Tonsure/Shaving or Buzzing head to serve EF

[YoungCanRCMale]

I was wondering if CAF members could help me out with something. I am soon to undertake serving my first TLM, likely in a minor role of a torchbearer or maybe boatbearer for a mass on the feast of Christ the King (Oct 30). I have only had a brief into session to start, with more work to follow after our Labour Day long weekend in September.

When I’ve seen pictures or live filming of practices or actual TLMs, be they diocesan churches, SSPX, or FSSP, most of the servers have either taken up tonsure or shaved their heads to an army buzzcut. Mind you my friend who got me involved into this in the first place has a average but short head of slightly wavy hair and has not had to buzz his head to serve the TLM. I currently have short, non-shoulder length head of thick black hair that can easily be gelled back or parted when longer.

My question is:

1. Do servers for the EF have to buzz their hair to serve?
2. Is this practice a parish-wide discipline or is it a Church-wide discipline
3. What are the rubrics, doctine, origins, etc. of this practice that validates it? I would especially like it if somebody linked to a valid Church document.

Thanks, YCRCM.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Hahah, I just have this to comment, sorry if its a bit OT. But its just the contrast of East and West. In the East priests traditionally do not shave their beards. I only shave once a week because my facial hair grows slowly and it irritates my skin, so by Sundays if I do get to serve I would always have some mustache and some beard (not a lot but like I said, mine doesn’t grow much).

Anyway, my advise is why not ask the priest what he would require? It may differ from parish to parish depending on what sort of adherence they have to traditional practices and disciplines.

 

[Aelred_Minor]

Just speaking in terms of tonsure, if I’m not mistaken tonsure was never taken by ordinary servers, but by clerics in minor or, of course, major orders. I suspect the tonsured young men you saw in pictures were seminarians who has minor orders, or subdeacons, perhaps.

In the case of simply short hair, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just a coincidence or conservative culture at work, but I’m not sure. In many (Western) modern monasteries the monks all have very short (buzzed) hair as a sign of asceticism, so it’s possible something similar is at work here.

Probably others with more experience with the EF can shed some more light here though.

If in doubt, just look your best for mass. Comb your hair, and shave that stubble! :yukonjoe::hey_bud:

 

[roveau]

Perhaps special cuts may be a local thing in your region. Servers in this part of the world have a cross-section of all sorts of hair styles for men from buzzcut to longish hair. I’ve never seen the tonsure.

I’d be interested to hear from others if there is some new trend among servers.

 

[InquisitorMax]

I think it’s a matter of fashion and a reaction to the wider effeminacy in Western society or its fixation with being cool by cultivating long hair, a beard or moustache.

I like a buzz cut myself. A # 3 can do me for two months. One less thing to bother about and it looks MANLY, I tell you.

 

[Phemie]

I think it’s a matter of fashion and a reaction to the wider effeminacy in Western society or its fixation with being cool by cultivating long hair, a beard or moustache.

I like a buzz cut myself. A # 3 can do me for two months. One less thing to bother about and it looks MANLY, I tell you.

Yeah, because we all know how feminine it is to have a beard and/or mustache.

To the OP, the Church has no rule about hair when it comes to serving at an EF Mass. However, the priest who will be celebrating it may have his own thoughts about it so the best thing to do is ask him.

 

[InquisitorMax]

Have another read of what I said. Beards and moustaches might be avoided because they need to be cultivated. Like a privet hedge. There’s also an element of vanity.

I had one. It’s useful, as it distinctly marks you as a man and I think it’s slightly intimidating to some. Just an impression.

I shaved it off because maintaining it was a chore.

 

[JReducation]

I was wondering if CAF members could help me out with something. I am soon to undertake serving my first TLM, likely in a minor role of a torchbearer or maybe boatbearer for a mass on the feast of Christ the King (Oct 30). I have only had a brief into session to start, with more work to follow after our Labour Day long weekend in September.

When I’ve seen pictures or live filming of practices or actual TLMs, be they diocesan churches, SSPX, or FSSP, most of the servers have either taken up tonsure or shaved their heads to an army buzzcut. Mind you my friend who got me involved into this in the first place has a average but short head of slightly wavy hair and has not had to buzz his head to serve the TLM. I currently have short, non-shoulder length head of thick black hair that can easily be gelled back or parted when longer.

My question is:

1. Do servers for the EF have to buzz their hair to serve?
2. Is this practice a parish-wide discipline or is it a Church-wide discipline
3. What are the rubrics, doctine, origins, etc. of this practice that validates it? I would especially like it if somebody linked to a valid Church document.

Thanks, YCRCM.

The tonsure was an old rite in the Latin Church for men who were going to be clerics, monks or friars. We actually had tonsure for nuns too, never for sisters. It was a symbol of celibacy. There were different forms of it, from the corona that one sees on some monks to five little snips of hair cut in the form of a cross that you can barely see, because you cut only the tip of the hair. The style depended on the local tradition. If you were a religious, it depended on the tradition of your religious community.

Today, the tonsure is no longer required for those who are going to be just priests. For those men who are going to be consecrated religious, it depends on their community. Most communities have done away with it, but not all.

The buzz cut, outside of the military was often used by religious men for one simple reason, which is actually very practical. We used to wear a kipah or skull cap. If your hair was too long, it kep falling off. That’s why they make a specail comb that velcros on the inside. Many bishops and this pope himself have a comb on the inside, because they have full heads of hair.

In most religious communities, the kippah disappeared, but the buzz cut remains. I have a buzz cut, but I no longer wear a kippah. I actually own one.

In the case of a layman and secular clergy, since neither are consecrated men, the length of their hair is determined by the pastor. In the case of consecrated men, this matter is not determined by the superior, but by the general constitutions. If you read the Franciscan constitutions, the friars hair may never grow below his waist. That’s because Francis had very long hair and a long beard.

Go with the policy of the local pastor.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[ClayPots47]

In the case of a layman and secular clergy, since neither are consecrated men, the length of their hair is determined by the pastor. In the case of consecrated men, this matter is not determined by the superior, but by the general constitutions. If you read the Franciscan constitutions, the friars hair may never grow below his waist. That’s because Francis had very long hair and a long beard.

Go with the policy of the local pastor.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

In the case of secular clergy, the hair length may also be determined by the bishop. I know that the Philadelphia and Baltimore diocese’s have specific grooming rules for clergy, hair cannot exceed collar length, and they must be clean shaven. The rules have been retained through a succession of bishops, as these rules have been pretty much a tradition. I know these are not the only diocese’s who do this. I know of a priest who was given special permission to grow his hair long while he was still a transitional deacon. His bishop permitted him only if he accepted that he might have to cut it in the future. He does youth ministry, his bishop is very pleased with his work, he continues to grow his hair, which is now past his shoulders. Another priest I know is growing his hair long as well. He has had positive support from most of the parishioners (he is assistant pastor), though the pastor is not too keen. He says the diocese has no specific rules, so it pretty much is up to the pastor. The pastor is allowing it at the moment.

Father Stan Fortuna C.F.R, the “Rapping Priest” who co-founded the community Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R is in, has a long mid-back ponytail and beard. There are others in the community also wearing long ponytails. I met two seminarians from that community several years ago when I lived in Maryland. They were seminarians at the local seminary and university. It was a sight in that small town, seeing those friars in their robes and sandals with long hair in ponytails and full beards. I ran into them at the local grocer, most folks didn’t know what to make of them. Interesting to know that it is in the constitutions that they are limited to waist length. I have not seen long hair among Franciscans outside of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Does your community have any friars with long hair?

 

[JReducation]

In the case of secular clergy, the hair length may also be determined by the bishop. I know that the Philadelphia and Baltimore diocese’s have specific grooming rules for clergy, hair cannot exceed collar length, and they must be clean shaven. The rules have been retained through a succession of bishops, as these rules have been pretty much a tradition. I know these are not the only diocese’s who do this. I know of a priest who was given special permission to grow his hair long while he was still a transitional deacon. His bishop permitted him only if he accepted that he might have to cut it in the future. He does youth ministry, his bishop is very pleased with his work, he continues to grow his hair, which is now past his shoulders. Another priest I know is growing his hair long as well. He has had positive support from most of the parishioners (he is assistant pastor), though the pastor is not too keen. He says the diocese has no specific rules, so it pretty much is up to the pastor. The pastor is allowing it at the moment.

A bishop can establish a dress code for his diocese and this includes hair. He cannot impose this dress code on members of exempt religious orders, be they priests, brothers, nuns, sisters, monks or friars.

Father Stan Fortuna C.F.R, the “Rapping Priest” who co-founded the community Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R is in, has a long mid-back ponytail and beard. There are others in the community also wearing long ponytails. I met two seminarians from that community several years ago when I lived in Maryland. They were seminarians at the local seminary and university. It was a sight in that small town, seeing those friars in their robes and sandals with long hair in ponytails and full beards. I ran into them at the local grocer, most folks didn’t know what to make of them. Interesting to know that it is in the constitutions that they are limited to waist length. I have not seen long hair among Franciscans outside of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Does your community have any friars with long hair?

The Franciscans of the Renewal and my community, the Franciscans of Life, along with many other Franciscan communities are being carved out of the larger Franciscan family as part of an organized program to return to the life of the brothers in the 13th century. In response to your question, we don’t have a restriction on hair length. You must have a beard, if you can grow one. Not everyone can do so. Like Francis, we do follow the OT regulations regarding taking blades to one’s hair. While it’s not a sin, it never was, it’s part of the continuity in the Judeo-Christian Tradition which Francis embraced.

It’s really funny, because we don’t wear a full-length habit either. Our habit is like that of the 13th century. It rides above the ankles. Of course, Franciscans don’t wear pants, unless they have a special need to do so. I work for a diocese. One of the men in the communication office asked me today, “What do you call that thing your guys wear?” I said, “A habit.”

He thought about it and said, “I thought habits were long.” He was very suprised to find out that the Franciscan habit was originally short, because of poverty. It was the garment worn by the peasants in the fields. It had to be shorter than the traditional habit to avoid getting caught when working.

We too came from the Capuchin reform as did the CFRs. We wear the same Capuchin habit, in grey, but our habit is shorter, with the large cowl and the long hair and beard. I have short hair, because I’m balding. We do keep the tradition of the tonsure, but you can’t see it. It’s just five pieces of hair cut in the shape of a cross on the day of solemn profession.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[YoungCanRCMale]

Thanks everyone for the replies to the post. I think JR has been the closest to get to some sort of hint or part of answering my questions, though I still haven’t had my questions 100% answered.

Between a little looking up things on the internet and JR’s post, I can correct/say some minor things:

• The haircut I’m not talking about is the tonsure.
• The haircut I am talking about is the “crew” cut or buzz cut.
• it seems that question 2 is partly answered: yes a diocese or a parish pastor can dictate this.
• The only hint I found was something to do with monks/friars or orders doing the practice with regard to commitment to a lifetime of service of God.

So here’s where I’m left after all of this:
My question is:

1. Do servers for the EF have to buzz their hair to serve? - NOT ANSWERED. This is for the Extraordinary form/TLM only. Never is this practice instituted in any N.O. parish I’ve been to.
2. Is this practice a parish-wide discipline or is it a Church-wide discipline - Partially answered. It could be dictated by parish priest or diocese, but I’m still thinking this was a church-wide discipline at some point, even with the servers back then.
3. What are the rubrics, doctine, origins, etc. of this practice that validates it? I would especially like it if somebody linked to a valid Church document. - NOT ANSWERED. I am still looking for that kind of evidence, as well as the reasoning behind it.

I don’t suppose there’s any TLM orders/organization people that can help here? (FSSP, ICKSP, Institute of Good Sheperd, Canons of St. John Cantius, SSPX). Feel free to bring this by your priests or servers and have them post on here.

Thanks, YCRCM.

 

[The_Old_Medic]

There is absolutely NO requirement in the Latin Rite that anyone have a tonsure, or a very close haircut, unless they are in a Monastic Order that would require this.

I have no idea what you have been watching. I have NEVER seen what you claim to have seen, outside of a monastery. I HAVE seen some movies that show this, but heck, anything can be (and likely is) shown in movies.

 

[Mark1970]

I have served the EF, and was taught to serve by a man who served in the 1930’s and 1940’s, and have never been told that it was a requirement to to have a special kind of haircut. The only requirement I’ve heard of requiring hair was that it should be clean and tidy/combed. The only time I have known any requirement for special haircuts was if Mass was being served by seminarians who were observing the rules of the seminary.

 

[JReducation]

Thanks everyone for the replies to the post. I think JR has been the closest to get to some sort of hint or part of answering my questions, though I still haven’t had my questions 100% answered.

Between a little looking up things on the internet and JR’s post, I can correct/say some minor things:

• The haircut I’m not talking about is the tonsure.
• The haircut I am talking about is the “crew” cut or buzz cut.
• it seems that question 2 is partly answered: yes a diocese or a parish pastor can dictate this.
• The only hint I found was something to do with monks/friars or orders doing the practice with regard to commitment to a lifetime of service of God.

So here’s where I’m left after all of this:
My question is:

1. Do servers for the EF have to buzz their hair to serve? - NOT ANSWERED. This is for the Extraordinary form/TLM only. Never is this practice instituted in any N.O. parish I’ve been to.

No. The cut of the hair has to do with one’s state in life, not with the mass. If the priest is a consecrated religious, as well as a priest, he follows the regulations of his community. If he’s not a consecrated religious, that is, a secular priest, he follows the regulations set by his bishop and is pastor.

1. Is this practice a parish-wide discipline or is it a Church-wide discipline - Partially answered. It could be dictated by parish priest or diocese, but I’m still thinking this was a church-wide discipline at some point, even with the servers back then.

This discipline has nothing to do with Church law. It has to do with the customs and traditions of religious communities of either men or women. Therefore, it’s neither parish-wide nor Church-wide. The Church has nothing to do with it. Look at Pope Benedict’s full head of hair.

1. What are the rubrics, doctine, origins, etc. of this practice that validates it? I would especially like it if somebody linked to a valid Church document. - NOT ANSWERED. I am still looking for that kind of evidence, as well as the reasoning behind it.

1. There are none. As I stated above, every religious community has its rules and every bishop has his own.
2. The bishop’s rules are not binding. The next bishop can change them.
3. The community’s rules are binding only if they come from the founder, otherwise the community can change them by simply voting in a chapter.
4. Not everything that happens in the Catholic Church is written up in any official document, set of rubrics or encyclical. Many things are binding because they are tradition. We need to stop thinking like Americans. In our society, we like to leave a paper trail. In Catholic culture, paper trails are a very new concept. Much is simply handed down by word of mouth and through routines. For example, you will never find an official document, book or letter that establishes that there shall be a consecrated life in the Church. Yet, we have it and the Church teaches us that it is essential. She cannot exist without sisters, nuns, brothers and consecrated virgins. But no one ever wrote this down, not even the Apostles or the Church Fathers. It is a point of faith handed down by tradition. We acknoledge in in retrospect. This happens with a great many elements in the Catholic Church. That’s why the quest for citations, documents, references and such is often a futile one in Catholicism.

There is no such a thing as TLM order. All religious orders ceased to exist with the founding of the Jesuits. They were the last religious order ever founded. All religious communities founded after the Jesuits were congregations. Those institutes that are dedicated to the EF are not canonically EF institutes. They are either religious congregations or secular societies of Apostolic Life. But the Church does not charter them as EF institutes. Their relationship to the Church is based on either

a) their way of life – if they are congregations, such as the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, Canons of St. John Cantius, Franciscans of the Immaculate

b) their ministry – if they are societies of secular men and women, such as the FSSP, SSPX, Maryknoll, Missionhurst, Vincentians and Society of the Holy Cross (Opus Dei).

I don’t suppose there’s any TLM orders/organization people that can help here? (FSSP, ICKSP, Institute of Good Sheperd, Canons of St. John Cantius, SSPX). Feel free to bring this by your priests or servers and have them post on here.

Thanks, YCRCM.

The Church is very careful not to tie an institute into a particular form of the liturgy, because this impairs the growth of the institute. It would mean that the FSSP would never be able to expand to include ministries that require them to celebrate the EF or that they cease to exists if the EF were ever abandoned. For this reason, order, congregations and societies are built either on a theological concept, that would be orders, or an apostolic need, that would be congregations and societies, because these things will always be there.

Most religious communities, both congregations and orders, as well as most societies, discourage their members from posting on forums for fear of contamination. Those that allow it, only allow certain members to do so. It’s not common to find this kind of poster here.

Diocesan priests and diocesan deacons can do so, because they are not bound by obedience to a rule. The bishop does not regulate what they do when they’re not working. In orders, congregations and societies, your daily life is regulated for you and your contacts with the world are dictated by the charism of your institute.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[DianaCC]

Depends on the diocese. Our bishop requires altar girls and extraordinary ministers of holy communion to have a fresh #1 buzzcut all around or a military-standard high-and-tight.

Needless to say…

 

[YoungCanRCMale]

Thanks again everyone for the clarification and correction on terms. I am but a layman who hasn’t done the deep studying in Church terminology and practices others have. So I guess in summary this is all just mandated by the priest or diocese and there’s no official anything on this.

However one thing still irks me. My questioning is not without evidence and reason. I’ll admit I value my hair and it’s one of my most attractive features. I worry however I will have to cut it shorter than it is, even though my hair doesn’t get out of control or past my neck at all. I have it reasonably short for summer that in its initial beginnings, my hair nautrally spikes. Obviously I will have to ask the organizers for the TLM about my hair’s length.
Furthermore I will say again that never when I have gone to a N.O. have any male servers (as a fully co-ordinated unit) had to have their hair short or buzzed. But yet as seen below, the EF has this visual practice.

The following pictures and such I’ve collected from either past or present EF community masses in my area. In all of them, the servers’ hair is either short styled or buzzed.

Attachments: Evidence 1: Tridentine Mass as part of Una Voce Toronto May 23, 2011 that I went to. All servers have crewcuts. The servers are not seminarians to my knowledge. Evidence 2: Last Candlemas EF done by the FSSP, before they left Toronto, (diocese “couldn’t” give them a stable church to do their apostolate so they had to part ways amicably). 1/2 the servers have the crewcuts, the others have “bowl” hairstyles (though the post did admit seminarians filled most of the roles in this mass)

View attachment 11395

View attachment 11396

Evidence 3: Weblink to a picture from a FlickR site for the SSPX church in my area of servers, priests and two first communicants. Two short clean but semi-spiky haircuts and one clean and coiffed “bowl” hairstyle. flickr.com/photos/sspxcanada/5995910237/in/set-72157627202980855

So you see, my post isn’t founded on heresay. This just leaves me with one question: “why?.” I just don’t get it.

 

[JReducation]

Thanks again everyone for the clarification and correction on terms. I am but a layman who hasn’t done the deep studying in Church terminology and practices others have. So I guess in summary this is all just mandated by the priest or diocese and there’s no official anything on this.

However one thing still irks me. My questioning is not without evidence and reason. I’ll admit I value my hair and it’s one of my most attractive features. I worry however I will have to cut it shorter than it is, even though my hair doesn’t get out of control or past my neck at all. I have it reasonably short for summer that in its initial beginnings, my hair nautrally spikes. Obviously I will have to ask the organizers for the TLM about my hair’s length.

A wise and very old Visitandine nun once told me, “Sweety, it is easier to get forgiveness than to get permission. Don’t ask the question and don’t volunteer unless you want the job to be permanently yours.”

Her name was Sister Wigi, short for Sister Louise. She was a saintly woman who was also very wise. Untile someone tells you that you have to cut your hair, don’t ask.

Furthermore I will say again that never when I have gone to a N.O. have any male servers (as a fully co-ordinated unit) had to have their hair short or buzzed. But yet as seen below, the EF has this visual practice.

The following pictures and such I’ve collected from either past or present EF community masses in my area. In all of them, the servers’ hair is either short styled or buzzed.

Attachments: Evidence 1: Tridentine Mass as part of Una Voce Toronto May 23, 2011 that I went to. All servers have crewcuts. The servers are not seminarians to my knowledge. Evidence 2: Last Candlemas EF done by the FSSP, before they left Toronto, (diocese “couldn’t” give them a stable church to do their apostolate so they had to part ways amicably). 1/2 the servers have the crewcuts, the others have “bowl” hairstyles (though the post did admit seminarians filled most of the roles in this mass)

View attachment 11395

View attachment 11396

Evidence 3: Weblink to a picture from a FlickR site for the SSPX church in my area of servers, priests and two first communicants. Two short clean but semi-spiky haircuts and one clean and coiffed “bowl” hairstyle. flickr.com/photos/sspxcanada/5995910237/in/set-72157627202980855

So you see, my post isn’t founded on heresay. This just leaves me with one question: “why?.” I just don’t get it.

The reason is very simple. The crowd that goes to these masses is usually very conservative and these are very classic haircuts.

Sigmund Freud once said, “Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.”

You can come to my house. We have a brother who is a priest and has permission to celebrate the EF once a month. He has a pony tale down to his waist.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Goldfinch]

Several of us serve Mass that is celebrated by a FSSP priest and we including the priest have our hair cut short. Don’t ask me, why we just do. There was no set rule. I think if your hair is groomed neatly it would be fine. I have seen other servers at another FSSP parish and their hair was longer but neat and even one younger man had a beard. He looked like a college student. I think out of respect, neatly groomed would be ok but if you have a question about it, ask the priest.

 

[JReducation]

Wait a minute. I think there is a misperception here. You folks mean to tell me that you would not attend the Extraordinary Form of the mass if this brother celebrated it, because of his hair and beard? That would be a crazy reason not to attend.

View attachment 11397

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[YoungCanRCMale]

Well, I’d say that post # 15 by Brother JR and post #16 is the final say on the matter that I’ll take for now.

Thanks btw for the invite brother JR, but if you have not looked at my username and my last post (evidence 1), the Can in my name stands for Canada and Una Voce Toronto is the Lay Latin Mass society in my area (Toronto and outlying municipalities/areas in those municipalities). Unless by sheer luck you happen to live in Toronto, Canada or that cool “dude” of a brother with the long ponytail, I’m afraid I would not be able to take you up on that offer .

Thanks CAF community for responding to my post about this quirky little practice surrounding the EF. I guess some things in our beautiful Catholic tradition are just “things we do as Catholics.”

If anyone else browsing the forums wants to add in their two cents or elaborate on this with something you found or know, feel free, and I’ll check in every once in a while. However, I feel that I have exausted my line of queries on this subject matter and cannot ask any more, or desire to.

YCRCM.