Hablot Knight Browne illustration: "The Goblin and the sexton" (published in The Pickwick Papers, 1837)
| |
| Occupation | |
|---|---|
Occupation type | Officer |
Activity sectors | Church, congregation, or synagogue |
| Description | |
Related jobs | Sacristan |
Asexton is an officer of a church, congregation, or synagogue charged with the maintenance of its buildings and/or an associated graveyard. In smaller places of worship, this office is often combined with that of verger.[1] Larger establishments, such as cathedrals, may employ a team of sextons.[2]
Historically in North America and the United Kingdom the "sexton" was sometimes a minor municipal official responsible for overseeing the town graveyard. In the United Kingdom the position still exists today, related to management of the community's graveyard, with such sextons usually employed by the town/parish or community council.[3][4]
The words "sexton" and "sacristan" both derive from the Medieval Latin word sacristanus meaning "custodian of sacred objects". "Sexton" represents the popular development of the word via the Old French "Segrestein".[5]
Among the traditional duties of the sexton in small parishes was the digging of graves—the gravediggerinHamlet refers to himself as sexton, for example.[6] In modern times, grave digging and maintenance of the cemetery is usually done by an outside contractor. The general duties of a modern sexton may include:[7]
In many UK churches nowadays, where neither a sexton nor a verger is employed, these duties are likely to fall to the churchwardens.[8]
