[76]. Beroald de Verville, in his Moyen de parvenir, accounts for the promptitude with which the priests imitated the popes. “I will tell you a remark; when the pope has a large beard, the priests will have the same; if he have a shaved chin, they will likewise, because they all aim at the papacy.” Moyen de Parvenir, chap. tom.
This king, in order to get money from the clergy of his kingdom, says doctor Zuinger, a contemporary, obtained a brief from the pope, which ordered all the French clergy to get themselves shaved, or else to pay a certain sum to have permission to wear their beard.[[77]] A contribution from such a body might be of great service in a time of scarcity. Francis I. experienced it; for all the tufted prelates, court ecclesiastics, incumbents, and expectant clergymen, paid the money, and retained their beards; but all the canons of small revenue, village curates, and poor rectors, freed themselves from the impost by getting themselves shaved, and this was the source of the troubles which disquieted the reign of Henry II. The difference of the chins of the clergy of the same kingdom caused that dark, intestine war which owed its rise solely to jealousy.
[77]. Theatrum vitæ humanæ Theodori Zuingeri, lib. 2.
Now is the time to mention the discussions which, on account of a beard affair, began to trouble the ancient capital of the world. Some seditious, jealous beings secretly fomented their ruin; the alarm increased; and beards were in the utmost danger, when Pierrius Valerianus undertook their defence. This man, one of the most learned and most bearded of his time discussed, in a most able manner, the cause he undertook; his book, intitled pro Sacerdotum Barbis, is dedicated to cardinal Medicis. A just reasoning and a strength of elocution are the great qualities of his discourse; we can perceive that the author was impressed with his subject; he quotes a number of authorities, both sacred and profane, which concur to the triumph of his cause. He complains that the respect due to the ministers of God is already but too much diminished, without endeavouring to destroy it by a debasing custom; and adds, that Jesus never made any law that tended to alter the Levitican ones, which we have cited; and that the son of God himself, having given the example of this discipline, all Christians ought to follow it. “What a piece of folly it is,” cries he, “to pretend that the beard, which was given by God, should be unworthy of his creatures.” He demonstrates, that the canon of the council of Carthage, which forbids clergymen to let out their beards, has been absolutely mutilated: he calls to his aid the opinion of all the great men of his time, and several ancient manuscripts, among others, that which is in the elector palatine’s library.[[78]]
[78]. “Who,” says he, “will dare maintain, that the beard is not the ornament of man, the symbol of probity and justice; that it does not give him a grave, stern look; I mean to speak of those who are determined by reason rather than opinion? If it be admitted then that the beard is the ornament of an honest, just man, why should it not be the most decent ornament for a priest, who ought to be an example of virtue.” Apologia Joannis Pierii Valeriani belumen. I have seen three editions of this work.
Let us now examine whether this canon of the council of Carthage, on which the antibearded gentry found their anathemas, deserves any confidence. According to them, these are the words of the canon of that council: Clericus nec comam nutriat nec barbam; and these, according to the sticklers for beards: Clericus nec comam nutriat, nec barbam radat. The former forbids to wear long beards; the latter orders it. So the whole depends on the adding or suppressing of the word radat.
It seems at first, in favour of bearded chins, that the termination of the phrase, nec barbam, should point out the suppression of a verb, such as radat; and indeed it would have been much more simple, and more regular, in the same sense, to write, Clericus nec comam nec barbam nutriat.
This objection, which begins to throw light on the wiles of the enemies of beards, would be but weak, were it not confirmed by a number of triumphant proofs, and especially by the opinion of the most celebrated and most laborious commentators, such as fathers Labbe and Hardouin, &c. Savaron, in his commentary on the epistles of St. Sidoin Apollinarius, warmly maintains, that the word radat has been suppressed from the 44th canon of this council of Carthage, and that the custom of wearing long beards was there precisely ordered. Father Sirmond, who published some time after a commentary on the same epistles, is of the same opinion as Savaron with respect to the suppression of this word radat. Charles Dumoulin, in his notes to the 5th chapter of the 1st record of the 3d book of the Decretals, assures us that the text of this canon has been mutilated, and that we ought to read nec barbam radat.
Let us see on what authority the opinion of these learned men is founded. The greatest part of the manuscripts of the councils have the word radat. Pierrius Valerianus, in his book pro Sacerdotum Barbis, quotes several, and those are the least suspected. Father Labbe has added a note to the canon in question, in which he numbers the manuscripts wherein the word radat is found. Father Hardouin assures us that this important radat exists in the most authentic manuscripts, such as those in the libraries of Corbie, Giblou, Barberin, Paris, &c.
From these modern proofs, let us pass to those which antiquity or the contemporaries of this council ought to furnish us with. St. Sidoin Apollinarius says very clearly, speaking of the time of this council of Carthage: Tum coma brevis & barba prolixa; At that time people wore short hair and long beards. Tertullian says a great deal about this same council; he maintains that the word radat has been suppressed in the 44th canon; he cries out upon the licentiousness of his age, too fertile in like impositions, and says, in plain terms! Corrigendum est reponendumque, juxta fidem veterum exemplarium, Clericus nec comam nutriat, nec barbam radat. This canon ought to be corrected, and, conformably to the fidelity of the old copies, it should be written, that no clergyman should wear his hair, or shave his beard.[[79]] We see what a distance our short cloke clergy keep from this edifying regulation.