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TONSURE (Lat. tonsura, from tondere, ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 12 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TONSURE (See also:Lat. tonsura, from tondere, to shave) , a religious observance in the See also:Roman See also:Catholic and Orthodox Eastern Churches, consisting of the shaving or cutting See also:part of the See also:hair of the See also:head as a sign of See also:dedication to See also:special service. The reception of the tonsure in these churches is the initial ceremony which marks See also:admission to orders and to the rights and privileges of clerical See also:standing. It is administered by the See also:bishop with an appropriate See also:ritual. Candidates for the rite must have been confirmed, be adequately instructed in the elements of the See also:Christian faith, and be able to read and write. Those who have received it are See also:bound (unless in excentional circumstances) to renew the See also:mark, consisting of a See also:bare circle on the See also:crown ofthe head, at least once a See also:month, otherwise they forfeit the privileges it carries. The practice is not a See also:primitive one; See also:Tertullian simply advises Christians to avoid vanity in dressing their.hair, and See also:Jerome deprecates both See also:long and closely cropped hair. According to See also:Prudentius (IIepur. xiii. 30) it was customary for the hair to be cut See also:short at ordination. See also:Paulinus of See also:Nola (c. 490) alludes to the tonsure as in use among the (Western) monks; from them the practice quickly spread to the See also:clergy. For See also:Gaul about the See also:year 500 we have the testimony of Sidonius See also:Apollinaris (iv. 13), who says that Germanicus the bishop had his hair cut " in rotae speciem." The earliest instance of an ecclesiastical See also:precept on the subject occurs in can.

41 of the See also:

Council of See also:Toledo (A.n. 633) : " omnes clerici, detonso superius capite toto, inferius solam circuli coronam relinquant." Can. 33 of the Quinisext council (692) requires even singers and readers to be tonsured. Since the 8th See also:century three tonsures have been more or less in use, known respectively as the Roman, the See also:Greek and the See also:Celtic. The first two are sometimes distinguished as the tonsure of See also:Peter and the tonsure of See also:Paul. The Roman or St Peter's tonsure prevailed in See also:France, See also:Spain and See also:Italy. It consisted in shaving the whole head, leaving only a fringe of hair supposed to symbolize the crown of thorns. See also:Late in the See also:middle ages this tonsure was lessened for the clergy, but retained for monks and friars. In the Eastern or St Paul's tonsure the whole head was shaven, but when now practised in the Eastern See also:Church this tonsure is held to be adequately shown when the hair is shorn See also:close. In the Celtic tonsure (tonsure of St See also:John, or, in contempt, tonsure of See also:Simon Magus) all the hair in front of a See also:line See also:drawn over the See also:top of the head from See also:ear to ear was shaven (a See also:fashion See also:common among the See also:Hindus). The question of the Roman or Celtic tonsure was one of the points in dispute in the See also:early See also:British Church, settled in favour of the Roman fashion at the Council of See also:Whitby (664). The tonsure at first was never given separately, and even See also:children when so dedicated were appointed readers, as no one could belong to the clerical See also:state without at least a See also:minor See also:order.

From the 7th century, however, children were tonsured without ordination, and later on adults anxious to See also:

escape See also:secular See also:jurisdiction were often tonsured without ordination. Till the loth century the tonsure could be given by priests or even by laymen, but its bestowal was gradually restricted to bishops and abbots.

End of Article: TONSURE (Lat. tonsura, from tondere, to shave)

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