tonsured

She depicts them as tonsured monks, “ascetic and contemplative,” working on the book together, Taylor helping Bechdel with the color.

The two heads bent over the parchment together, Brother Luke’s tonsured, Robin’s dark and thickly thatched.

As a boy, I eyed my tonsured uncles warily, wincing at their scalps, revolted by the way their domes gleamed wetly on torrid summer days.

I pulled at my beard, and the abbot said, “William, you have taken the vows. You wear the robe. You will soon be tonsured. You may not fight. Anyone. For any reason.”

But, he was blessed by Archbishop Benjamin in 2011 and says he’s the first official tonsured bell-ringer in the United States since the Russian Revolution.