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A verger (or virger, so called after the staff of the office, or wandsman in British English, though archaic) [1] is a person, usually a layperson, who assists in the ordering of religious services, particularly in Anglican churches.
The title of verger arises from the ceremonial rod they traditionally carried known as a virge (from the Latin virga, "branch, staff, rod"; see virgule). The Maces of State used in the House of Lords and the House of Commons of the British Parliament are examples of another modern use of the medieval virge. In former times, a verger might have needed to use his virge to keep back animals or an overenthusiastic crowd from the personage he was escorting or even to discipline unruly choristers. [2]
The office of verger has its roots in the early days of the Church of England's history. The Order shares certain similarities with the former Minor Orders of Porter and Acolyte. Historically, vergers were responsible for the order and upkeep of a house of worship, including the care of the church buildings, its furnishings, and sacred relics, preparations for liturgy, conduct of the laity, and grave-digging responsibilities. Although there is no definitive historical examination of the office of verger, evidence from Rochester, Lincoln, Exeter, and Salisbury Cathedrals points to the existence of vergers even in the 16th century. Koster is the Dutch word for 'sexton' or 'verger' (the equivalent German word is Küster), derived from the Latin custos ('guard'). The symbol of a guild of cathedral vergers is the crossed keys.
During the service itself, a verger's main duty is ceremonially to precede the religious participants as they move about the church; they do not typically take any speaking part in the service itself. [3] It could be argued that a verger's main pride during a service lies in their inconspicuousness; vergers often play a very prominent role "behind the scenes"—helping to plan the logistical details of service and discreetly shepherding the clergy through it (in some churches these latter duties are handled by a Master of Ceremonies, while the verger functions as a sort of marshal in the procession).
The typical robes of a verger are a black gown worn over a black cassock. The gown is somewhat like an academic gown and is open-fronted in the English tradition. It is common for a verger's gown to bear the arms of the church, usually on one or both sleeves. It can be trimmed with velvet, which may be in another colour (a colour prominently associated with the cathedral, for instance). Formally, a jabot may be worn at the neck.
Less formally, a verger may wear a gown without a cassock below, or, conversely, a cassock without the gown. In more modern settings, a verger might wear a scapular instead of a gown.
If a verger also serves at the altar during divine worship, the gown is often replaced with a surplice.
Some vergers see their role as one of welcoming or hospitality, encompassing duties such as arranging weddings and funerals or meeting important visitors such as bishops. [2] [4] Vergers at Westminster Abbey, for example, also lead guided tours. [4]
In small churches, the office of the verger is often combined with that of the sexton, who is responsible for maintaining church buildings and grounds. In some organizations the functions of the sexton and the verger are performed by the same person. Equally, many churches have neither a verger nor a sexton and these duties fall to the churchwardens. [5]
In 20th-century debates in the Anglican Church in Australia, some clergy argued that women should be allowed to serve as churchwardens because their experience in housekeeping would lead them to check up on the work of the vergers, indicating that many vergers performed maintenance. [6]
The office of the verger has, for the most part, disappeared in the Catholic tradition, the closest function being that of the sexton or the head or senior usher, particularly in those churches (usually large establishments, like St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City or the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC) that have a formal, organized corps of ushers.[ citation needed ]
Perhaps the best-known portrait of an Anglican verger in fiction is in Somerset Maugham's short story, "The Verger". In British popular culture, the BBC sitcom Dad's Army featured a bumbling caricature of a verger named Maurice Yeatman, played by Edward Sinclair. The sitcom The Vicar of Dibley , whose title character is among the Church of England's first female vicars, also featured a female verger, the dim-witted but well-intentioned Alice Tinker (Emma Chambers).
A cathedral is a church that contains the cathedra of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran churches. Church buildings embodying the functions of a cathedral first appeared in Italy, Gaul, Spain, and North Africa in the 4th century, but cathedrals did not become universal within the Western Catholic Church until the 12th century, by which time they had developed architectural forms, institutional structures, and legal identities distinct from parish churches, monastic churches, and episcopal residences. The cathedral is more important in the hierarchy than the church because it is from the cathedral that the bishop governs the area under his or her administrative authority.
Subdeacon is a minor order of ministry for men in various branches of Christianity. The subdeacon has a specific liturgical role and is placed below the deacon and above the acolyte in the order of precedence.
An acolyte is an assistant or follower assisting the celebrant in a religious service or procession. In many Christian denominations, an acolyte is anyone performing ceremonial duties such as lighting altar candles. In others, the term is used for one who has been inducted into a particular liturgical ministry, even when not performing those duties.
A surplice is a liturgical vestment of Western Christianity. The surplice is in the form of a tunic of white linen or cotton fabric, reaching to the knees, with wide or moderately wide sleeves.
The cassock or soutane is a Christian clerical clothing coat used by the clergy and male religious of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, in addition to some clergy in certain Protestant denominations such as Anglicans and Lutherans. "Ankle-length garment" is the literal meaning of the corresponding Latin term, vestis talaris. It is related to the habits traditionally worn by nuns, monks, and friars.
Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially by Eastern Churches, Catholics, Lutherans, and Anglicans. Many other groups also make use of liturgical garments; among the Reformed (Calvinist) Churches this was a point of controversy in the Protestant Reformation and sometimes since, in particular during the ritualist controversies in the Church of England in the 19th century.
An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian liturgy. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell, helping bring up the gifts, and bringing up the liturgical books, among other things. If young, the server is commonly called an altar boy or altar girl. In some Christian denominations, altar servers are known as acolytes.
A sexton is an officer of a church, congregation, or synagogue charged with the maintenance of its buildings and/or an associated graveyard. In smaller places of worship, this office is often combined with that of verger. Larger establishments, such as cathedrals, may employ a team of sextons.
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Catholic Church. An archdeacon is often responsible for administration within an archdeaconry, which is the principal subdivision of the diocese. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church has defined an archdeacon as "A cleric having a defined administrative authority delegated to him by the bishop in the whole or part of the diocese." The office has often been described metaphorically as oculus episcopi, the "bishop's eye".
Canon is a Christian title usually used to refer to a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule.
The Geneva gown, also called a pulpit gown, pulpit robe, or preaching robe, is an ecclesiastical garment customarily worn by ordained ministers and accredited lay preachers in the Christian churches that arose out of the historic Protestant Reformation. It is particularly associated with Protestant churches of the Reformed, Methodist, Unitarian and Free Christian traditions.
A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ex officio members of the parish board, usually called a vestry, parochial church council, or in the case of a Cathedral parish the chapter.
A beadle, sometimes spelled bedel, is an official who may usher, keep order, make reports, and assist in religious functions; or a minor official who carries out various civil, educational or ceremonial duties on the manor.
Clerical clothing is non-liturgical clothing worn exclusively by clergy. It is distinct from vestments in that it is not reserved specifically for use in the liturgy. Practices vary: clerical clothing is sometimes worn under vestments, and sometimes as the everyday clothing or street wear of a priest, minister, or other clergy member. In some cases, it can be similar or identical to the habit of a monk or nun.
A dean, in an ecclesiastical context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and many Lutheran denominations. A dean's assistant is called a sub-dean.
Choir dress is the traditional vesture of the clerics, seminarians and religious of Christian churches worn for public prayer and the administration of the sacraments except when celebrating or concelebrating the Eucharist. It differs from the vestments worn by the celebrants of the Eucharist, being normally made of fabrics such as wool, cotton or silk, as opposed to the fine brocades used in vestments. It may also be worn by lay assistants such as acolytes and choirs. It was abandoned by most of the Protestant churches that developed from the sixteenth-century Reformation.
In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" ; "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective. In some Church of England dioceses rural deans have been formally renamed as area deans.
A deanery is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a dean.
The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. Ministry commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons. More accurately, Anglican ministry includes many laypeople who devote themselves to the ministry of the church, either individually or in lower/assisting offices such as lector, acolyte, sub-deacon, Eucharistic minister, cantor, musicians, parish secretary or assistant, warden, vestry member, etc. Ultimately, all baptized members of the church are considered to partake in the ministry of the Body of Christ.
The Church of the Incarnation is a parish of the Diocese of Dallas of the Episcopal Church, located at 3966 McKinney Avenue in Dallas, Texas.
