CROWN, in an ecclesiastical sense, is used for the clerical tonsure, which is the mark or character of the Roman Catholic ecclesiastics. This is a little circle of hair shaved off from the crown of the head, more or less broad, according to the quality of the orders received; that of a mere clerk being the smallest, and that of priests and monks the largest. The clerical crown was anciently a list of hair, shaved off around the head, and representing a real crown. This is observable in several ancient statues, and in other monuments. Religious persons of the orders of St Dominic and St Francis still retain it.