Bearded Priests

[ConstantineTG]

Truth to tell, it is quite possibly shaving that has become vanity in the modern age. It exposes the entire face and hides the grayness or scraggliness of a man’s beard. Those who expose their gray and/or scraggly beards may be demonstrating a form of humility.

I forgot who but there is a saint who’s half-shaven and half-bearded. Just because he wanted to look unsightly as his sign of humility.

Well kept beards are also quite the vanity for some people. I’d love to have a properly trimmed beard if I had the ability to grow one

 

[Steve56]

Here is one with a beard (Cardinal Sean O’Malley the Archbishop of Boston):

 

[Seamus_L]

I think they should be optional. Not allowing beards sounds too rigid and making them mandatory smacks of Old Testament legalism.

 

[ConstantineTG]

I think they should be optional. Not allowing beards sounds too rigid and making them mandatory smacks of Old Testament legalism.

I don’t think there is such a rule in the Church today, even in the East. But its more of a traditional gesture in the East you’d hardly find any priests who’s unbearded. Definitely Eastern Bishops are bearded.

edit:

I stand corrected:

http://www.havelshouseofhistory.com/Wiwchar Photo0001.jpg

Bishop of Saskatoon, Canada

 

[I_R]

a priest i know, who has been a priest for a little over a year now, says he is thinking about not shaving during Lent because it was some kind of old tradition for men to not shave for Lent. but he told me its not a required practice anymore and that he is only considering it.

 

[ConstantineTG]

a priest i know, who has been a priest for a little over a year now, says he is thinking about not shaving during Lent because it was some kind of old tradition for men to not shave for Lent. but he told me its not a required practice anymore and that he is only considering it.

Reminds me of the hockey playoff beard. Hockey players don’t shave during playoffs until they are either eliminated or have won the Stanley Cup. The tradition indeed has caught on in the secular world.

It would be nice if the priest can share with the congregation in his homily the significance of it. I’ve been taught fasting and abstience my entire life but only last year did a priest had such a wonderful teaching about it he gave during his homily which suddenly the practice made sense to me.

 

[JReducation]

I think that we’re all over the place on a very simple point. Let’s breat this down. A priest may be a secular man or a consecrated religious.

Let’s take secular priests. A secular priest may belong to a diocese or to a society such as the FSSP, Maryknoll, SSPX, and a few other societies of priests, not including the Jesuits. They are a true religious order of consecrated men.

A secular priest must abide by the dress code of his diocese, if he is diocesan or by those of his society, if he belongs to a priestly society.

That takes care of two groups of priests. The third group are men who are both priest and consecrated religious. These priests belong to either a religious order or to a religious congregation. They follow the dress code of their order or their congregation.

Someone posted the picture of Cardinal Sean, who by the way does not go by Cardinal O’Malley, because he’s a brother and we don’t use last names except to sign silly things.

Sean is a Capuchin Brother. For centuries, we had to wear beards, because Francis had a beard. In 1970 the beard was made optional, but strongly encouraged. The reason it was made optional was cultural. In some countries the beard was associated with certain lifestyles that are less than respectable or with Communism, because many Communist leaders had beards. The General Chapter decided to modify the statute on the beard. Since it had been written by the friars, not by Francis, the friars have the right to abrogate it or modify it. That’s why Cardinal Sean wears a beard. He entered before it was an option. I entered three-years after him, but I also wear it.

Fr. Mitch and Fr. Corapi are both consecrated religious. The statues of their religious communities trump any disciplinary regulations that apply to priests, unless Canon Law says otherwise. A priest who is a member of a religious community is bound to the statutes of his community, not regulations that apply to other priests. Except, those that Canon Law says that apply to everyone who is a priest. The beard is not in Canon Law. The Jesuits and the SOLTs allow beards.

Some religious communities demand it.

I hope this answers the question.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[po18guy]

As usual, Brother Jay, your answer is complete, accurate, appropriate, charitable, and has just killed yet another thread!

 

[LilyM]

Truth to tell, it is quite possibly shaving that has become vanity in the modern age. It exposes the entire face and hides the grayness or scraggliness of a man’s beard. Those who expose their gray and/or scraggly beards may be demonstrating a form of humility.

Goes both ways. I’m pretty sure my Dad grew a beard to hide his double chin and wrinkly neck as he got older. And he certainly spends a fair amount of time in the mirror grooming it. So in his case it may well be the beard that is the sign of vanity, and shaving would be the act of humility.

 

[Ed_Normile]

I travel in my work and have seen many priests with beards. I feel that perhaps the seminary rule is because they are students. Most schools have some sort of dress code, its a discipline thing, providing discipline conditions the students to recognize authority and act as expected.

ed

 

[BenjaminD]

Thank you everyone!

 

[centurionguard]

I just had a random question pop into my mind.

Is it actually forbidden for a Priest to have a beard? Seminaries I have looked into say you cannot grow facial hair during your studies and I have heard that it is banned for Priests by many people.

But what is the background of this? The only Priest I know of that has had a beard (Besides Eastern Catholics) is Father Corapi.

I haven’t really paid attention to this until recently haha.

I think if you investigate more you’ll find only some seminaries hold reservations on seminarians growing a beard. Actually there are some men who grow beards due to serious skin conditions caused by irritation with the removing surface skin from the face when shaving and with other men who have deep scars due to serious acne conditions.

Whether a priest dons a beard or not it doesn’t change the fact he’s a priest.
Never judge a book by its cover I say. Seems many of us in this world can easily get caught up in superficial exteriors.

Peace
Chris

 

[JReducation]

I travel in my work and have seen many priests with beards. I feel that perhaps the seminary rule is because they are students. Most schools have some sort of dress code, its a discipline thing, providing discipline conditions the students to recognize authority and act as expected.

ed

Diocesan seminaries are secular colleges. In other words, they are accredited by an accrediting agency. Otherwise, they cannot grant degrees. Once you are erected as a school, there are certain health codes that you must follow, whether you are public or private. You’re an institution, not a private residence. Believe it or not, in some places, lice is still a problem, probably other little things too. The rectors of seminaries have the right to impose any code of dress and hygene that they believe to be for the good of the seminary. In many diocesan seminaries they do not allow long hair or facial hair. Whereas, if you visit a religious house of formation, you’ll find some that shave their heads and have long beards and others who have both long beards and long hair. Religious houses of formation are not seminaries. We do not go to seminaries. We attend classes outside of the religious house. We either go to a theological college or a Catholic university, unlike diocesan who go to seminaries for school and live there. Normally, we don’t live at school. There are some places where the only Catholic college or the only affordable one is the diocesan seminary and you send your guys there. We comply with the dress code of the school where we attend classes, if they have one.

I remember being at Catholic University where there was a dress code that you had to wear shoes to class. Our habits have sandals. But we wore shoes to go to school. My guess is that the shoe rule was either for health reasons or to prevent accidents. No one ever told us why, probably to prevent accidents. Today they have elevators in every building. They don’t have to run up and down those stairs as we did 40-years ago.

GOOD GRIEF! IT’S BEEN THAT LONG???

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Alexander_Roman]

In the Eastern churches, not having a beard for clergy is a no-no.

At one time, in Russia especially, the beard was an outward sign that one was a . . . Christian.

The Lithuanian martyrs, Sts Anthony, John and Eustace of Vilna, were killed by the pagan prince Oldgerde for refusing to shave their beards.

The Russian Old Believers were persecuted by Tsar Peter I for the same thing and they had to pay a tax for the right to wear a beard.

The beard in our tradition reflects Christ Himself and the beard He wore. Since we (and clergy especially) are called to be an “Alter Christus” (sorry for that Latinization!), they wear beards and long flowing robes etc.

In some quarters of the Eastern Church, to have short beards is already suspect . . .

There is a (true) story of a North American Greek bishop going to Mt Athos. Seeing his short beard, the monks there chided him and told him to stand in the back of the church for the All-Night Vigil Service (which means they pray all night, of course . . .).

The bishop did so and stood alone in the back, praying and singing the hymns.

By morning, a saintly monastic elder came by and asked the monks at the front who the man in the back was over whose head he kept seeing angels suspended in mid-air . . .

When told that he was a bishop sent there for having a short beard . . . the monastic elder chided them and said, “What have you done to that holy man?! You know, throughout the night I kept seeing dark figures hovering over your heads!!”

The symbolism of the beard is also contained in Psalm 133: “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the bear, the beard of Aaron . . .”

Alex

 

[ConstantineTG]

In the Eastern churches, not having a beard for clergy is a no-no.

Go one page back, I posted the photo of an unbearded UGCC Bishop here in Canada. I think the Eastern Catholics are more lax with the beard than the Orthodox.

 

[Alexander_Roman]

Absolutely - there are UGCCers who bend over backwards to show that they are NOT Orthodox . . .

There was one bishop who grew a beard, at the sight of which many “Eastern” priests of ours breathed a sigh of relief . . .

With the advent of the independent Ukrainian Orthodox autocephalous movement in 1921, clergy there began to shave off their beards to show that they were not “Russian.”

Russian Orthodox priests were made fun of for their beards by Eastern Catholics and were called “Katsap” which is a term of opprobrium.

A less than stellar aspect of EC history.

Alex