Tonsure a part of the rite of "pabbajja" and also a part of becoming a monk (Skt. "Bhikshu") or nun (Skt. "Bhikshuni"). This involves shaving head and face. This tonsure is renewed as often as required to keep the head cleanly shaven. The purification process of the "metzora" (one afflicted with "tzaraath") involved the ritual shaving on the "metzorah's" entire body except for the afflicted locations. And as the term tonsure may be used as a broad description for such hair styling of devotees as a ritual symbol of their renunciation of worldly fashion and esteem, Orthodox Jewish males do not
Tonsure at subsequent ordinations. This led to a once common usage that one was, for instance, "tonsured a reader", although technically the tonsure occurs prior to the prayer of ordination within the ordination rite. Since the issuing of "Ministeria quaedam" in 1972, certain institutes have been authorized to use the first clerical tonsure, such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (1988), the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (1990), and the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney (2001). Although the tonsure itself is obsolete, the wearing of a skull cap, called a zuchetto, in church to keep