Verger
- For the Verger in BBC TV's Dad's Army, see Maurice Yeatman.
A verger (or virger, so called after the staff of the office) is a person, usually a layperson, who assists in the ordering of religious services, particularly in Anglican churches.
Duties
During the service itself, a verger's main duty is ceremonially to precede the religious participants as they move about the church; he or she does not typically take any speaking part in the service itself. But although it could be argued that a verger's main pride during a service lies in his or her 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 Virge
The office's title comes from the ceremonial rod which a verger carries, a virge (from the Latin virga, branch, staff or rod; see virgule). 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.
Modern function
In small churches today, the office of verger is often combined with that of sexton: the verger assisting at services and the sexton maintaining the church building the rest of the time are one and the same person.
The Roman Catholic Church
The office of Verger has, for the most part, disappeared in the Roman 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) that have an organized and formal corps of ushers.