Editing Verger

{{Short description|Assistant in church services}}
{{Other uses}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2022}}
[[File:Consecration of the 9th Anglican Bishop of Portsmouth (c) - geograph.org.uk - 2072286.jpg|thumb|right|Verger of [[Portsmouth Cathedral]] (left) leads the bishop in procession.]]
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:TraditionalVergerGown.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|A traditional verger gown.]] -->

A '''verger''' (or '''virger''', so called after the staff of the office, or '''wandsman''' in British English, though archaic)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/wandsman |title=Wandsman Definition & Meaning |publisher=Dictionary.com |date= |accessdate=2022-08-21}}</ref> is a person, usually a [[laity|layperson]], who assists in the ordering of religious services, particularly in [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] churches.

== Etymology ==
[[Image:Virge.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|A traditional [[virge]]; note the brass ball at the end with a small cross on top]]

The title of ''verger'' arises from the ceremonial rod they traditionally carried known as a [[virge]] (from the Latin {{lang|la|virga}}, "branch, staff, rod"; see [[virgule (disambiguation)|virgule]]). The [[Ceremonial mace|Maces of State]] used in the [[House of Lords]] and the [[British House of Commons|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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=McGraw |first=Kate |date=12 May 2013 |title=Verger 'like a master of ceremonies' in church |work=Albuquerque Journal |url=https://www.abqjournal.com/198194/verger-like-a-master-of-ceremonies-in-church.html |access-date=29 June 2022}}</ref>

==History==
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 [[Ostiarius|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 Cathedral|Rochester]], [[Lincoln Cathedral|Lincoln]], [[Exeter Cathedral|Exeter]], and [[Salisbury Cathedral]]s points to the existence of vergers even in the 16th century. {{lang|nl|[[Koster (disambiguation)|Koster]]}} is the Dutch word for '[[Sexton (office)|sexton]]' or 'verger' (the equivalent German word is {{lang|de|Küster}}), derived from the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|custos}} ('guard'). The symbol of a [[guild]] of cathedral vergers is the [[Papal regalia and insignia|crossed keys]]. 

==Duties==
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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bates |first=J. Barrington |date=2019 |title=Consecration and Ascension: A Double Celebration at Trinity Church, Wall Street |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26747940 |journal=Anglican and Episcopal History |volume=88 |issue=2 |pages=180–183 |jstor=26747940 |issn=0896-8039}}</ref> 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).

==Robes==
The typical robes of a verger are a black gown worn over a black [[cassock]]. The gown is somewhat like an [[academic dress|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 (neckwear)|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]].

==Modern function==
Some vergers see their role as one of welcoming or hospitality, encompassing duties such as arranging [[wedding]]s and [[funeral]]s or meeting important visitors such as [[bishop]]s.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Nathan |first=Nancy |date=11 Jan 2019 |title=Centuries of history come to life on a verger tour of Westminster Abbey |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/centuries-of-history-come-to-life-on-a-verger-tour-of-westminster-abbey/2019/01/10/a94b44b0-0d1e-11e9-831f-3aa2c2be4cbd_story.html |access-date=2022-06-28 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Vergers at [[Westminster Abbey]], for example, also lead [[Tour guide|guided tours]].<ref name=":1" />

In small churches, the office of the verger is often combined with that of the [[sexton (office)|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 [[churchwarden]]s.<ref name="Clements2018">Clements 2018, p. 48</ref>

In 20th-century debates in the [[Anglican Church of Australia|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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sherlock |first=Peter |date=2008-09-01 |title='Leave it to the Women' The Exclusion of Women from Anglican Church Government in Australia |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/10314610802263299 |journal=Australian Historical Studies |volume=39 |issue=3 |page=297 |doi=10.1080/10314610802263299 |issn=1031-461X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Catholic Church==
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 [[Sidesman|usher]], particularly in those churches (usually large establishments, like [[St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York|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.{{cn|date=September 2023}}

== Cultural references ==
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 (actor)|Edward Sinclair]]. The sitcom ''[[The Vicar of Dibley]]'', whose title character is among the [[Ordination of women in the Church of England|Church of England's first female vicars]], also featured a female verger, the dim-witted but well-intentioned Alice Tinker ([[Emma Chambers]]).

==See also==
{{Portal|Christianity}}
* [[Acolyte]]
* [[Altar server]]
* [[Churchwarden]]
* [[Sacristan]]

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General and cited references ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last= Clements|first= Matthew|title= Rotas, Rules and Rectors – How to Thrive being a Churchwarden|year= 2018|publisher= Matador|location= London|isbn=978-1-78901-631-4}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://cofegv.org.uk/ The Church of England Guild of Vergers]
* [http://www.vergers.org/ Vergers' Guild of the Episcopal Church]
* [http://vergers.episcopalatlanta.org/index.html Mark Emory Graham Chapter of VGEC] – Diocese of Atlanta
* [http://www.texasvergers.org/ Walter Mace Chapter of VGEC] – Diocese of Texas
* [http://www.vgdd.org/ Diocese of Dallas Guild of Vergers]

[[Category:Anglicanism]]
[[Category:Ecclesiastical titles]]
[[Category:Local Christian church officials]]