The Sacristy

Peterborough Cathedral Vergers Team - Oct 2006

The cathedral vergers can be contacted by telephone at the sacristy on 01733 345064.

E-mail: sacristy@peterborough-cathedral.org.uk

or by post through:

The Chapter Office

Little Priors gate

Minster Precincts

Peterborough

PE1 1XS

You can learn more about the office of Verger in the Church of England by visiting the website of the Guild of Vergers

The Origin of the Office of Verger

The church has nearly 2,000 years of history and to write an exhaustive history of the verger’s place in the church would take a lot of research and a lot of writing. That the office is ancient is clear and that in time the verger has tended to take over the functions (or some of them) of a number of different church servants or ministers. The job today owes a lot to the past and can vary immensely from place to place.

Virger or Verger?

The great dictionary writer Samuel Johnson, in the 16th century defines the verger as “he who carries the mace before the Dean”. He clearly prefers verger to virger, and links the word ‘verge’ (a rod of something in the form of a rod carried as his emblem of authority) with the French word verge and the Latin virge.

The verger then certainly processed before the Dean at that time. However much earlier mention can be found in the mediaeval rite of Sarum (Salisbury). A number of cathedrals had their own use or liturgies at that time, and the Sarum one records:

“…the verger in his gown holding the verge, whence he has his name, to make way for the procession”.

Processions during worship are, of course, ancient. When the ark is taken to Jerusalem King David dances at the head of the procession (2 Samuel: 6). The psalms too, mention processions (Ps.68:24ff). Similarly processions are known to have taken place in our churches down the ages. Processions from the choir to the Rood, to the font for baptism, processions at Rogationtide etc. So the verger is first, the one who leads processions.

Verger or What?

In other contemporary documents, however, the name seems to vary. One records that it was the sexton or sacrist, who carried the wand. This seems to be the problem with tracing the history of the verger. When you look the variety of jobs done by vergers today, then several predecessors can be found! Other titles from documents of the 15th and 16th centuries speak of the Custos, the sub-sacrist and also altarist in a way which might suggest they were more or less vergers. Some would link the office of verger even further back, to the Mansionarins or door-keeper of the 4th and 5th centuries whose job was to light the lamps and candles in the church.

After the Reformation in the 16th century, the name verger is given to one who seems to have rung the bell, guarded the processions (carrying the verge), and lit and cleaned the buildings.

Against this imprecise background, it is not surprising to discover that if we are to understand the verger’s role today we need to look at a number of officers and their jobs, some or all of which a verger may be expected to carry out.

One writer (Percy Dearmer -The Parson’s Handbook) cites three distinct offices which seem important

            -           the verger

            -           the parish clerk

and       -           the sacristan - writing in the 19th century.

The verger he suggests was seen as responsible for changing altar frontals and dusting and cleaning the church.

The parish clerk, whom Johnson defines as “reading the responses to the congregation in the church, to direct them”, would carry the cross at the head of processions, take the sacred vessels to and from the sanctuary, give the bread and wine to the priest, perhaps lead the epistle and act as server or cross-bearer.

The sacristan (whom Johnson says was responsible for “the utensils or movables of the church”) was responsible for the servers, and for vestments, candles and the thurible and charcoal.

This is all very confusing and perhaps requires some real research one day to sort it out, but it does seem that the duties of a verger today are found somewhere in all that! His insignia of office is still the Verge or Mace, with which he leads processions and leads in the priest or Dean, but he is equally at home with scrubbing brush and pail. There is the custody of the keys, cleaning, lighting, heating, minor repairs, the altar to prepare, and so on. His job will, of course, vary in detail from place to place but can be identified with that of many officers of the church in the past.

One other thing perhaps worth noting is the coupling, in some cathedral statutes, of the office of verger not only as might be expected with Lay or Sub-sacrist but with Apparitor. Johnson defines the Apparitor as the “lowest officer of the ecclesiastical court” and as “one at hand to execute the orders of the magistrate”. It seems likely that the Apparitor led people into the court!

Keith Nelson - Former Deputy Head Verger, Peterborough Cathedral