How long has the mantilla been used at the TLM?

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SnorterLuster said:
Even though my family is mainly Irish, my grandmother fell in love with the mantilla on a visit to Mexico in the 1930s. Consequently, she bought most of the women in the family mantillas everytime she visited Mexico. I don’t remember them being worn by other women at mass until Jackie Kennedy was photographed several times leaving Mass wearing one. And for those that don’t know, Jackie set the fashion for American women in 1961.
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My mother told me that back in the 60s in Ireland many people had never heard the word “mantilla” and instead you would hear women asking for a “Jackie Veil” in shops. She also remembers her parish priest getting really angry with women for wearing them saying that they were only following a fashion and that it was vanity that drove them to change from their traditional hats and scarves.

Gearoidin
 
I never liked wearing a scarf. The teenaged girls wore them, and so did the women in my family, but they slip off your hair. I was always worried it was falling down. Chapel veils were great and mantillas looked pretty. I don’t think there’s any reason not to look pretty for church. That’s when you should get dressed up.
 
I am not a Traditionalist, but I wear a chapel veil. I converted to the Church during the Barney Catechism era. 😛

I have grown and learned much in the last six years or so. I have taken obedience as a theme for a year and that year, I decided that the Bible hadn’t changed and a veil was still appropriate.

I haven’t gotten any real nasty comments. A friend who is sweet and quite naive - blurted out that my veil really stands out in our congregation. 😃 Beyond some kids staring, I usually hear that I look beautful in my veil.

However, I have taken the veil as a sign of my humility and awareness of Our Lord’s presence in the Tabernacle and in the Mass. While it may seem like an act of piety, God knows my heart and my true reasons for wearing it.

Frankly, if you had known me more than six years ago, you would not have expected me to ever wear a veil. But fortunately, I have left my relativistic ways – Thank you Rev. Mother Angelica – a nd strive to a humble and devout Catholic.

Now the other thing is that my dear husband bought me a white veil. I have made a black veil, but he doesn’t like for me to wear the black one – although during lent I do. So as a married woman I wear a white mantilla - triangular and it comes down past my shoulders. So, I thought white was for single women and black for married – am I wrong?
 
I don’t think anyone has a definitive answer on the white mantilla/black mantilla question. And God probably is colorblind on the subject.
 
I have really enjoyed keeping up with this delightful thread. Thank you ladies for reminding me of the pictures of Jackie Kennedy wearing a mantilla to church. I especially remember one with her, the President, and their two adorable children dressed for, I think, Easter Sunday. I only had one mantilla when I was young. It was pink and black lace, and I wore it with a pink dress. If I remember correctely, Jackie Kennedy, who as SnorterLuster pointed out, was a great fashion setter, did not like hats. She wore them Mass, at the inauguration, but not every day as had been customary for proper ladies. I have read that her dislike of hats was part of the reason that women stopped wearing them, even to church. Women were obligated to cover their heads by canon law until 1983. Of course none of us knew anything about canon law at that time. Hats just went out of use. Until the resurgence in interest in the Traditional Mass among a large number of people, this was not an issue. I think that the fact that so many women today want to show reverence to God by covering their heads in church, is a wonderful sign of the new springtime that Pope John Paul II predicted. These women are beautiful examples to their children and the whole community.
 
Caesar said:
Mantillas have been used for the entire history of the Church and predate it in Judaism
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Not exactly…

Mantillas are native to Spain and were worn my the Spanish noble women a sign of the position in society.

The mantilla traveled with the Conquistadors to what is today Mexico and Latin America and also to the Phillipines.

In other parts of Europe, women wore various head-coverings depending on their position with the village society. This also varied with the various ethnic groups that lived in the village. You could tell at a glance who were children, who was of marriageable age, who was married, who was widowed and who was a grandmother.

These customs were to North America by the various ethnic groups but quickly fell to the wayside. In their place, women wore simple hats or head scarves until the early 1960’s when Jackie Kennedy started wearing a mantilla to church and other women copied her.
 
These are photos of St Bernadette with what she wore as a head covering in church. It is said it was bought at a second hand store which was all her family could afford.

Mantillas were actually very expensive in the old days and were a sign of nobility or wealth. I know as a kid in the Philippines some woman wore them, but most wore something like what my good friend St Bernadette is wearing here. NOT AS BIG but similar.
 
Patchunky said:
Not exactly…

Mantillas are native to Spain and were worn my the Spanish noble women a sign of the position in society.

The mantilla traveled with the Conquistadors to what is today Mexico and Latin America and also to the Phillipines.

In other parts of Europe, women wore various head-coverings depending on their position with the village society. This also varied with the various ethnic groups that lived in the village. You could tell at a glance who were children, who was of marriageable age, who was married, who was widowed and who was a grandmother.

These customs were to North America by the various ethnic groups but quickly fell to the wayside. In their place, women wore simple hats or head scarves until the early 1960’s when Jackie Kennedy started wearing a mantilla to church and other women copied her.
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Huh, I was always told that head-coverings for the women existed in Judaism before Catholicism and were commanded by St. Paul.
 
I don’t remember the color having any significance. I always had white ones, but my hair was very dark brown, kind of bushy, and I thought the white one called a lot of attention to it. My mother didn’t think a black one was appropriate for a young girl.

1983 is when headcoverings were no longer necessary? Wow, I thought it was long before that. But I stopped going to church on a regular basis around 1969, and didn’t go back until my son wanted to go to Cathecism. Nobody covered their heads then, maybe 1985 or so.

Today I see ladies with winter type hats on Sundays – our church can be pretty cold some days – and little girls with hats in the spring. But that’s about it.
 
Caesar said:
Huh, I was always told that head-coverings for the women existed in Judaism before Catholicism and were commanded by St. Paul.
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headcoverings yes, mantillas no,

the headcoverings also told the station of woman within the village community and was not necessarily the type of headcovering most associated with ancient Israel the we get from Hollywood or as dipicted by the “Great Masters”,
 
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