In ecclesiastical law . The holy orders of priest, deacon, and subdeacon, any of which qualified for presentation and admission to an ecclesiastical dignity or cure were called “ordincs majores;” and the inferior orders of chanters, psalmists, ostiary, reader, ex- orcist. and acolyte were called “ordincs minorcs.” Persons ordained to the ordincs niinores had their prima, tonsura, different from the tonsura clericalis. Cowell.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
