an officer of the church who is in charge of sacred objects
<noun.person>
Sexton \Sex"ton\, n. [OE. sextein, contr. fr. sacristan.] An under officer of a church, whose business is to take care of the church building and the vessels, vestments, etc., belonging to the church, to attend on the officiating clergyman, and to perform other duties pertaining to the church, such as to dig graves, ring the bell, etc.
{Sexton beetle} (Zo["o]l.), a burying beetle.
The highlight of the Christmas Eve party at Dingley Dell is the ghost story of the sexton Gabriel Grub and the goblins.
An appeals court Friday ruled that Roman Catholic officials had the right to fire a sexton because he was homosexual, and it overturned an arbitration board's award of damages to the man.