sacristan
(ˈsækrɪstən)
Also 4–5 -ane, 7 -on. See also sexton.
[ad. med.L. sacristānus (whence mod.F. sacristain), f. sacrista sacrist; see -an.
OF. had the semi-popular forms segrestain, etc., whence Eng. sexton.]
1. a. The sexton of a parish church. Obs. or arch. b. = sacrist.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xvii. (Martha) 245 Quhene I mad me bowne þat holy body to lay done, & to þe sacristane to kepe gafe, quhene ȝe raysit me fra slepe. 1483 Cath. Angl. 315/1 A Sacristane, sacrista, edilis. 1563 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 246 And als the Sacristanis, beand Vicaris of the said paroche kirk, wer in use..to mak and uphald the glassin windoes of the said kirk. 1608 Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 213 Item: that the Sacriston shall not presume to breake anye grave in the church without the consent of the Churchwardins. 1656–61 Blount Glossogr., Sacrist or Sacristan, a Sexten or Vestry-Keeper in a Church, or Religious house. 1763 Del Pino Span. Dict., Escolano, the sacristan..that has charge of the vestments and holy vessels of the church. 1800 Coleridge Christabel ii. 8 The sacristan, Who duly pulls the heavy bell, Five and forty beads must tell Between each stroke. 1854 J. D. H. Dale Sacristan's Man. Pref. 10 The Pope's Sacristan is a Bishop. 1870 Dickens E. Drood i, The Sacristan locks the iron⁓barred gates that divide the sanctuary from the chancel. |
2. In a nunnery, a sister charged with a function corresponding to that of sacrist. Cf. sacristine.
| c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 319 Sho was sacristan of þe kurk and sho had grete deuocion vnto our Ladie. 1896 tr. Huysman's En Route vii. 92 A sacristan-sister, tall and pale and rather bent, entered like a shadow. |
Hence ˌsacristaˈness = sacristine. Also fig.
| 1866 Cornh. Mag. XIV. 440 The sacristaness was going through the corridor..on her way to ring the bell for matins. 1924 C. C. Martindale St. Paul xi. 141 The city of Ephesus was the sacristaness of the great Artemis and of the image that fell from heaven. |