page_title: Cathedral
section_title: Doorkeepers, exorcists, lectors, acolytes and primicerius
hierarchical_section_title: Cathedral / History and organization / Personnel / Doorkeepers, exorcists, lectors, acolytes and primicerius
caption_attribution_description: English: St John's Cathedral Brisbane, view from Eagle Street
context_page_description: A cathedral is a church that contains the cathedra of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and some Lutheran churches. Church buildings embodying the functions of a cathedral first appeared in Italy, Gaul, Spain, and North Africa in the 4th century, but cathedrals did not become universal within the Western Catholic Church until the 12th century, by which time they had developed architectural forms, institutional structures, and legal identities distinct from parish churches, monastic churches, and episcopal residences.
  Following the Protestant Reformation, the Christian church in several parts of Western Europe, such as Scotland, the Netherlands, certain Swiss Cantons and parts of Germany, adopted a Presbyterian polity that did away with bishops altogether.
context_section_description: In practice, the first three of these orders tended to be given together, and were typically applied to boys as young as seven.  These boy lectors were too young for the grammar school, but were valued as choristers, and so were included in the Schola Cantorum or choir school.  Originally under the responsibility of the deacons, the organisation of choirs was reformed by Pope Gregory the Great, who introduced the office of primicerius or head cantor for this purpose.  This proved a vital reform; as without any comprehensive system of musical notation, the only way that sacred music could be maintained and passed on was through professional choirs of sound musical training undertaking cathedral worship – and such skills are not guaranteed to be present in high-ranking ecclesiastics.
caption: St. John's Cathedral in Brisbane
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