Veils & Hats: Is one preferable to the other?

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I cover at home when I pray and at Mass.

At home I use a scarf. At Mass I wear a hat so I blend in. I have no desire to draw attention to myself.

As to why I cover… if I’m honest I’m not 100% sure. I have my theories. LOL. Wait, how can that be? Well, when I was in the process of converting I felt a STRONG call, yes call, to cover my head when I was in prayer. I obeyed, just as I obeyed the call to convert. I never really asked why or examined why. I have a theory that it’s partly to do with my vanity (especially at Mass!).

I’m a pretty darn vain person and I hate wearing hats because I don’t think I look particularly cute in them. So I have this theory the covering is an exercise in humility and setting aside vanity in the presence of God.

In the end only He knows why He wanted me to do this and I do it because when I don’t I feel … wrong.

I’ve heard so many conflicting reasons as to why Catholic women should cover that at this point I’m just confused. LOL. I can obey in ignorance. I’m comfortable with that. There are many mysteries in the Church I can’t understand, this is just one of them.
 
DarkLight said:
I wonder perhaps if there was not some desire in the early church, to protect the modesty and chastity of women not typically considered “respectable” by Roman society. Especially given that roman “infamy” was both entirely permanent and not always in control of the woman.
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Thanks for giving me a possible research theme for my next work 😍😍😍
 
It was definitely an issue in ancient rome. A male citizen’s access to prostitutes and other infamous women (this category included actresses and barmaids, among others) and to his own female slaves was unquestioned. The romans also has the idea that virtue could be imposed or disrupted by outside sources, and once lost it could never be regained. The mere idea of a former prostitute was a Christian idea; in Roman society a woman could never rise from that position.
 
DarkLight said:
I don’t wear hats much primarily because it’s hard to find them to fit. I’m a very petite woman and the hat market in my size seems to be dominated by pink sequins and my little pony hats.
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I have the same problem and milliners are non-existent in my neck of the woods so getting one made is not happening.

I have not felt a call to cover my head yet but when I did as a teen I wore a little triangle bandana with ties, similar to this one that apparently is for a dog 😃
 
DarkLight said:
In early Roman times, there was also a strong association with social class. For example, a prostitute (the term was somewhat broad and could cover women not sexually immoral) would be forbidden the clothing of a respectable woman, as would a slave or a freedwoman. Being uncovered was associated with slaves (and like pretty much every era, the chastity of a slave was of no value - something that sometimes angered the roman elite when their slaves converted!).
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In Ancient Rome, as with every society, clothing definitely made the woman, but all classes covered their heads when outdoors. The level of detail, type of fabric, amount of fabric of the Palla (head covering) is what denoted the class, but all were covered.

A tunica was also worn by all. If you were very poor you might not ever wear anything more than your tunica and Palla.

The stola was a main marker of a woman of means and status. Their use was restricted to married respectable women. Common married women wore simple ones while wealthy women wore elaborate ones. Prostitutes tended to wear male dress, namely the toga, as a marker of their availability, so to speak.
 
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Rob2 said:
Veils or hats ?

Hats which are a bit stylish - - - - - - - - - -

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Every duke and earl and peer is here
Everyone who should be here is here
What a smashing, positively dashing spectacle
The ascot opening day…

Read more: My Fair Lady - Ascot Gavotte Lyrics | MetroLyrics
 
Roseeurekacross said:
Religious wear veils. Laity wear mantillas or head coverings.
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What? No. A mantilla is a particular kind of veil and head covering is an enormously general term. “Veil” is not the head-covering equivalent of “habit,” though. It is a more general term that can be used for the scarf-like coverings used by the laity, and not brides exclusively, either.
 
Yeah if you follow certain fashion stuff, you’ll see things like “hat with veil” that just refers to a hat with some netting over the face. No religious connotation at all.
 
Not to offend anyone, but in all charity, I think I am seeing a common thread here. It seems what I am hearing from those opposing the veil, is that it is a “lace” veil. Simple, opaque, plain, same color as one’s hair, hats and similar seem to be okay but for some reason the lace makes it prideful.
 
I don’t think it’s the lace per se that bugs people as much as how different it is from any other sort of common garment.
 
DarkLight said:
I don’t think it’s the lace per se that bugs people as much as how different it is from any other sort of common garment.
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I agree. Women wearing veils do tend to stand out unless a number of other women are wearing veils.

However, isn’t internal disposition supposed to be the most important thing?

I tend to think the controversy around head coverings in the Catholic Church is overheated. Some people have different spirituality. They should be able to live that spirituality without being judged, attacked, scorned, etc so long as it is for the greater glory of God.
 
I’m 100% with this. I have confusion about certain head coverings but in the end I REALLY think we all need to just let women do what makes them feel closer to God, especially when it’s something as benign was what they wear on their head.
 
I wear hats but I come from a tradition where this is the norm. My mother in law wears a rebozo which she pulls over her head when she attends Mass, but this is the tradition in her part of Mexico. If I am wearing something that does not have a matching hat, I do not wear anything on my head.
 
There are some comments here that are definitly hinting at the lace.

Perhaps in our society of very strongly wanting us to deny our authentic feminity, the lace is bothersome.
 
I don’t care what anyone wears on their heads. All I remember is that when I was growing up, in a parish in Atlantic Canada, the majority of women wore hats, a few wore kerchiefs, and what everyone here calls a veil, just a lace kerchief as far as I’m concerned, only made its appearance in the early 60s.
 
I dunno. I admit when I first saw a woman with a mantilla, as a non-Catholic, it did remind me of my grandmother’s curtains. And I own a headwrap very like this:


I don’t think that would get the same reactions?

I don’t think you can really associate lace with pride in this day and age. Maybe in times past when it was all hand-made and was a luxury good, but nowadays even my cheap walmart tank tops have lace edging.
 
I think that is a very, very pretty headband in the photos and I would wear one, and have been tempted to purchase one, except there is a group of protestants in our area that HAVE to wear something very similar to those. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with those, as I said I like them, but people would be confused in my small little town and think I was a member of that church or trying to dress like that particular denomination.
Just to clarify, if I lived somewhere else and didn’t have that issue, I would definitely purchase one because I really like them.

I, also know that if I wore something like that in just a day to day setting, I have feminist friends who would tease me. I was teased once just because I was carrying my Bible in a Bible cover that was “lacey”.

I don’t think everyone has an issue with the lace but I definitely think there is something to it. If not it wouldn’t bother us or cause us to fear what others think when we wear the lace. Why is a plain headscarf okay? Just thoughts.
 
To the lace issue:
It’s really also a matter of temperature. Lace makes for me in a two hour+ liturgy the difference between “I sweat” and “I’m dying”.
Also, to the modesty and lace issue- my lace scarf costed me less than an ordinary shawl, as our local one-euro shops store them in tons. It’s modest in my eyes to buy them there. And they don’t slip.
This discussion reminds me of an hutterer woman’s reason for only wearing checked dresses instead of solid colour ones- they see them as modest because back in the 19th century, this fabric was cheap. They would act more reasonable to buy cheaper solid colour cotton today, but they feel it’s still more modest to avoid this.
The lace debate is similar. I never saw real lace for 90 dollar per meter on anyone’s head (part time tailor here, you notice it quite well) , I see mostly modestly cheap polyester lace.
 
MagdalenaRita said:
I, also know that if I wore something like that in just a day to day setting, I have feminist friends who would tease me. I was teased once just because I was carrying my Bible in a Bible cover that was “lacey”.
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Sometimes I stick my tongue out at people like that.

It seems an appropriate response to schoolgirl teasing.
 
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