
benefactors of the Franciscans. While still very
young, Porter went to Rome, entered the Fran-
ciscan Order, took degrees in philosophy and
theology, and for several years taught controversial
theology, ecclesiastical history and dogmatic the-
ology in St. Isidore's College. King James II ap-
pointed him his theologian and historiographer. In
1679 he published in Rome his "Securis evangelica
ad hffresis radices posita", an able controversial
work in which he confutes the fundamental prin-
ciples of Protestantism and its several sects. In the
same year he published at Rome his "Palinodia Re-
hgionis pra-tensae reformata;", in which he proves
with solid and convincing arguments that the
Catholic Church is the Church founded by Jesus
Christ. To it is prefixed a "Prjefatio apologetica"
— a noble appeal to the princes and state councillors
of Protestant countries to abolish the infamous laws
promulgated in their respective states against the
Catholic Church. His compendium of the ecclesias-
tical annals of the Kingdom of Ireland was published
in Rome in 1690, and dedicated to Pope Alexander
VIII. After a brief outline of the civil history of
Ireland, the author gives a summary account of the
foundations of the several dioceses and religious houses
pointing out the constancy of the Irish people in
preserving the Faith, and the persecutions they suf-
fered for their religion.
Besides the works mentioned above, he published "Systema decretorum dogmaticorum", Avignon, 1693; "Disquisitio theologica de priBservando foedere inito cum Principe Duriaco hteretico invasore regiae coronae ac dictionum Jacobi II, legitimi et Catholici principis. Praemittitur facti historia", Rome, 1683 ; " De abolitione consuetudinis prs- standi juramentum reis", Rome, 1696; "Refutatio Prophetiarum falso attributarum S. Malachiae", Rome, 1698.
Joannes a S. Antonio, Bibliotheca Universa Franciscana (Madrid, 1764); Brenan, Eccl. History of Ireland (Dublin, 1864); Webb, Compendium of Irish Biography (Dublin, 1878) : CoGAN, Diocese of Meath, Ancient and Modern (Dublin, 1S70): vk CiVEZZA, Storia delle Missioni Francescane, VII (Prato, 1SS3); MSS. in Franciscan Convent, Dublin.
Gregory Cleary.
Porter, George, Archbishop of Bombay, b. 1825 at Exeter, England; d. at Bombay, 28 September, 1889. Of Scotch descent, he wa.s educated at Stony- hurst and joined the Society of Jesus in 1841. After making his novitiate at Hodder, and devoting three years to philosophy at Stonj-hurst, he was employed in teaching at Stonyhurst and at St. Francis Xavier's College, Liverpool, becoming prefect of studies at the former college in 1849. In 1853 he went to St. Beuno's College, North Wales, for theology, and in 1856 was ordained priest. His theological studies were completed in Rome under Passaglia and Schra- der. After two years more spent at Stonyhurst and a year at Liesse, near Laon, Father Porter returned to St. Beuno's, where for four years he occupied the chair of dogmatic theology. He was then appointed rector at Li\'erpool, but was moved to London in 1871, becoming master of novices two years later. In 1881 he was appointed rector of Farm Street, London, but he was soon called to Fiesole as assistant to the general. In December, 1886, he was made Archbishop of Bombay (q. v.). Father Porter's collected "Letters" (London, 1891) reveal the ver- satility of his mind and his skill in direction. He translated or wrote prefaces for a number of spiritual books and compiled "The Priest's Manual for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass" (Liverpool, 1858).
