Beadle, sometimes spelled "bedel," is a lay official of a church or synagogue who may usher, keep order, make reports, and assist in religious functions; or a minor official who carries out various civil, educational, or ceremonial duties.
The term has Franco-English pre-renaissance origins, derived from the Vulgar Latin "bidellus" or "bedellus", rooted in words for "herald". It moved into Old English as a title given to an Anglo-Saxon officer who summoned householders to council.
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Famous quotes containing the word beadle:
“[University students] hated the hypocrisy of adult society, the rigidity of its political institutions, the impersonality of its bureaucracies. They sought to create a society that places human values before materialistic ones, that has a little less head and a little more heart, that is dominated by self-interest and loves its neighbor more. And they were persuaded that group protest of a militant nature would advance those goals.”
—Muriel Beadle (b. 1915)