Please do not take my question the wrong way as I have never attended a more Traditional Mass, but what IS the purpose of a Mantilla? If its to portray Modesty then the Devorah mantillas are Way off the mark for they are the most beautiful lace work I have ever seen and would draw my attention to them.
I am taking notes on the styles though, as I am getting Married this May (only 2 months now
) and a few of the mantillas would match my Victorian Wedding Dress.
As a side to this whole mantilla topic, we have two ladies in my parish who wear mantilla’s and they, for lack of a better why of phrasing it, “Stick out like a sore thumb”. Because they are “different”, everyone notices them. Which leads to my original question, What is the purpose of a Mantilla?
I think the question is what is the purpose of veiling/covering one’s head? The mantilla is just a form of doing that. One can also cover their heads in various other different ways. I wear a mantilla because I prefer the image of the veil and I believe it better compliments the reason that I infact do cover my head.
A reason for covering one’s head, and my reason, is that woman is sacred. She, not even angels, can give to God a living soul. Everything about a woman sounds out as God’s greatest creation. Only woman shares in the creative power of God. God divinly touches her, the female, and creates a soul in her. It is something mysterious and beautiful. She is sacred to God, and therefore must be treated as sacred. She must be dressed holy, and honored and respected, and waited on, just as anything holy.
And as Dr. Alice von Hildebrand says, “And this is why the female body should be veiled because everything which is sacred calls for veiling. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he veiled his face. Why did he veil his face? Because he had spoken to God and at that very moment there was a sacredness that called for veiling. Now the stupid feminists after Vatican II suddenly ‘discovered’ that when women go to Church veiled, it is a sign of their inferiority. The man takes off his hat and the woman puts on a veil. My goodness, how they have lost the sense of the supernatural. Veiling indicates sacredness and it is a special
privilege of the woman that she enters church veiled.”
In Scripture, what is veiled? The Ark of the Covenant was veiled at the command of God. The Table that the Ark sat on was veiled at the command of God. Everything, the chalices, the bowls, the utensils, the Holy of Holies, the door, even the entire tent, everything that was sacred to God was veiled. To God what is sacred is veiled out of respect for the sacred. The question is: as a woman, am I sacred? Yes. So, as my privilege allows, I cover my head. I do so with a mantilla, as I find it feminine and as “veil-like” as I care to venture, out of fear that my relatives would poke fun that I was a muslim if I went with a solid cloth - which in fact I would all-to-readily do. I will not push them though. A mantilla is a veil and covering, and that is why I (and I believe many other women) veil themselves with the mantilla.
Are there any “rules” as far as the colors go? Or can a woman wear whatever color she feels like and/or matches her outfit?
There is the traditional: black for married white for not. I don’t think it really matters much, but those are the more traditional colors for the married (black/dark color) and not married (white/lighter color). No one pays much mind to it though. I do not. I am not married. I wear a brown mantilla because my hair is brown and it blends better - plus that one was the only one that I took with me to Rome and which was blessed by the Holy Father. I have a friend who prefers the color pink. She has a simple little pink mantilla. She wears pink often too. I know a married woman who prefers to wear a white veil. It can also be very symbollic (whether married or not) of the “marriage” of Christ the Bridegroom to the soul, the Bride, during Communion.
flak from anti-Catholics over her refusal to stop making veils in lace that are designed primarily for Catholics.