Definition of "ostiary" [os•ti•a•ry]

• Roman Catholic Church One who is ordained in the lowest of the former minor orders. (noun)
• A church doorkeeper. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In Western Europe the office of the ostiary was the lowest grade of the minor clergy."
• "In the Roman period all houses of the better class had an ostiarius, or ostiary, whose duties were considered very inferior."
• "Later, however, in the Latin Church the office of ostiary universally remained only one of the degrees of ordination and the actual work of the ostiary was transferred to the laity,"