A [St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York|]verger is a person, usually a layperson, who assists in the ordering of religious services, particularly in Anglican churches.
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 Porter and Acolyte. Historically, vergers were responsible for the order and upkeep of a house of worship, including the care ofthe 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, derived from the Latincustos. The symbol of a guild of cathedral vergers is the crossed keys. Perhaps the best-known portrait of an Anglican verger in fiction is in Somerset Maugham's short story, "The Verger". In UK 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.
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. 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.
The office's title comes from the ceremonial rod which a verger carries, a virge. 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.
Robes
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. 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.
Modern function
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.
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 that have an organized and formal corps of ushers.
