In the constitution of the Apostles, this precept is again repeated: The smallest hair of the beard must on no account be clipped, it is said therein: Oportet preterea non barbæ pilum corrumpere.[[52]] If I trace things on, from the time of the Apostles to the entire establishment of Christianity, I find, that all the fathers, doctors, and saints of the rising church, strongly recommended the custom of wearing the beard, and regarded a bald chin as the mark of infamy and debauchery. Saint Clement the Roman, who lived likewise in the time of the Apostles, after mentioning the Levitican law, which we have already quoted, says, that God, who created us after his own likeness, will load those with his hatred who violate his law by shaving their chins.[[53]]
[52]. Lib. i. cap. 3.
[53]. This Saint, who was the disciple of St. Peter, succeeded pope Anaclet, A. D. 91. See in his book Constitutionum Sanctorum Apostolorum, the chap. entitled Catholica Doctrina de Laicis.
Saint Clement of Alexandria, in several parts of his learned works, complains highly of this abuse so disgraceful for mankind; he speaks with great warmth against the rakes of his time, who were not ashamed to appear in public close shaved. This saint, who was still a better philosopher than a theologian, does not think it beneath him, in another part of his work, to write the elogy of the beard: It contributes, says he, to the beauty of man, as a fine head of hair does to that of a woman.[[54]] Tertullian, especially, says a great deal about beards, and, with his usual eloquence, forcibly attacks the corrupt manners of his age, which had introduced the shameful custom of shaving; he supports his arguments by St. Jerome and St. Clement of Alexandria, and even goes beyond these two holy fathers.[[55]]
[54]. Saint Clement of Alexandria, who is looked upon as the most learned of all the fathers of the Church, lived at the end of the second and beginning of the third century. See his book on theatrical exhibitions, and his Pedagogue, book iii. a work which abbot Fleuri, in his Ecclesiastical history, calls, an abridgement of the whole Christian moral.
[55]. Tertullian, in his book de Cultu feminarum, and in that de Pallio, speaks very advantageously of beards. This learned man, whom St. Cyprian called his master, was the first who wrote on the alteration of a canon of the council of Carthage, which forbade priests to shave their beards.
Saint Cyprian has likewise expressed how much he thought a shaved chin contrary to the Christian institution. In deploring the state of this religion, he exclaims: There is no longer this religious devotion and entire confidence in the ministers of God to be found in the priests; no more works of mercy, no more order among the lower classes: the men cut off their beards, and the women paint their faces. And in another part: And notwithstanding it is written, You shall not cut off your beards, they depilate their chins and colour their cheeks. Thus, to please the world, they are not afraid to displease God.[[56]]
[56]. Divi Cypriani, liber de Lapsis.
It would be too long to cite the number of respectable authorities who have either written in praise of beards or censured shaved faces, who have not only looked upon it as an ornament conformable to Christian gravity, but maintained that it could not be cut away without a sin.[[57]]
[57]. All the first fathers of the Church have strongly recommended the custom of beards, or have spoken of them advantageously: such are St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Chrysostom, St. Epiphanius, St. Theodoret, St. Sidoin Apollinarius, &c.