Veiling, as we all know, is the almost 2,000 year old tradition of a woman covering her head before the Lord. It's also a hot button topic within the modern, non-European church. Those who oppose veiling claim that it is just another way that a patriarchal hierarchy forces women to submit to the wills of men. They claim that veiling is a controlling, male dominated act and that no woman should have to veil. And therein lies the concession: no woman should have to veil; however, she can choose to do it, and if she truly has a humble, contrite, feminine spirit, she should. Truthfully, from my research, it seems that only the USA and other English-speaking countries do not veil. This leads us to the question: why did tradition (something we hold so dear in the Church) change in the USA?
So to even begin to understand why veiling has fallen out of practice in our American Catholic culture, we first should go back and understand the origin of the veil, scriptural and cultural.
Scripturally speaking, all sources point us back to when St. Paul addresses the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11: 3-10, 16.
"But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonors her head—it is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her wear a veil.
"For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. (For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.) That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the angels....If any one is disposed to be contentious, we recognize no other practice, nor do the churches of God."
From reading this, we learn many, many things. The two biggest and most immediate points we should take from this passage though are these: 1 - St. Paul is representing the bonds between man and woman, especially within a marriage, and 2 - this bond is but a smaller reflection of the infinite love shared between Christ, the groom, and his Church, his bride. For as long as I've been alive, I remember people quoting this passage out of context to use this to prove one of two things: 1 - Wives have no will of their own unless it is the will of the husbands and 2 - Feminists who use this passage to argue that this is another way organized Judeo-Christianity is backwards and "holds women back." However, from a Catholic perspective, this passage is neither one of those things.
From my literature studies in college, I am a firm believer in knowing the contextual situation surrounding any given piece of writing because it indirectly affects what the author is communicating. If we can better understand the intended audience and what the author was trying to accomplish, we can walk away with a better understanding of the passage and possibly find some way to apply it to modern day life. Paul was writing to the Corinthians, especially the women, who had taken to coming to services not wearing head coverings, in order that they might reform themselves. This is why St. Paul's letter makes such a big deal out of women who pray without head coverings - he was urging the women of Corinth to change their ways.
The first thing to notice about this passage is the parallel between the Church and Christ and husbands and wives. Now, if Christ is the groom, then the husband (in a marriage) is obviously the groom. If the Church is the bride, then the wife is the bride. Now that we have drawn this parallel, we can see that Paul wasn't being misogynistic when he commanded wives to submit to their husbands. The Church submits herself like a loving bride to the will of Christ, our spiritual leader, so too, must wives submit, like the Church, to their husbands. St. Paul also tells us that there is a natural pecking order: Christ reigns over man, but God the Father is over Christ since He took the form of a man. Woman submits to man because she is made from his flesh (think of it like being a subset. You have the group man and underneath that group is the subgroup wo-man). Thus, women submit to men, who submit to Christ, who submits to God the Father. St. Paul was not a woman-hater; he was simply telling it like it is. Moreover, there are other parallels we can draw to help sustain this first parallel. So, this is the first reason from Corinthians to wear the veil: it shows that a woman is choosing to submit, as is proper, to God and her husband. If she is single and veils, it is just as important for she is still submitting, like the Church does to Christ, to God.
Continuing with this same premise, in a marriage, men should strive to be as Christ-like as possible. By wearing the veil, a woman is accepting the protection of her husband and of God. In older times and (I'm assuming at high masses), the Body and Blood are veiled when the Eucharist is not being received by lay people. (A side note from my English literature studies: in medieval times, the Chalice was often associated with the feminine, which makes sense in this context. But I will not elaborate for this post is already far too long). One of the reasons we do this is because we care for these Holy Items, and we want to protect them. So, just as we veil the chalice and plates in mass, women should also veil as a sign of their acceptance of their husband's protection and Christ's love and protection. More simply put, we veil what is sacred.
Next, sustaining that thought, a woman's body should be considered sacred vessel since she has the ability to bring forth life, which we Catholics believe is very, very sacred. We can look for no better example than Mary; yes, she was following the convention for women during her time period, but somehow, I think she probably knew that in the presence of Our Lord, her head should be covered, and we all know she was the most sacred vessel of all vessels because she was the vessel for Our Lord. So by veiling, we can imitate Mary better, and we glorify God by veiling all vessels of life, not just those that hold the Body and Blood of Christ, but women's wombs as well.
Lastly and most importantly, we should veil because we are in the presence of God. Men are also commanded to do something in the presence of God: uncover their heads. (Imagine how poor, balding Billy Bob feels taking that John Deer hat off). This is the reason why Bishops remove their mini Pope-hats (I know it's a mitre, but I like saying Pope-hat; it's a carryover from non-Catholic times :) ) when he prays and reads the word of God. In the same respect, women need to do something to acknowledge and show respect for the Real Presence as well. The most logical action is to cover the head as a sign of reverence. Previously, cannon law stated that women should do this. The law mandated that all women in a church in the presence of the Eucharist, which we, as Catholics, consider to be the real presence of Jesus Christ, must cover their heads. Currently, cannon law does not ever explicitly state that women no longer have to cover their heads as it is no longer necessary; no, cannon law is now simply ambiguous on the matter having deleted the law about head coverings altogether! However, this does not mean that the Church does not endorse this practice. If lady were to go to the Vatican to visit the Holy Father, she is required to wear a veil! If this practice is required by the Holy Father in his home parish, then why aren't we doing it? (My guess is pride, but that is for another post).
Simply put and probably the most compelling reason for veiling, based in both scripture and old cannon law, not wearing the veil is a disservice to Our Lord; it's blatantly ignoring or denying of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. What good Catholic woman wants to be saying that to Jesus at mass?
Much love,
V.
P.S. Except 2 coming posts: one answering the question I set up at the beginning of this essay (hint hint: feminism rears it's ugly head) and another about how to veil in traditional and subtle ways, types of veils, who wears what color veils, and dealing with possible veil hater backlash. :)
Citations of Sources from where information was gathered:
All sources seem credible, but if I have encountered one that has led me astray, please let me know.
This is very, very interesting and hasn't really been on my radar for a long time. I can't wait to hear more...
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