Note 11 — ERECTION OF THE MANILA CATHEDRAL1
Reading edition
Among some of the monastic orders and friars, the tonsure leaves only a circle of hair round the head; the tonsure of the secular clerks on the other hand, is small. The first tonsure is made by the bishop in a form prescribed by the Pontifical, and the person receiving it is thereby admitted to the state and privilege of a cleric. The bishop may confer it at any place or time. Mitred abbots may give it to their own subjects; cardinal priests to the clergy of their titles; and it may also be conferred by other priests with special privileges. There have been at various times different forms and degrees of the tonsure. It was only gradually that the right to tonsure was limited to bishops, abbots, etc. Till the tenth century it was given by simple priests, or even by laymen to one another. See Addis and Arnold’s Catholic Dictionary, p. 798. ↑