Archbishop of Toulouse. unhappy with soutanes, happy to employ convicted rapist
Why cannot seminarians wear cassocks in France?
The Bishop of Toulouse's ban on seminarians wearing cassocks has rekindled a debate surrounding this clerical garment, a powerful symbol that has sparked passions throughout history. What is the real right or not to wear it, and what is its significance?
Among all the internal debates within the Church of France, the question of whether or not clergy should wear the cassock, despite its abandonment by conciliar decision some sixty years ago, remains a perennial topic. The latest example is Mgr de Kerimel, Archbishop of Toulouse, who recently sent a letter to the seminarians of his diocese expressing his disapproval after a confirmation celebration.
"During that evening," he wrote, "I raised my concerns (...) with a few of them in cassocks and surplices, and I told you that I did not want the students to appear too clerical." » The archbishop firmly clarifies that seminarians are not yet clerics and that wearing a cassock is not permitted within the training program. He also urges deacons not to use it, and denounces the concern of some "to display a very strong identity," which, according to him, is to the detriment of the "spirit of service" and the "quality of pastoral relationships."
The clerical garment
Bishop de Kerimel's letter did not go unnoticed in the media and on social media, where a debate has erupted between proponents and opponents of the habit. It also questions canon law regarding the cassock. Cited by the Archbishop of Toulouse, canon number 284 states: "Clerics shall wear suitable ecclesiastical garb, according to the rules established by the Conference of Bishops and the legitimate customs of the place." » However, seminarians are not considered clerics until their diaconal ordination, which occurs towards the end of their training. According to the practice established by the French Bishops' Conference, they must not wear clerical clothing.
Faced with the demands of several students from the Diocese of Toulouse, Father René Fischer, superior of the Sainte-Marie Majeure major seminary in Strasbourg, is perplexed: "The Archbishop of Toulouse is only recalling the rule that applies to seminarians in France," he says. "They are still only baptized and cannot wear religious clothing. Otherwise, it would be a misrepresentation..."
Although condemned by Bishop de Kerimel, the wearing of a cassock for seminarians from the diaconate stage onwards is in fact authorized. Some communities use it earlier, such as the seminarians of Saint-Martin, whose long black robe constitutes their uniform, but they must wait until their fourth year, and the official recognition of their vocation, to receive it. The Saint-Martin community attaches particular importance to this garment, notably because it allows priests to be identified to the public.
A tumultuous past
This use of the cassock is part of ecclesiastical tradition: in the Church, since the Council of Trent in 1542, the clergy must wear a garment that differentiates them from the laity. Gradually, it even became a requirement in most dioceses. But the garment has been controversial in France since the Revolution, when the state severely restricted its use in 1792. At the beginning of the 20th century, in a climate of anticlericalism, several municipalities went so far as to ban it from the streets, such as Kremlin-Bicêtre in 1900. The 1905 law calmed tempers and maintained the Republic's respect for beliefs, authorizing the appropriate clothing choices.
The wearing of the cassock by the clergy survived but weakened in the early second half of the 20th century: the Church lifted the obligation to wear it after the Second Vatican Council in 1962. "Given the history of the cassock in France, it cannot be said that it is a neutral and apolitical garment," notes Father Luc Forestier, a priest of the Oratory and professor specializing in ecclesiology and theology of ministries at the Catholic Institute of Paris. It doesn't fit into the same context as in Italy, where seminarians readily wear it. In France, it can shock older generations, who see it as the symbol of a clerical, authoritarian institution."
A political symbol?
French mentalities are also marked by the desire to maintain tradition and the schism of Archbishop Lefebvre in the 1970s and 1980s. The dissident archbishop thus developed a whole mystique surrounding the cassock, even in the seminaries of the Society of Saint Pius X. In just a few decades, it became one of the markers of the traditionalist movement among Catholic priests.
"The Roman collar is considered centrist today, while the cassock is supposed to represent the traditionalists," observes a priest from the diocese of Versailles. "But make no mistake: just because a priest wears a cassock doesn't necessarily mean he is reactionary." He even added: "We can also question the ban on the cassock for seminarians, because they are not students like any other..."
So does the cassock have connotations? The subject is a matter of debate among priests: "Today, more and more young seminarians are adopting this garment for subjective and identity-based reasons," considers Father Luc Forestier. "They seem to be following a tradition, but are in fact driven by an individualistic, very modern choice, in contradiction with the rule of the Church."
For the professor, "this question of the habit is linked to issues raised in the context of the Synod on Synodality, particularly that of clericalism and its excesses." The cassock also reflects an internal tension within the ecclesiastical ministry. What kind of clothing allows you to show the public that you are at their service, without standing above them? That's the whole question.
The Archdiocese ordained 2 priests this year....
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