Tonsure

Tonsure (Lat. tonsura), a religious observance of the Roman Catholic and Oriental churches, which consists in shaving or cutting part of the hair of the head as a sign of the dedication of the person to the special service of God, and commonly to the public ministry of religion. By some writers it is represented as of apostolic origin (cf. Acts, xxi. 24); but that it did not prevail in the early ages is sufficiently plain. It would appear that the usage first arose in reference to the monastic rather than the clerical life. Paulinus of Nola, in the end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century, alludes to it as then in use among the western monks; and it speedily passed from them to the clergy, the crown-like figure being regarded partly as a symbol of our Lord's crown of thorns, partly as an emblem of the 'Royal Priesthood' of the Christian dispensation. The form of the tonsure was different in different churches, and the varieties of it are of some historical interest. That of the Roman Church, called 'the tonsure of Peter,' consisted in shaving the crown as well as the back of the head, so that there remained a circular ring or 'crown' of hair. This was the form in use in Italy, Gaul, and Spain. In the 'Scottish (or Irish) tonsure,' which was in use in Ireland, in North Britain, and in those parts of Germany in which the Irish missionaries had preached, the entire front of the head was shaved, leaving the front bare as far back as the line from ear to ear. This tonsure was called 'the tonsure of James,' and by its enemies that of 'Simon the Magician.' The Greeks and other Orientals shaved the entire head. The supposed derivation of the Irish form of tonsure from the apostolic times led to its being held both in Ireland and in Britain, as well as other churches of Irish foundation, to be of the most vital importance. It was in use in the parts of England converted by Scottish missionaries, and was the subject of a violent controversy decided at Whitby in 664 in favour of the Roman usage (which triumphed also in regard to Easter and other peculiarities of the Celtic Church). The tonsure of some monastic orders and friars still leaves but a circle of hair: but the tonsure of secular clergy is quite small. The right to tonsure is with bishops, mitred abbots, cardinal priests, and certain priests with special privilege. Originally the tonsure was merely a part of the ceremonial of initiation in orders, and was only performed in the act of administering the higher order; but about the 7th century it came to be used as a distinct and independent ceremonial; tonsure is not an 'order,' but only a 'preparation for orders.'