Forbidden Whiskers?

With today's post we jump on the Movember bandwagon!

Since 2011, Canadians have been the largest contributors to Movember charities, which organize the annual growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues.

At ARCAT, we've had little cause to glorify the moustache because the historical clergy photographs in our collection feature, almost universally, clean-shaven priests. Imagine our excitement this week when, while perusing a carte de visite album, we came across a portrait of a moustachioed gentleman!

Upon closer inspection, however, it appeared to be a "faux mo" drawn onto the surface of the photograph in crayon. Vanity or sabotage? Unfortunately, we have very little contextual information for this album and the identity of the subject is unknown. The style of collar and shirt is not exactly clerical, according to our early diocesan regulations concerning dress code.

Photographs Special Collection, PH 25/23AL

Carte de visite portrait of an unidentified gentleman, New York, ca. 1870.  The moustache has been drawn with crayon, perhaps to enhance what the camera did not quite capture. The straight collar suggests that the sitter is a priest, though the pleated silk shirt seems a little too fancy for one from our diocese.

Amazingly, the same album yielded a carte de visite portrait of a bearded priest taken in Orangeville, Ontario.

Photographs Special Collection, PH 25/23AL

Carte de visite portrait of an unidentified priest, ca. 1870, sporting a very rare beard. Though the photo was taken in Orangeville, Ontario, the priest does not seem to be any of those early clerics appointed to St. Timothy's Parish.

Throughout the history of the Church, there have been bearded popes and saints. However, the fact that facial hair is rarely seen on clergy during the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries begs the question of whether whiskers were canonically forbidden. The 1917 Code of Canon Law required priests to have simple hairstyles, but did not strictly forbid beards (136§1). However, bishops were free to interpret and enforce the law more strictly. The current 1983 Code does not address the issue of hairstyle or beards.

In times when moustaches were in fashion (for example, the Victorian period during which our diocese was established), priests would have been discouraged from such a show of vanity and singularity. A more thorough answer to the question of forbidden whiskers is answered here.

In the archives, we have a single document that addresses restrictions on beards. It is an excerpt from a published article that was copied and sent to Archbishop Lynch around 1863. At issue was the growing tendency of Bavarian priests to wear beards. The nuncio in Munich issued a letter to all local bishops condemning the practice on the grounds of unity and humility.

Archbishop Lynch fonds, Roman Correspondence, LRC45.01

As cited at the bottom of the second page, this is an excerpt from a published letter distributed to Bavarian bishops by the nuncio to Munich in 1863 regarding their bearded clergy.  The letter appeared in Revue des sciences ecclésiastiques, Volume 8, pp 80-81. It was copied and sent to Archbishop Lynch.

[Translated from the French and Latin] 

"Some of the Bavarian clergy seems to have forgotten the laws regarding the obligation to wear clerical garb...For ten years, the use was even introduced to wear beards. The nuncio in Munich, by order of His Holiness, just sent to the archbishops and bishops of Bavaria a letter in which he condemns this abuse, and calls for effective measures to bring its removal. The text follows:

....the discipline of the unity, and the perfect degree with the Church of Rome, is the mistress of the conformity of the man in all things and therefore also in the habit and the tonsure of the clergy is to be observed, or, if necessary, may be restored....."

It should be noted that priests in the Eastern Catholic rites are required by custom to wear beards, as well as some religious orders, such as the Franciscan Capuchins. In fact, when the second bishop of Toronto, Most Reverend Armand de Charbonnel, resigned the bishopric and returned to his native France, he joined the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and grew a distinctive beard.

Graphics Special Collection, PH21-02SK and PH21-03SK

Original pencil drawings by E. Fattori of Most Reverend Armand-François-Marie de Charbonnel with and without a beard.  On the left, he is depicted clean shaven as the second bishop of Toronto (1850-1860); right, with a beard typical of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (ca. 1875), the community he joined upon return to his native France.

ARCAT Reference Library, 282.092 CAU 1931

Photo of former Bishop de Charbonnel as a Franciscan Capuchin, 1876.  Published in
Causse, Candide. Vie de Monseigneur de Charbonnel, évêque de Toronto, 1931.

Photographs Special Collection, PH 24A\20P

Passport with photograph of Rev. Stephen Auad, 1920. Father Auad was born in Syria and ordained in the Maronite rite. He wears a beard as customarily required of Eastern Rite Catholic clergy.
Rev. Auad came to Canada in 1920 and was appointed pastor of St. Agnes Parish, Toronto (1921), St. Mary of the Angels Parish, Toronto (1924), Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Toronto (1927), Christ the King Parish, Etobicoke (1938)

Today, growing facial hair is a matter of personal choice for any diocesan priest. We have photographic evidence of quite a few seminarians sporting moustaches in the 1980s. Prior to that, they had to look forward to wearing faux mos during the annual Christmas play:

St. Augustine's Seminary Photograph's Collection, PH26, Series 2.1

Label on verso: "Christmas Play by China Mission Seminary, 1936"

Leonardo and the Viaticum Cabinet

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Salvator Mundi, painted circa 1500. Oil on walnut panel.
Christie's, New York

 This painting by Leonardo da Vinci was auctioned on 15 November 2017 at Christie’s in New York.  Twenty minutes into the sale, a winning bid of $400 million USD was entered by an anonymous buyer. After associated fees, the sale price of over $450,000,000 is the highest ever paid for a work of art at auction.  

The big news in the art world this week was the sale of Salvator Mundi, the recently rediscovered painting by Leonardo da Vinci, for a record-setting $450 million USD. It is one of sixteen extant works attributed to the Renaissance master, as well as the last known Leonardo painting that was held in private hands. It remains to be seen whether the anonymous new owner will allow it to be displayed for public consumption.

Salvator Mundi, "Saviour of the World", depicts a frontal portrait of Jesus Christ dressed in contemporary garb with his right hand raised in blessing and his left holding a transparent orb. The same mysterious quality that has made Leonardo's Mona Lisa the most recognizable painting in the world is here captured in the otherworldly gaze of Christ's amber eyes.

Painted around 1500, the work once belonged to King Charles I of England. As the painting changed hands and deteriorated it was repeatedly touched up - a common practice at the time. Eventually, the overpainted original was believed to be one of the many copies produced by other artists. In 1958, it sold for only £45.

The story of Salvator Mundi's rediscovery, which began in 2005, is a fascinating read.

So fascinating, in fact, that it made us wonder if there was a hidden Leonardo painting lurking in the bowels of the Archives. Had any of our bishops snapped up an Old Master of questionable provenance en route to their ad limina visit?

The results of our search were, sadly if inevitably, much more humble. We turned up a single reproduction of the second most famous painting in the world: Leonardo's The Last Supper. Hardly surprising, given that it is believed to be the most mass-reproduced work of all time.

Top: Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1495-1498, oil/tempera on plaster
Below: Reproduction of The Last Supper, viaticum cabinet detail, ARCAT Artifacts Special Collection, AF.285

The Last Supper was painted on the refectory wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie convent in Milan. Leonardo used experimental techniques and paint, and the huge mural started to deteriorate almost as soon as it was finished. It has suffered under the hands of many would-be restorers over the centuries. Further deterioration occurred when the refectory was used as a stable by Napoleon's troops and when its roof was torn away by Allied bombing during WWII, which left the paint exposed to the elements for several years.

Suffice it to say, both the original painting and our reproduction have suffered from environmental exposure.

It was a rediscovery for us nonetheless. This Last Supper reproduction had originally been described in our catalogue as part of an ambry - a recessed cupboard in a church used for storing holy oils. However, when we pulled the artifact out of storage, it was clear that it was not an ambry. Further research led us to conclude it was, in fact, a viaticum cabinet, also known and a "sick call box," or a "last rites cabinet."

Viaticum refers to the Eucharist given to a sick or dying person as part of the last rites. The Latin meaning is "provision for a journey"; this final Eucharist is the spiritual nourishment that will fortify a dying person on their passage from this world to the next. Before Vatican II, it was common for Catholic households to have a viaticum cabinet with all the provisions for a visiting priest to administer last rites stored inside.

Artfacts Special Collection, AF.285
Viaticum cabinet

Why settle for one Old Master when you can have two?
The upper portion of the cabinet holds a statuette of the Pietà, its composition appropriated from Michelangelo's masterpiece, which resides in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. 

Artfacts Special Collection, AF.285

The Last Supper adorns a door that opens to reveal a storage compartment.
Before Vatican II, it was common for Catholic households to have a viaticum cabinet with all the provisions for a visiting priest to administer last rites stored inside.

This particular cabinet was donated to ARCAT by a family in 2004. It seems to be a popular model mass-produced in the 1930s and 1940s and sold through ecclesiastical supply catalogs. You can see similar examples here.*

Out of the box, this viaticum cabinet would have been stocked with supplies, including a glass bottle for holy water, a paten, a box of absorbant cotton and an instruction booklet. However, over time, families would use the storage compartment for keeping accumulated religious items, such as medals, rosaries, candles and holy cards.

Artfacts Special Collection, AF.289

This viaticum cabinet came equipped with a glass bottle with the instructions:
"FOR HOLY WATER / KEEP CONSTANTLY FILLED"

Artfacts Special Collection, AF.286 to AF.292

Families often used the storage compartment for keeping accumulated religious items, such as these medals and rosaries that were found inside our viaticum cabinet. 

Though it's not a priceless work of ark, this viaticum cabinet is a piece of Catholic material and domestic culture and an interesting rediscovery at ARCAT.


* Sally M. Promey, "Viaticum, Last Rites Cabinet, Sick Call Set," Constellation, in Conversations: An Online Journal of the Center for the Study of Material and Visual Cultures of Religion (2014), doi:10.22332/con.cons.2014.1

We Remember

At 5:00 a.m. the morning of November 11,1918, an armistice agreement was signed between the Germans and Allied forces, who had been at war since 1914. The agreement, signed in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France, was to put an end to "the war to end all wars" until a peace treaty could be ratified.

Here in the archives we have a letter written on this historic day.


First World War Fonds, FW CS01.63

Letter to Archbishop McNeil from Reverend Edward Hawks
 November 11, 1918

The letter is written to Archbishop McNeil from Reverend Edward Hawks. Reverend Hawks was a British-born Canadian serving in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He returned to Canada during the war to become a chaplain in the Canadian army.

He writes he is with the 5th Battalion, R.T, but does not say where he is currently stationed. He tells Archbishop McNeil that he has been to the front and was part of the great advance, but does not say which advance this is.

He worries peace might never come.

And yet, Reverend Hawks writes that there is a rumour spreading through his battalion of an immediate armistice.

We know now that it was no rumour at all. On the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the armistice agreement signed earlier that day went into effect. All battles on the Western Front were to cease. The Great War had ended.

Now, every year on November 11th we observe Remembrance Day. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, we hold a moment of silence to pause and reflect on the sacrifices made -- in this war and the wars that followed.

This weekend our thoughts are with all the men and women who have served our country during times of war, conflict and peace.

Lest we forget.

Roman Holiday

Need to escape the cold November rain? Rome's weekend forecast calls for sunshine and highs of 21° celsius. Plan your itinerary with some suggestions from Monsignor James M. Clair, who visited the Eternal City with Cardinal McGuigan in the late 1930s.

Admire Roman engineering at the Sant'Angelo Bridge, which has spanned the River Tiber since 135 AD.

Sant'Angelo Bridge on the River Tiber

1930s
Monsignor Clair Collection

Crossing the bridge, you will find the Castel Sant'Angelo, which was completed in 139 AD as the Emperor Hadrian's mausoleum. Since then, it has been connected to St. Peter's by a protected passage, and has been a place of refuge for popes. It is topped by a statue of St. Michael, which recalls the vision that Pope Gregory the Great had in 590 AD of the archangel that signified the end of the plague. The Castel is now a museum.

Sant'Angelo Bridge, Castel Sant'Angelo, St. Peter's Basilica entrance, and the group outside the Vatican

1930s
Monsignor Clair Collection

Walk in the path of ancient Romans on the Appian Way, which is a road that was begun in 312 AD to connect Rome to regions south. 

Next take a stroll past Porta San Paolo (St. Paul's Gate). It now houses a museum, but was built in 275 AD as an entrance to the city through the Aurelian Walls. Beside it you will find the Pyramid of Cestius, which is a 12 BC burial chamber.  

The Appian Way, St. Paul's Gate, the Pyramid of Cestius, and the Papal Basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls

1930s
Monsignor Clair Collection

A short distance south, you will find the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, which is a church built over the grave of St. Paul and consecrated in 324 AD. It has been extensively added to over the centuries.

Perhaps one of the most famous sites in Rome is the Colosseum, an amphitheatre which opened to Romans in 80 AD and could accommodate 50,000 spectators. Close by you will spot the Arch of Constantine, which is a 315 AD monument to the eponymous emperor. 

Monsignor Clair poses outside the Colosseum and at the Arch of Constantine

1930s
Monsignor Clair Collection

No visit to Rome would be complete without a stop by the Vatican and the famous St. Peter's Basilica. It was consecrated in 1626, and is the largest church in the world. 

A postcard depicting St. Peter's Basilica

For a little R&R, check out Castel Gandolfo, a former Papal retreat on Lake Albano which is now open to the public.

The gardens of Castel Gandolfo

1930s
Monsignor Clair Collection

 Don't forget to get a group shot with your friends!

Fr. E. O'Hanley, Fr. J. Crossland, Cardinal McGuigan, Fr. T. Cahmpoux, and Monsignor Clair

1930s
Monsignor Clair Collection

 Buon viaggio!