sextoness

The glimpses the little bent, old sextoness got of the young folks, the sense of life going on about her, were as good as a play, to quote her own simile, confided of an evening to Tobias, her great black cat, the only other inmate of the old cottage.

The S. W. F. Club Caroline E. Jacobs

_Annual Register_ for 1759 mentions an extraordinary centenarian sextoness:

The Parish Clerk 1892

Mrs. Moseley was sextoness to the very new and beautiful church in

The Children's Pilgrimage L. T. Meade 1884

In a few moments the clanging of the bell ceased, for the marquis had discovered the old sextoness in her cell, and compelled her to desist.

Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf 1846

"This is the method of descent to this region, for all those who come to this convent either as willing penitents, or who are sent hither against their inclination," returned the sextoness.

Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf 1846

The combat had ceased above, but the flames had increased in the well to such an extent that the marquis was compelled to beat a rapid retreat toward the chamber of penitence, whither the old sextoness had already fled.

Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf 1846

But scarcely had those few individuals effected their retreat in this manner, when a tremendous crash was heard, cries and shrieks of horror and dismay burst from those who had not as yet passed through the opening, and then the roof of the chamber of penitence and all the adjacent cells gave way with a din as of a thousand cannon, burying beneath their weight the sextoness, the five penitents, the inmates of

Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf 1846

Clemence Malyn was deposed from her office of sub-prioress and sextoness on account of the careless manner in which she had performed the duties of these offices, and she also, in answer to questions asked by the vicar-general, acknowledged that she had frequently hidden a key of the abbey church in a hole so that a certain Richard Johans might find it and enter the church, and might drink in the sacristy wine with which she provided him, though she denied having ever drunk with him or otherwise misconducted herself.

Bell's Cathedrals: A Short Account of Romsey Abbey A Description of the Fabric and Notes on the History of the Convent of Ss. Mary & Ethelfleda Thomas Perkins 1874

In a small dome-like cavity, hollowed out of the roof of this passage, hung a large bell; and in a cell opening from the side of the passage immediately beneath the dome, dwelt an old nun, who, for some dreadful misdeed committed in her youth, had voluntarily consigned herself to the convent of the Carmelites, and, having passed through the ordeal of the chamber of penitence, had accepted the office of sextoness in that department of the establishment.

Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf 1846