Churches
Among other maces (more correctly described as staves) in use today are those carried before ecclesiastical dignitaries and clergy in cathedrals and some parish churches. The ecclesiastical equivalent of the mace-bearer, the dodsman, appears in church contexts. Other churches, particularly churches of the Anglican Communion, a verger ceremoniously precedes processions.
In the Roman Catholic Church maces used to be carried before Popes and Cardinals.
Read more about this topic: Ceremonial Mace
Famous quotes containing the word churches:
“I fancy it must be the quantity of animal food eaten by the English which renders their character insusceptible of civilisation. I suspect it is in their kitchens and not in their churches that their reformation must be worked, and that Missionaries of that description from [France] would avail more than those who should endeavor to tame them by precepts of religion or philosophy.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“The law of God is a law of change, and ... when the Churches set themselves against change as such, they are setting themselves against the law of God.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)