Taking of the Cassock and Tonsure

In a Solemn Pontifical Mass which began at 9:00 AM, His Excellency Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, blessed the cassocks of twelve seminarians in the year of spirituality and administered the tonsure on eight seminarians in their first year of philosophy. 

Archbishop Lefebvre always defended the wearing of the Cassock as a sign of sacrifice: a living sermon, preaching Our Lord Jesus Christ to the world.  The following is an excerpt by Archbishop Lefebvre from Priestly Holiness on the clerical cassock:

Do not abandon what makes you a priest. Obviously you are not priests yet - you are taking a first step which expresses your desire to become one; but I hope with all my heart that you will reach the priesthood. The world will already judge you as a priest. Since you wear the cassock, the world is going to judge you from now on as though you were priests. So you have to strive to act as though you already were. By your example, by your bearing, by your attitude, by your charity, by your wisdom, already be of one those who bring solutions all around them. In that way the honor of God will be defended, the glory of God will be spread throughout the world and souls will be converted to our Lord Jesus Christ.

So be proud to wear your cassock, your habit, which manifests our Lord Jesus Christ to the world, and do not be afraid of anything:  the good God, the holy angels, all of the saints in heaven are with you, as well as all those who have worn this habit, who have been sanctified by it and have sanctified others (pp. 82-83).