Barbara wrote:I had recently seen a pictorial illustration of the habits of various Orders of Catholic monks when I read the post above, so I dug it out again. It should be known that most all Orders wore/wear a scapular, called because it goes over the shoulders [ covering the scapula bone on the back ] and reaches the hem of the monk's cassock.
The only major Orders which don't have this feature are the Augustinians and the Franciscans. Thus look for scapulars in any Western Rite movement !
Then there is a short cape around the shoulders worn by several Orders : the Dominicans, Trinitarians, Mercedarians, Servites and lesser known today, the Holy Cross Canons.
That unpleasant looking tonsure must have been instituted to preserve the monk's humility. Unfortunately, likely it kept a fair number of aspiring ascetics from being tonsured over the centuries, for who wants that appearance ?
I don't think I ever saw a tonsured Western-Rite monk when ROCOR-MP was doing their so called "Western-Rite". Though I'm only going off of videos so I could very well be wrong. As for the western tonsure, I think your talking about the modern Roman Catholic tonsure correct? I don't think a monk should care very much about his appearance as his purpose is not to be concerned with vanity. If any future monks back then were afraid of the bald tonsure on their head, they shouldn't have looked into western monasticism in the first place.