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One venerable tradition with much metaphysical
significance that has faded in the horizons of the post-Vatican II era is the
practice of women covering their heads in Church.
The veil is a beautiful symbol of the natural order affirmed by Scripture:
“Man was not created for woman, but the woman for the man” (1 Cor. 11:9). The
man was not to cover his head “because he is the image and glory of God.” But
“the woman is the glory of the man because she came from the man… Thus, the
woman is under the power of her husband.” That women
should remain veiled in church while men do not is one symbol of this
harmonious natural order establishing the husband’s authority over the wife.
The veil represents the natural hierarchy established by God in which the
woman is subject to the male: “Let wives be subject to their husbands as to
the Lord; because a husband is head of the wife, just as Christ is head of
the Church (Eph. 5:22:23).
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The veil: the sign of purity of the bride.
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This sublime comparison of
husband and wife to the union between Christ and His Church suggests a benevolence in command unimagined before the rise of
Christianity. It establishes the loving respect along with protection that a
man should provide for his wife. The woman is not only the companion of a
man’s life, but also of his spirit – destined to be the other half of his
existence.
The veil is also a sign of espousal for both the bride of man and the bride
of Christ. It is very significant that traditionally the great moments of a
woman’s life show her concealed. This hidden role of women makes up part of
the secret of Mary, the Morning Star — which rises in advance of the sun in
order to lose itself therein. Mary does not come into prominence for her own
sake, but for that of her Son. This spirit of self-sacrifice and surrender,
which forms the very core of a woman’s nature, is what the feminists simply
cannot abide. They would change all that. They would have women in the
forefront, independent wage-earners and bold decision-makers. They perhaps
understand the great symbolism of the veil better than the conservative, and
thus have taken great care to throw it off it with a contemptuous laugh. But
the ironic smile that lingers on their lips reveals a great unhappiness and
discontent. For when a woman revolts against this divine order, it is easy to
predict the beginning of the woman who has lost her self-identity and
self-respect, or who has become the slave of man and his passions.
The
Veil: Its History
Both the men and the women of the Old Covenant covered their heads in the Temple. That only women
should cover their heads was preached by the Apostle of the Gentiles: “But
every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered disgraces her
head” (1 Cor. 11:5-6). Thus this custom, rooted in Scripture, became a
tradition practiced by Catholic women from the earliest days of the Church.
However, I am unaware of any verse more ridiculed or any Apostle more reviled
by the feminists. These loud, strident, and academically proud
revolutionaries labeled St. Paul
a misogynist because they erroneously claim that he based this tradition on
his personal opinion. This is not true. The words of St. Paul actually make it quite clear that
it is Our Lord Himself who desires and commands women to cover their heads in
church as a visible sign of the order He established. The real reason the
feminist scholars relentlessly denigrate the Apostle is because of their own
mania to place women on an equal level with men and stimulate masculine ways.
It was not only Scripture and Tradition that prescribed women to cover their
heads in church. It was also mandated by Canon Law. In fact, the old Canon
1262.2 stated that women must cover their heads “especially when they
approach the holy table.” This Canon was never repudiated in those heady days
of change that followed Vatican II. It was simply ignored.
Nothwithstanding the fact that women are
mandated to cover their heads by Canon Law, Scripture and Tradition, the
post-Vatican II Church capitulated on this point with nary a protest.
Influenced by the spirit of adaptation to the modern world, a generalized
relaxation of formalities in the sacred rituals and a more casual dress for
Mass, many women began to leave off the head covering - even though
Church discipline had not changed. But everything else was being changed,
simplified, relaxed, thrown out or off – why not the veil?
Finally, the 1983 new Code of Canon Law gave implicit approval to this
egalitarian trend simply by ignoring all mention of women’s veils.
The
Veil: Its Restoration
It seems to me that most women did not leave off the veil or a head covering
as an explicit act of revolt. Nor did they do so to please men. I have never
heard a man - except for a few progressives
bad-spirited priests - ridicule a veiled woman praying in church. To the
contrary, I have heard many men admit that they stand in a kind of awe at the
beauty and mystery of a veiled woman. Clothing is never without a meaning,
and a man intuitively understands that the veil represents a gentle
submission that lies at the very essence of womanhood and femininity.
Rather, it has been the mockery of women and their slavish submission to
modern fashion that has been the horrible traitor to the dignity of women.
How many young women in veils have lost courage in face of those superior,
self-confident smiles of their bareheaded peers? How many women have
succumbed to that certain look of the gentle sex which cruelly labels the
veiled woman as “old-fashioned” or out of step with modernity? A simple
remark: “Oh, she must be a Trad.
She’s in a veil,” becomes reason for shame and confusion, rather than pride
and self-respect. How many women in cases like this shamefully follow Peter,
who denied Our Lord for fear of a laugh of a serving girl…
The solution is simple. Women need to realize the
profound and marvelous meaning of the veil, a ceremonial vestment that makes
them pleasing in prayer in the sight of God and the angels. It is women who
must restore this tradition. For a woman to submit to this norm of the Church
is a sign of her acceptance of her femininity and her place in the divine
order. With this small fiat, which mirrors that grand fiat of
Our Lady, she can find a small part of the fulfillment, dignity, serenity and
joy so sadly lacking in the modern liberated woman.
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