Ordinal, The
Since the sixteenth century the word “Ordinal” has been used in Anglicanism to refer to the texts of the rites for ordination. The 1549 BCP did not include the ordination rites. These were printed separately in 1550 with the title “The Form and Manner of Making and Consecrating of Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.” These forms were printed in the BCP beginning with the 1552 revision. In medieval times an ordinal was a book that gave the ordo (ritual and rubrics) for liturgies.
Glossary definitions provided courtesy of Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, NY,(All Rights reserved) from “An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, A User Friendly Reference for Episcopalians,” Don S. Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum, editors.