Comportment

Parishioners will begin to recognize you as an Altar Server, so always conduct yourself so as to be a good example of Christian virtue, humility, and reverence. This is true both when serving and not. The following guidelines apply when serving liturgies, and will serve to aid the Server in accomplishing this goal while also helping liturgies to run smoothly and reverently.

Before a Liturgy

Arrive

• Timing: Arrive early enough to spend a little time in prayer, vest, ready the altar, and have 5-10 minutes of silence in the Sacristy.
  • If the liturgy is especially complicated or it is a special occasion, arrive earlier.
• Prayer: Time spent in prayer can either be in the pews where the congregation sits, or in the Friars' Chapel.
• Entrance: Enter the Sacristy discreetly if possible. Ideally enter through the Baptistery or Lourde's Door. Otherwise enter through the Friars' Chapel. We don't want people in the congregation to think they are allowed in the Sanctuary, Friars' Chapel, or Sacristy, and so we don't want to be seen entering that way.
• Silence: Try to keep silence in the Sacristy¹, especially before a liturgy. Hold conversations in the Back Sacristy only. Be sensitive to the state of the Priest. If it's thirty minutes before the liturgy and he's politely greeting you, go ahead and converse. If it's five minutes before the liturgy starts and he's vesting, keep silence.

Vest and Prepare the Sanctuary

• Modesty: When changing in the Back Sacristy, make sure you are not in the doorway so no one walking by in the Sacristy can see you. Alternatively, close the door.
• Wash Hands: With soap and water, saying Vesting Prayers#Hand Washing.
• Cassock: Don Cassock while praying Vesting Prayers#Cassock. Don't put on the Surplice yet; we set everything else up before finishing vesting so as not to get wax/coal/etc. on the Surplice. This can be relaxed if there is a time crunch.
• Prepare: The Sanctuary. See the Preparation section for the particular liturgy you are serving.
• Surplice: Don the Surplice while praying Vesting Prayers#Surplice

Prepare for Liturgy

• Pre-Mass Prayer: If the liturgy is a Mass, pray Guild Prayer Before Serving, ideally with all the Servers present, but don't delay the Mass in order to wait for a Server.
• Wait in Sacristy: In the 5-10 minutes before the liturgy, wait in the Sacristy, keeping silence. We do this to:
  • Enter a state of prayerful recollection.
  • To ask the Celebrant questions about this particular liturgy (e.g. "Will you proclaim the [[Gospel]] from the Ambo or the High Ambo?).
  • As buffer time, especially for complicated liturgies, to double check that everything is ready.
• Ready: If appropriate for the liturgy, the Crucifer and Thurifer should retrieve the Processional Crucifix and Thurible with about 5 minutes left.
  • If there is lit charcoal, the Thurifer should wait just outside the Sacristy near the light panel, so as not to risk setting off the smoke alarm.
• Pray: When the Celebrant is ready, line up facing the Sacristy crucifix. This usually involves Pre-Mass Prayer with Ministers, but pray as the Celebrant does.
• Get into place: File to wherever the liturgy will begin, and line up in the appropriate order.
• Start Liturgy: When the Celebrant is ready a Server rings a nearby bell once to indicate the liturgy is started.

After a Liturgy

• Pray with Celebrant: This usually involves Post-Mass Prayer with Ministers, but pray as the Celebrant does.
• Return to Sacristy: Depending on the liturgy, you might take a different route or already be there. If used, Thurible, Processional Candles, and Processional Crucifix should be deposited in their places along the way.
• Pray with Servers: In the Back Sacristy, pray Guild Prayer After Serving with all the servers.
• Surplice: In the Back Sacristy, take off the Surplice and put it away on the correct hanger. We do this so as not to get it dirty.
• Sanctuary: Clean up the Sanctuary, as is appropriate for the liturgy.
• Cassock: In the Back Sacristy, take off the Cassock and put it away on the correct hanger. Finish changing if needed, again out of sight of passersby.
• Pray: Ideally, spend a couple minutes in prayer in the church.

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1. GIRM > par. 45 ↩