sacristan
Americannoun
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Also called sacrist. an official in charge of the sacred vessels, vestments, etc., of a church or a religious house.
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a sexton.
noun
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a person who has charge of the contents of a church, esp the sacred vessels, vestments, etc
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a less common word for sexton
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sacristan
1325–75; Middle English < Medieval Latin sacristānus, equivalent to sacrist ( a ) custodian of sacred objects + -ānus -an
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Originally from Venezuela, he’s lived in the neighborhood with his family for a decade and often serves as a sacristan and altar server.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 20, 2023
Manolo Gonzalez, another sacristan at Nuestra Señora de La Palma, said he knew Valencia.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 26, 2023
In 1995, Israel honoured the parish's wartime pastor, Father Antonio Dressino, and its lay sacristan, Pietro Lestini, as being Righteous Among the Nations for saving Jews.
From Reuters ● May 4, 2022
José Antonio Conde, a kind of church caretaker called a sacristan, was trying to find the key on a recent evening.
From New York Times ● Jan. 2, 2022
John told the sacristan how Robin had come to warn him and to get help, and described the plan he had made with Sir Hugh to sound the bells giving the signal for attack.
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
Surfers, sitting on the edge of the break, were like "Phrygian sacristans."
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2018
Black people - the free and enslaved - worshipped alongside whites in Bethlehem and Nazareth, where they were sacristans or held other church duties and shared the Moravians’ regimented lifestyle.
From Washington Times ● May 23, 2015
Three priests among them were released, but the police held fast to several retired military officers, two Cathedral sacristans, some lay brothers.
From Time Magazine Archive
The bishop-banker grants subsidies to needy dioceses and disburses the money for the salaries of Vatican employees, from cardinals on down to sacristans.
From Time Magazine Archive
The sacristans were each provided with a roll containing the names of the congregation, which they were required to call over, as usual, before the services, in order to see that no one was absent.
From History of The Reign of Philip The Second King of Spain Volume The Third and Biographical & Critical Miscellanies by Prescott, William Hickling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
