Mantilla anyone?

[Jacafamala]

Mantilla for me-a !
I think it’s feminine and a beautiful way to show respect for Our Lord when women cover their heads in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Wish the mantillas were more available. Many of the ones online aren’t what I like.

What kind of mantilla do you like, then?

 

[Missalthumper1]

I wear a chapel veil every Sunday. I go to a very traditional parish, where usage is mixed: many women also wear veils, but some wear hats, some wear bandanna-style scarves, and some don’t cover at all. I wear a veil because I’m not a “hat” person & wouldn’t wear a hat except at Mass, so I see no point in spending the money for a hat (chapel veils are generally inexpensive).

 

[Biblioassistant]

I like mantillas, I like the look of them, but I have seen some awful looking limp raggy ones when I go to Mass. Some women just plop them on top of their heads willy nilly and they are all askew.

I’ve been thinking of getting one, and if I do I will try to put it on straight and keep it neat.

 

[Joannm]

The old Code of Canon Law (now abrogated) required women to cover their heads in churches. A baseball cap would qualify – certainly as much as the Kleenex tissues we used to have to wear.

Actually, the custom of wearing a mantilla at Mass in the U.S. was mostly influenced by Jaqueline Kennedy – most women wore hats.

Oh I do remember the days of Kleenex on the head. And you are right. I very rarely saw a mantilla in church growing up. Maybe a small round chapel cap but mostly hats and around Easter the fancier the better. There would be feathers, birds, flowers, bows and all sorts of other things attached to the hats that they were very distracting during mass because everyone would be looking at everyone else’s hats.

For school masses we wore a beanie, which looked sort of like a yarmulka*. Also a big headband would do. So would a big bow. It wasn’t about covering your whole head but just having something on top of it. I really don’t know where this covering your whole head thing with a mantilla came from. If I recall, Jackie O brought the pill box hat into fashion.

 

[prophase1]

I have worn a mantilla for couple years now (since I started going to a tridentine latin Mass) and really love doing so.

I would love to wear it at the local churches I live near by, where I go to daily Mass, and occasionally Sunday Mass when I can’t dirve out to the latin Mass (it’s an hour’s drive!) but I’m unsure how appropriate it would be.

I’ve atteneded daily and occasionally Sunday Masses in all three of the Cathoolic churches in my town for ten years, since I was nine years old.

However, especially in Sunday Mass, I’ve gotten the impression taht people see me as trying to be “holier than everyone else”

I’ve always ben raised to be very reverant in Mass… genuflect toward the taberacle when you first come in, when you pass is, and when you enter your pew… genuflect before recieving communion, and you don’t have to stop your post-communion meditiation just because the music stopped.

Additionally, I’ve always been brought up to dress appropriately for Mass… while other women are wearing shorts, jeans, and low-cut t-shirts, I always come in a skirt and a shirt no lower than my collar bone. I have actually been a nusiance to a couple of liberal priests who don’t like that I genuflect before communion or kneel for a long time after, etc. I’m not trying to look holy, I just honestly feel obliged to be reverent and repectful in Mass.

Although I really want to wear my mantilla to lcoal Mass and to local Eucharisic adortion, I’m honestly afraid to because I believe that in these more liberal local churches, I am already seen as a stuck-up “holy” person. I don’t want to attract anymroe attention to myself than I already do just by being reverent.

 

[Jacafamala]

prophase1; I have worn a mantilla for couple years now (since I started going to a tridentine latin Mass) and really love doing so.

me too.

I would love to wear it at the local churches I live near by, where I go to daily Mass, and occasionally Sunday Mass when I can’t dirve out to the latin Mass (it’s an hour’s drive!) but I’m unsure how appropriate it would be.

No one wears them locally here, either.

I’ve atteneded daily and occasionally Sunday Masses in all three of the Cathoolic churches in my town for ten years, since I was nine years old.

However, especially in Sunday Mass, I’ve gotten the impression taht people see me as trying to be “holier than everyone else”

What gave you that idea? Did you receive funny looks?

I’ve always ben raised to be very reverant in Mass… genuflect toward the taberacle when you first come in, when you pass is, and when you enter your pew… genuflect before recieving communion, and you don’t have to stop your post-communion meditiation just because the music stopped.

Additionally, I’ve always been brought up to dress appropriately for Mass… while other women are wearing shorts, jeans, and low-cut t-shirts, I always come in a skirt and a shirt no lower than my collar bone. I have actually been a nusiance to a couple of liberal priests who don’t like that I genuflect before communion or kneel for a long time after, etc. I’m not trying to look holy, I just honestly feel obliged to be reverent and repectful in Mass.

Me too. Growing up my mother made us wear dresses to Mass, and they had to have sleeves.

Although I really want to wear my mantilla to lcoal Mass and to local Eucharisic adortion, I’m honestly afraid to because I believe that in these more liberal local churches, I am already seen as a stuck-up “holy” person. I don’t want to attract anymroe attention to myself than I already do just by being reverent.

I’ve been wearing simple a beret to the local Mass. I save the mantilla for more traditional Masses.

 

[Missalthumper1]

It is true that you can get “odd” reactions if you’re wearing a chapel veil at a parish where that’s not common. I was visiting a parish in another state, and I was the only woman there with her head covered in any way; as I was leaving after Mass & greeting the pastor standing outside, he observed, “you’re very devout, aren’t you?”. Now—he wasn’t disapproving or anything, it was said more in the spirit of trying to come up with something less boring than “hi, nice day isn’t it?”, because he didn’t know me. But it just took me aback (especially since I don’t consider myself very devout, certainly not as devout as I ought to be). I didn’t think I stood out THAT much.

 

[Seeking_Him]

Actually, the custom of wearing a mantilla at Mass in the U.S. was mostly influenced by Jaqueline Kennedy – most women wore hats.

I’ve seen this comment a lot. So we know before mantillas became popular hats were popular for covering the head. My question is what did women wear before hats in church were popular? Does anyone know?

 

[Joannm]

I’ve seen this comment a lot. So we know before mantillas became popular hats were popular for covering the head. My question is what did women wear before hats in church were popular? Does anyone know?

They wore what was the custom in their country. Bonnets were very popular in our country and in some countries in Europe. Even some religious congregations adopted the bonnet as part of their habit because it was what the common women wore. Take a look at period films, such as those of the Elizabethean Era or the Middle Ages and you will see what women wore on their heads. Many times women just took the cloaks they wore everywhere and raised them over their heads before the advent of hats. In our own country, hats were very popular up until the early 60’s. Women went everywhere, not only church, wearing hats. I can recall as a kid going to major department stores and trying on the hats in the women’s millinery department. Easter was a fun time since the elaborate hats came out. As someone pointed out, mantillas are a Mexican or Spanish custom. They were worn on special occasions with fancy dresses usually attached to elaborate combs that stood up high on the head.

 

[mariyka]

In Eastern Europe, they wear scarves or “babushkas”.

See below.