Chapel Veil and Cantoring

[mrsdizzyd]

In part. Islam seems to have a much stronger emphasis on veiling as an act of modesty, while that doesn’t seem to have been as prominent in Catholic tradition.

I had a friend in college who wore a full hijab and was a card carrying feminist (like you, she loved to confound people). She argued that she wore her hijab not only for modesty but to show her humility before God. Several other friends through the years have said the same.

In the end, I think Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Women all historically covered their heads out of modesty and humility before God. Through the centuries, other rationales have been layered on top of that as the age and social norms demanded. And, at various times in history, to go out uncovered would have been the same as going out in a state of undress.

 

[mrsdizzyd]

That’s all fine and well, but I assure you that the serf woman slopping the pigs with her head covered was not seen in that same chivalrous genteel light. We have to be careful to remember that Chivalry prevail in the upper echelons of society… and then there was everyone else.

 

[SerraSemper]

Let me lead you step by step into why I disagree with you.

1). This is the link that you linked to.

Veiling and Its Relation to the Sacred - History of Sacred Veiling | Why Veil

Catholic veiling, the history of veiling in God's revelation. Jewish and Catholic history of veiling. Liturgical veiling, women veiling, & veiled prayer.

www.prayinglatin.com

2). It has has these words:

Veiling has been a part of sacred history from the beginning. God reveals Himself to His people through veiling, and He directs His people to approach and worship Him through veiling.

Veiling traditionally covers over things that are holy, mysterious, or beyond ordinary human comprehension. Veiling has also been associated with protecting that which has a particular holy significance or dignity.

Then it goes on with a long spiel about holy things: Tabernacle, Christ, altar, etc. being veiled.

Then it ends with its conclusion (comparing these other holy things and Christ with headcoverings for women):

A bride also veils herself before she gives herself to her husband in
holy matrimony. Her veil represents her holy purity and thereto hidden nature. A woman’s body in particular is a sacred temple, like a tabernacle, in which new life is conceived and brought into the world, and God creates and unites each soul, which He knits together and forms in the womb of every mother (Isa 49:5, Jer 1:5). Just as we veil the life-giving tabernacle that contains the Bread of Life, likewise the life-giving woman bears and carries on the veiling tradition.

From the very onset of the Church in the first century, as St Paul himself attests, women always veiled in church, in the presence of God. Saint Linus, the second pope, in one of the only things we know of him, decreed that “all Christian women should veil their heads when inside a church” (Roman Breviary, Matins Sept 23, 1). Other Church Fathers such as Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria also attest to this apostolic tradition. A woman’s veil uniquely symbolizes her humility and relationally being cherished and protected (1 Cor 11:3-16). Her veil is also a visible sign that a woman has become a living icon of the Church and is like the Church a bride of Christ with Christ as her Lord.

So the inference and logic is this:

altars, chalices, etc. are holy and veiled
Women are holy and therefore veiled.

 

[SerraSemper]

Part ii The problem is that women are not holy or sacred in the way that the author is trying to argue. The argument would be okay if it were a lecture to consecrated nuns in the sense of “here’s a devotional reason to like your veil: you are sacred like the chalice, like the altar, like the tabernacle and so cherish your veil”. But the argument makes no sense for one who isn’t consecrated like a chalice or conseccrated like an altar. That is, it is an improper simile. A nun IS like an altar because like the altar, she is consecrated by the Church. But a laywoman IS NOT like an altar because unlike the altar, she is not consecrated by the Church. A bride wears a veil because traditionally, the wedding veil signified an indissoluble nuptial relationship. Not purity. And the last I checked, the title of living icons of the Church belongs to virgins, not married women. Married women and married men more deeply reflect the fertility of the Church when they are fruitful.

 

[SerraSemper]

True. But just as there is ordained priesthood, there is sacred bridehood. Common priesthood and common bridehood = the baptized and the consecrations of ordination and consecrations of consecrated life are different and more full ways of representing and participating in Christ the Bridegroom and the Virgin Church His Bride.

. Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom, we are the Bride. . .the truly greatest romance.

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

For many of us it’s just life. I’ve lived in places like yours. But I’ve also lived in some pretty bad places too. The midwest is generally really good and the NW and west coast can be problems. We have a really good bishop now who is making some great changes. But the culture is deeply engrained.