The sacristans were so intoxicated that they let it fall in with its neck twisted.
"Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. I."
John L. Stephens
Be modestly receptive of the good office of the whole tribe of cicerones, of custodians, of sacristans; they can save you time, which, though it is not quite the same as money, even in Rome is worth saving, and are the repository of many rejected fables waiting to be recognized as facts again.
"Roman Holidays and Others"
W. D. Howells
The long, pleasant evenings in the house of the Lunas came to an end, at which the bell-ringer, the vergers, the sacristans and other church servants had been used to assemble, and listen to the clear and well modulated voice of Gabriel, who read like an angel-sometimes the lives of the saints, at other times Catholic newspapers that came from Madrid, or chapters from a Don Quixote with pages of vellum and antiquated writing-a venerable copy which had been handed down in the family for generations.
"The Shadow of the Cathedral"
Vicente Blasco Ibañez