Traditional Priests and Their Beards.

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I know at one time secular clergy were forbidden from growing a beard while the various Franciscan branches were encouraged to grow them. This got me thinking, I have never seen a priest with a beard! (Latin Rite). I’m praying there is no longer a rule that a priest may not grow a beard! In the various Traditionalist sectors, do your priests have beards? I should think that it would be an appropriate display of masculinity for a priest in this age of effeminates. What do you think?

Pax Vobiscum
 
My priest has a beard and so the the one before him

They keep them short and well groomed…I think they look very distinguised
 
IrishDude45 said:
I know at one time secular clergy were forbidden from growing a beard while the various Franciscan branches were encouraged to grow them. This got me thinking, I have never seen a priest with a beard! (Latin Rite). I’m praying there is no longer a rule that a priest may not grow a beard! In the various Traditionalist sectors, do your priests have beards? I should think that it would be an appropriate display of masculinity for a priest in this age of effeminates. What do you think?

Pax Vobiscum
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I personally like beards, Jesus had one so did many of the apostles and early saints. Throughout the middle ages in the West, it was required that the clergy were to be cleanshaven. This was probably just to make a distinction between clergy and peasants and nobles (as most would have been bearded), though there was some canon law regulation against beards. It was altered in the 16th century, one of the popes made it fashionable, and became popular for awhile, then died down till the last fifty years or so (like some of the priests you see on EWTN have beards). I don’t think too many traditionalist priests have beards because traditional seminary usually stress being clean shaven or at least that is the norm, but I don’t think there is any prohibition against it nowadays.
 
Almost all grown men have beards.

The real question is why do some of them shave them off?
 
Fr Mitch Pacwa SJ has a beard and Fr John Trigilio has a beard; you can see both of them on EWTN. Our curate from a few years ago had a beard. I think, as long as it is neat and tidy it is a matter of personal choice for diocesean priests.
 
I can answer that pretty easily ! I think men like myself, who have beards made of what feels like barbed wire, don’t grow them out because they itch like crazy, they look ghastly, the chafe women’s skin, and become repositories for crumbs of food, lint, and other assorted debris. They also get ingrown and require way too much time to maintain them.
 
CapIV said:
no he didn’t.

I know that the Pope is not allowed to have a beard.
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We do not know if Jesus actually had a beard or not. There has been no definitive statement to this by the Church so we are free to believe either he did or he did not.

Can you give reference where you know that the Pope is not allowed to have a beard.
 
CapIV said:
no he didn’t.

I know that the Pope is not allowed to have a beard.
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The Shroud of Turin shows that He had a beard and the Pantokrator of Sinai (which most believe is a copy of the Shroud) shows that He had one.

Since most men were bearded at the time, it is a very safe bet to assume He had a beard. This is why it is almost mandatory that Eastern Orthodox priests have beards.
 
Gardenman said:
I can answer that pretty easily ! I think men like myself, who have beards made of what feels like barbed wire, don’t grow them out because they itch like crazy, they look ghastly, the chafe women’s skin, and become repositories for crumbs of food, lint, and other assorted debris. They also get ingrown and require way too much time to maintain them.
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Amen! 👍
 
What is traditionally believed to be the Veil of Veronica also shows Our Lord with a beard. The Romans did not consider them civilized, and as cultures shift so do the prevalence of beards.

And again, why can’t the pope have one? Some did in the past. It’s more a modern preference.
 
Styles come, and styles go, and in ancient times, beards were common in the Eastern Med. One reason was probably that razors were something of a rarity and even then weren’t very sharp or durable. Samuel, Elias, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Joseph, Kepha (Peter), etc etc are all depicted as being bearded. Why would anyone think Jesus used the proto-type of the Mach III?

Now, as for the Pope, how is it possible that there is a “law” that says he cannot wear a beard? It’s style and preference as has already been said:
PKinsale said:
And again, why can’t the pope have one? Some did in the past. It’s more a modern preference.
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Gardenman said:
I can answer that pretty easily ! I think men like myself, who have beards made of what feels like barbed wire, don’t grow them out because they itch like crazy, they look ghastly, the chafe women’s skin, and become repositories for crumbs of food, lint, and other assorted debris. They also get ingrown and require way too much time to maintain them.
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Sounds like a lack of grooming practice. :confused:

They only itch the first few days in growing them. And the only way to get an ingrown hair or whisker is to shave it close to the skin and it comes back in sideways. They don’t re-root like ‘tipped’ blackberries. :rolleyes:

And what “chafes” women’s skin is not a beard, but a man who shaved early that morning and has a few hours growth.

And grandchildren love beards! 👍
 
CapIV said:
no he didn’t.

I know that the Pope is not allowed to have a beard.
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Nonsense to the first line.

And who exactly is going to tell the Pope he can’t grow a beard? Was that in Vatican II? Again, nonsense.
 
There was a time, not so long ago, that the only priests in the Latin Rite who normally had beards were the Capuchins. Maybe one of the breezes that wafted through the window opened by John Paul the Great blew some razors away 😃 👍 .

I have encountered several priests with attractive, well-kept beards. One, a tall, youngish and long-haired curate with his beard looked a lot like many of the depictions of Our Lord, especially when wearing white vestments.
 
Hi Cap IV,
I think you must be just teasing us with this post. 😃 If so, you have a great sense of humor!
CapIV said:
no he didn’t.
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:hypno: If you are serious, this would be a difficult thing to prove one way or the other.

But if he was a real man, we know he must have been growing some chin whiskers. The question should therefore be…did he regularly shave them clean away?

Perhaps he did shave, but I am not convinced that this was a common practice for Jewish men of that era. I would think it is far more likely that we would have known he shaved, because it would have been unusual enough to get a mention somewhere.

It seems to have been a common Roman practice to shave (although not all Romans did) and a common Jewish practice to be bearded. For Jesus to adopt a well known Roman practice would certainly have been unusual for a Jewish rabbi in those days. :hmmm:Especially considering that His followers were thinking of Him in Messianic terms.

Even Herod, that great Hellenizer and Roman lap dog had a beard.
CapIV said:
I know that the Pope is not allowed to have a beard.
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:rotfl:
 
A Jewish Man, always on the move and traveling with nothing but the clothes on his back, but carrying a shaving kit with him sounds quite absurd.
 
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