Vergers in the Episcopal Church

Emmanuel introduced the lay ministry of verger during Christmas 2009. While a new lay ministry at Emmanuel, vergers have been serving in the Church of England for hundreds of years.

The verger has its roots in the earliest days of the Anglican church's history. The lay ministry of verger dates back to the Middle Ages when the verger was the "Protector of the Procession." He leads the procession into the church or cathedral, clearing the way for the procession and protecting it from vagabonds and animals that tried to attack it.

As one of the minor religious orders of that day, vergers also became responsible for the order and upkeep of the house of worship, including preparations for the liturgy, the conduct of the laity, and grave-digging. Although there is no definitive historical survey of the verger, evidence from Rochester, Lincoln, Exeter, and Salisbury Cathedrals indicates the existence of vergers as far back as the 16th century.

A familiar sight in Anglican cathedrals, vergers have maintained the buildings and furnishings of the church for many centuries to the present day.

The contemporary verger is experiencing a rapid expansion within the Episcopal Church. Differing from the Church of England, where vergers are often full-time paid employees of the church, American vergers are more often volunteers with a special calling to the ordering and conduct of the church's liturgy.

Today, in many Episcopal churches and cathedrals, you will see a verger ceremonially leading the procession. All vergers wear vestments of some sort – usually known as a verger’s gown – and carries a virge (staff of office) to help clear the way, and to ceremonially point the way for the procession. The basic vestment of a verger is a black cassock. In some places, especially cathedrals, the cassock may be of another color, and in some parishes the cassock is not worn at all. Over the cassock, when performing a ceremonial function, the verger wears a gown. One type of gown is sleeveless and resembles a bishop's chimere; the other is cut more fully and resembles a master's academic gown. The virge is the staff that a verger carries in procession. The name comes from the Latin "virga" which simply means a rod or staff; hence, a verger is one who carries a staff. 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 this medieval symbol.

Again, the size and shape of a virge varies from place to place; but one end has a cross or other Christian symbol mounted on it. A longer variation of the virge is called the "beadle", originally used to lead academic processions.

At Emmanuel, vergers are parishioners expressing an interest in this lay ministry, appointed by the rector and trained in this important lay ministry for the purpose of assisting the clergy in the orderly celebration of liturgical services, especially in the marshaling of processions. Vestments for vergers at Emmanuel consist of a black cassock and blue chimere with the seal of the Vergers Guild of the Episcopal Church affixed to the left breast. The virge is a simple oak rod capped with a brass orb and cross.

Vergers, through their lay ministry, relieve the clergy of the burden of liturgical details so that they can concentrate on their priestly duties to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments.

Emmanuel’s vergers are foremost “masters of ceremony” who under the direction of the priest ensure all the actions of the Liturgy are done at the proper time and in the proper manner. It is a servant ministry centered on corporate worship, and hopefully if all is done well helps to create a prayerful worship experience for the body of Christ at Emmanuel.

Saint Dominic lived the apostolic life

There is so much more to the life of Saint Dominic, but this is a concise (albeit grossly incomplete) biography written for my postulancy studies. What I take from the life of Saint Dominic is that a Christian life is very much an apostolic life. That is, we should be patient teachers, passionate preachers and humble servants in Christ Jesus.

Dominic, who founded the Order of Preachers, was born in 1170 of a noble Spanish family. He was studying to become a cleric in the catholic church, and at a young age was appointed canon of the local cathedral by bishop de Bazan of Osma. He clearly loved learning and collected a number of religious texts, which in a time of great drought he sold giving the money to the starving for food. This was only one of many acts of charity made by Dominic. He was also very studious and prayerful, and at twenty-five was ordained.

After becoming ordained, he entered a religious house soon becoming subprior elected by his religious brothers of the house. The prior of the house, Diego de Azevado, become bishop of Osma in 1201 and Dominic was elected prior.

A few years later bishop de Azevado was appointed as an ambassador by the King to negotiate a marriage for the King’s son, and the bishop asked Dominic to accompany him. During the journey to France, they encountered many who were turning to the Albigensian heresy. Albigensian doctrine was based on a dualism of two eternally opposing principles, good and evil, all matter being regarded as evil and the creator of the material world as a devil. When spending the night at a inn, Dominic learned that the inn keeper was an Albigensian heretic. He spent the entire night in conversation with the man convincing him of the error in that belief and bringing him back to the catholic faith. This began Dominic’s apostolic teaching and preaching for which the Order of Preachers was found and continues today.

At this same time, many religious and ordained were living lives very different from the lay people of the day. That is, many in the church were living in very high standards, while much of the common folk were not. Those leading the Albigensian movement began to point out these differences and often lived very simple lives of poverty and asceticism, which many saw as both noble and holy. Dominic observed this himself, and understood the excesses of the religious and ordained to be a poor example of Christ. He took on a very austere life eating bread and soup, sleeping on the floor and wearing only his habit without shoes. He encouraged others seeking to fight the Albigensian heresy on behalf of the catholic church to do the same. He also encouraged his associates to use peaceful persuasion, well-formed dialogue and their personal example of simple living to bring there heretics back to the faith. They taught and preached with only moderate success, and soon the number of his associates dwindled.

Dominic came to understand how women influenced the lives of those around them, so he founded a convent at Prouille to help teach the faith. A religious house for his associates was founded soon after nearby. These two religious houses were to become a source of education and formation in the faith for the region. In the turmoil of what followed as armed struggle between those of the faith and the heretics, Dominic worked passionately in teaching and preaching to both the faith and sought peace in the name of Christ. He was offered a bishopric three times, declining each, so that he could continue his work.

He spent nearly ten years in the region of Languedoc directing the work of his order of preachers. He great desire was to revive the apostolic spirit in the church, specifically among the ordained clergy now known for their excesses rather than their piety. He also began to create formally his new order to be different from others in existence at the time. It would be an order for lay and ordained that used knowledge of theology, prayer and meditation to serve in the role of pastor and preacher while living a simple life. The order would provide the catholic church with expert and zealous preachers who could move from place to place to combat heresy and spread the Gospel wherever it was needed. He received episcopal approval for this new order, and then later papal approval after much delay.

Now that the Order of Preachers was created, a small group that included French, Spanish and English gathered at the religious house in Prouille to begin the work of the order. They adopted the rule of St. Augustine as it seemed most fitting of those rules then in existence and was one of the existing rules from which papal approval allowed. This began the work of the order, and Dominic’s drive and zealousness for preaching and teaching continued taking him to Rome where he created a theology studies program for the Holy See at the request of the pope.

Dominic returned to Prouille and after a short time with his associates charged them to leave in pairs to preach and teach throughout Europe. This began the work in the world of the Dominicans, brothers in the Order of Preachers. To this day the Dominicans continue the work of teaching and preaching around the world.