St Francis was a deacon but not a priest.
They were met by a deacon with a censer and by a servant who passed out on tiptoe without heeding them.
In 403 he repaired to Constantinople, where he received ordination as deacon at the hands of Chrysostom.
The growth of sacerdotal theories, which were fully developed in Cyprian's time, fixed attention on the bishop as a sacrificing priest, and on the deacon 3 as his assistant at the altar.
Hitherto the chasuble had been worn indifferently by all ministers at the eucharist, even by the acolytes; it had been worn also at processions and other non-liturgical functions; it was now exalted into the mass vestment par excellence, worn by the celebrant only, or by his immediate assistants (deacon and subdeacon) only on very special occasions.
