Just as in the case of priests and male deacons, the tasks of women
deacons have varied in the course of the centuries. The following tasks can,
however, be clearly established from the historical records:
Assistance at the baptism of women.
The deaconesses had an important task during the baptism itself: anointing
women catechumens with sacred oil over their whole bodies and performing part
of the baptism itself by immersing them in the baptismal font.
Care of women in the liturgical
assembly. Women deacons controlled admission of unknown women into the
liturgical assembly, just as male deacons controlled the admission of men.
Women deacons saw to church order among women and carried pastoral
responsibility for them.
Apostolate among women in their homes.
Women deacons looked after the sick and needy women. They had charge of the
widows in the parish. They instructed catechumens for baptism.
Service in the sanctuary. Although
women deacons did not assist the Bishop at the altar in the same way male
deacons did, they had access to the sanctuary in other ways. In particular,
they could take the blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle and distribute holy
communion, especially to women who had to stay at home.
It is clear that these women, therefore, exercised a full diaconate,
as envisaged by the Church.
For our own days the duties of the diaconate have been spelled out as
follows:
“It is the duty of the deacon, to the extent that he has been
authorized by competent authority, to administer baptism solemnly, to be
custodian and dispenser of the Eucharist, to assist at and bless marriages in
the name of the Church, to bring Viaticum to the dying, to read the sacred
Scripture to the faithful, to instruct and exhort the people, to preside at the
worship and prayer of the faithful, to administer sacramentals and to officiate
at funeral and burial services.” Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, no 29.
Full documentation on
all the ancient 
