Annual Meeting of the Church of England Verger's Guild

The Verger's Prayer

Almighty Father, from whom every family in heaven and earth is named,
who has called us into the fellowship of your Church, grant, we pray, that in all our churches we may fulfill the duties and enjoy the privileges of our spiritual homes. And on those who offer themselves for service as vergers in the house of God bestow the fullness of your grace, that, united in love to you, and to one another, we may show forth your glory and hasten the coming of Your Kingdom, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Verger's Guild of the Episcopal Church Verger's Guild of the Church of England

The Office of Verger

The Office of Verger (Virger, Custos, Sub-Sacrist, Serjeant of the Vestry, or even ‘Church Mouse’) is an ancient one and means ‘He who carries the Virge before the procession’. The ‘Verge’ is the rod of office (Latin - Virga; Old French-Vergier), and was used to ensure that the many processions were not impeded during worship. This was an important duty in the Middle Ages, and on important festivals two vergers were on duty. However, the verger’s duties have developed over the centuries, and now combine tasks which were often carried out by other individuals.

Today, All Saints' vergers have an important ceremonial role and they have a variety of duties - including the behind-the-scenes management of worship which frees not only the clergy, but many laity to focus on excellence in worship.

Vergers are committed Christians dedicated to serving our Lord Jesus and his Church. Their work brings them into contact with a whole spectrum of people, therefore they must be sensitive to the widely varying needs of both members and guests. On Sundays, vergers work in concert with the Sacristan ("Sunday concierge") and together they bear the responsibility for the care and security of the people and property.

Verger Brooks Mason
St. Paul's Cathedral, San Diego

From the Verger’s Guild, Diocese of Dallas
Adapted and edited for the ASVG (All Saints’ Verger Guild)

At many of the worship services at All Saints’, when the procession begins, you will see a person carrying either a short or long quarterstaff or a mace processing in front of the cross and torches. This is a verger, which is a non-clergy lay ministry, and is one of the oldest ministries in the Anglican Communion.

For the most part, you might only see the verger lead the procession to the altar, and lead the procession out of the church at the end. While this ministry may seem ceremonial, it derived like many traditions from necessity.

Where did this come from? Imagine a thurifer - the person swinging the bowl of coals and incense – trying to walk through a crowded street in the Middle Ages. It would be nearly impossible. The medieval verger had the job of clearing the way for the procession. That is why you see to this day at some churches a verger holding a quarterstaff, called a virge, much like a police officer might carry a night stick through a rowdy street. The verger is not the beginning of a religious procession. The verger is an escort to the procession.

The use of a ceremonial escort during a procession dates back to ancient Rome, and can be found recorded in history throughout the centuries to present day in many countries influenced by Rome. Some of the first records of vergers in the Anglican Communion date back to 12^th century England at Salisbury Cathedral. In ancient times, vergers escorted clergy from their homes through dangerous roads to the parishes, where the vergers then undertook many other duties to maintain their churches and help clergy prepare for worship.

Besides processing up and down the aisle of the church, there is considerable work for a verger before and after the service. Their duties vary depending upon the needs and desires and the abilities of those who volunteer to serve. In general, however, a verger often is responsible for:

Overseeing the preparation before the worship service.

Assisting during worship services. 

Helping at the end of worship services. 

Much of the verger’s work goes unnoticed, but the reward comes from the honor of being able to serve our church behind the scenes and at the altar so that all of us may enjoy a worship service that is beautiful and appropriate.

All Saints’ has generously sponsored this ministry since it was introduced to the parish in 1995 by Father Jenkins. Today, the All Saints’ Vergers Guild (ASVG) has several vergers serving the parish on a regular basis, and Masters of Ceremony in training to become vergers, as well as Youth Vergers. Vergers serve at the regular 8:50 A.M. and 10:50 A.M. services, special occasions, and diocesan events.
 

What is a "virge"?

The virge is the quarterstaff that a verger carries in procession. The name comes from the Latin "virga" which simply means a rod or quarterstaff; hence, a verger is one who carries a quarterstaff. The virge can trace its history back to the ceremonial maces carried before civic and ecclesiastical dignitaries. 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 symbols. Originally a weapon used to clear the way for processions (and control unruly choristers!), its use is now principally honorific. Again, the size and shape of a virge varies from place to place and normally one end has a cross or other Christian symbol mounted on it.

How To Carry a Virge
by Michael Malone of the Episcopal Church Verger Guild

A "right and proper" way to carry the virge in procession - as taught by Charles Agneau Jr., (R.I.P.) at Grace Cathedral, SF, CA

• When verging someone, or in procession, carry it at a 45 degree angle, holding it as near the base so you can manage it securely (the bottom should be close to the Verger, and the top away from the Verger).
• While waiting, it lays against the shoulder (also used when nodding to the person you will verge or just finished verging).
• When in a long rest, cradle in arm opposite the hand you carry it.

Note #1: I've seen the virge carried against the shoulder at all times (even while verging someone) too. This is the norm at the Washington National Cathedral. 

Note #2: For long and heavy quarterstaffs in procession, it rests against the shoulder at all times. The base should be just high enough, and angled enough, so you don't kick it, or bang steps while ascending. I've seen it planted on the floor ahead and raised when the feet arrive, then raised and extended to plant in front again, and so on.
 

The Mace - The Beadle - The Quarterstaff

The Mace

In the United States, almost all universities and colleges have a mace, used almost exclusively at commencement exercises and borne variously by the university or college provost, the marshal of the faculty, a dean or some other high official. In those universities that have a number of constituent colleges or faculties, each college, faculty or school often has a smaller mace, borne in procession by a dean, faculty member or sometimes a privileged student.

Ceremonial maces are to this day used to represent authority and prestige, as in the House of Commons.

The House of Lords has two maces, the earlier dating from the reign of William III. The Houses of the UK Parliament cannot lawfully meet without the mace present. The maces represent the authority of the Sovereign; they are carried before the speakers of both Houses when they enter or leave the Chamber.

The current Mace of the United States House of Representatives has been in use since December 1, 1842. It was created by William Adams at a cost of $400 to replace the first mace, which was destroyed on August 24, 1814 when the Capitol was destroyed in the burning of Washington by the British during the War of 1812. A simple wooden quarterstaff was used in the interim.

The current mace is nearly four feet tall and is composed of 13 ebony rods tied together with silver strands criss-crossed over the length of the pole. It is topped by a silver eagle, wings outspread, standing on a world globe.

When the House is in session, the mace stands in a cylindrical pedestal of green marble to the right of the chair of the Speaker of the House. When the House is meeting as the Committee of the Whole, the mace is moved to a pedestal next to the desk of the Sergeant at Arms. Thus, Representatives entering the chamber know with a glance whether the House is in session or in committee.

In accordance with the Rules of the House, when a Member becomes unruly the Sergeant at Arms, on order of the Speaker, lifts the mace from its pedestal and presents it before the offenders, thereby restoring order. This occurs very rarely.

Also among maces in use today are those carried before ecclesiastical dignitaries and clergy in cathedrals and some parish churches. Most churches do not have a mace because they are very expensive and even harder to find. For those that do have them, they are either cradled on an arm or carried over the shoulder. Only quarterstaffs are used to point forward.

The Beadle

In England, the word came to refer to a parish constable of the Anglican Church, one often charged with duties of charity. A famous fictional constabulary beadle is Mr. Bumble from Charles Dickens' classic Oliver Twist, who oversees the parish workhouse and orphanage.

In the Church of Scotland, the title is used for one who attends the minister during divine service as an assistant.

In Judaism, the term "beadle" (in Hebrew: shammash or "sexton") is sometimes used for the gabbai, the caretaker or "man of all work," in a synagogue. Moshe the Beadle, the caretaker of a synagogue in Sighet in the 1940s, is an important character in Night by Elie Wiesel.

In medieval universities beadles were students chosen by instructors to act as assistants, carrying books, taking attendance, and assisting in classroom management.

In the collegiate universities in the United Kingdom (for example Cambridge, Oxford, Durham, and the University of London)the post of beadle still exists. The beadle has varying duties, always relating to management or security (never instruction), and often represents the college to outsiders through wearing a uniform and providing information.

The ancient universities in Scotland have a ceremonial bedellus, who is also sometimes given the designation of head janitor. Officially, they are responsible for administration of the buildings of the university. They are most notable for being responsible for carrying the university mace in academic processions.

In some verger circles the word "beadle" is sometimes used to mean a large quarterstaff with ornamentation. This is incorrect. The beadle is a person who carries a mace in procession.

The Quarterstaff

In some English Cathedral processions, vergers carry a very thin quarterstaff that is about five feet in length. It is carried with one hand at the center and held at half arm length from the verger. It has no ornamentation and the history behind this is not known.

The quarterstaff designation comes possibly from making others "give quarter." It can have ornamentation on the tips. Larger quarterstaffs are also known and used and some of these also have ornamentation, though it is not required.

2006 Peterborough Cathedral Vergers, Cambridgeshire

What do vergers wear?

Verger paraphernalia varies with each Episcopal congregation and what a verger can and cannot wear or exhibit is ultimately determined by the rector or vicar or dean (in the case of a Cathedral). The basic vestment of a verger is a black cassock. In some places the cassock may be of another color. In some places vergers have cassocks and overlays in each color of the church year and they mix and match according to the ceremony. In some parishes the cassock is not worn at all. Over street clothes, when performing a ceremonial function, the verger may wear a gown. One type of gown is sleeveless and resembles a bishop's chimere; the other is cut more fully and resembles an academic gown. There are no hard and fast rules about the shape and adornment of a verger's gown. In fact, vergers take great delight in being unique with their colors, shields, pins, hats, and custom virges.
 

2008 Meeting of the Verger's Guild of the Episcopal Church
Burlington, Vermont
(Cheryl Cantrall - Kneeling, second from right)

2009 Verger's Guild of the Episcopal Church
Meets at St. Paul's Cathedral, San Diego, October 22nd-25th

What is the Vergers Guild of the Episcopal Church?

For many years, the few vergers scattered around the United States associated themselves with the Church of England Guild of Vergers (CGEV). Then in 1988 an informal association of American vergers, numbering about twenty, began to establish a network of mutual support and fellowship. One year later, in 1989, thirty-two vergers gathered in Nashville to formally establish the VGEC on the feast of Saint Andrew. Since then, membership has continued to grow to nearly 200 vergers across the country, with many having attended annual conferences in San Francisco, Phoenix, St. Louis, Miami, and Indianapolis. Furthermore, diocesan chapters of the VGEC have been organized in Miami, Atlanta, and Dallas, and others are in the formation stages. The VGEC is an eclectic group of men and women who share a special vocation and ministry in Christ's Church.

The purpose of the Verger's Guild of the Episcopal Church is:

• To encourage, through the fellowship and work of the Guild, the sharing of ideas, skills, and pertinent information among the members;
• To promote communication between members of the Guild at all levels as a way of maintaining the pastoral, administrative, and liturgical traditions of the office of verger in the Episcopal Church;
• To provide mutual assistance by advice and counsel with on-the-job problems experienced by members of the Guild;
• To organize and promote courses of training in the office of verger;
• To foster a relationship between the clergy and vergers;
• To be open to the needs and concerns of the laity.

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 medieval 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, i.e. processions from the choir to the font for baptism, 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

            -  the sacristan

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!

by Keith Nelson - Former Deputy Head Verger, Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, U.K.

In Memoriam

Steve Keers

Senior Master Verger of the Parish
Diocesan Verger
Sid Glynn

Master Verger of the Parish
Trainer & Scheduler of Subdeacons
Senior Wedding Coordinator
Cheryl Cantrall

Master Verger of the Parish
for
Special Occasions
Senior Wedding Coordinator
Suzanne Gaines

The Pioneers

The First Year 1995 - Dick Gaines, the first Master of Ceremonies, Sid Glynn
trying out a blue overlay and our first large quarterstaff made from a flag holder,
and Cheryl Cantrall dressed in the Old English Tradition.

+     +     +

Masters of Ceremony - Bill Cook, Kim Crain, Dick Gaines
Verger In Training - Matthew Murphy
Jr. Verger - Ashley Murphy
 

We are always looking for those interested in becoming a verger. One must first be involved in worship leadership
in such a way that they understand the duties of acolytes, lectors, chalice bearers, subdeacons,
choir, and are familiar with the ministry of the Altar Guild.

You will also be expected to be a positive force in the parish and a joyful contributor.

If you are interested in this ministry please speak with a verger when you are at the church.

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