Could somebody tell me please where in Scripture or our teachings it says women are to have their head covered?
I am not being facetious, but rather am very interested in why this was a rule once.
I would have no problem following this rule if it was re-introduced.
Thank you
mortuummundo.blogspot.com/2006/12/veil.html
Derived from a book in progress called:
The Unveiled Woman
by Jackie Freppon
During the second Vatican Council, a mob of reporters waited for news after a council meeting. One of them asked Msgr. Annibale Bugnini, then secretary of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship, if women still had to wear a headcover in the churches. His response was that the Bishops were considering other issues, and that women’s veils were not on the agenda.
The next day, the international press annouced throughout the world that women did not have to wear the veil anymore. A few days later, Msgr. Bugnini told the press he was misquoted and women still had to wear the veil. But the press did not retract the error, and many women stopped wearing the veil as out of confusion and because of pressure from feminist groups.
Before the revision in 1983, Canon law had stated that women must cover their heads “…especially when they approach the holy table” (can.1262.2). But in order to reduce such a growing collection of books, the new version of Canon law was subjected to concise changes. In the process, mention of head coverings was omitted.
In 1970, Pope Paul VI promulgated the Roman Missal, ignoring mention of women’s veils. But at the time the missal was published, it didn’t seem necessary to keep mandatory such an obvious and universal practice, even if it no longer had a “normative” value (Inter insigniores, #4).
And mention in Canon law or the Roman Missal is not necessary to the continuation of the tradition, for it is rooted in Scripture and has been practiced ever since the early Church. Indeed, Pope John Paul II affirmed that the real sources of Canon law are the Sacred Tradition, especially as reflected in the ecumenical councils, and Sacred Scripture (O.S.V. Catholic Encyclopedia, p 169).
SCRIPTURE
Sacred Scripture presents several reasons for wearing the veil. St. Paul tells us in his first letter to the Corinthians (11: 1-16) that we must cover our heads because it is Sacred Tradition commanded by our Lord Himself and entrusted to Paul: “The things I am writing you are the Lord’s commandments” (1 Cor 14: 37).
DIVINE HIERARCHY
God has established a hierarchy, in both the natural and the religious spheres, in which the female is subject to the male. St. Paul writes in 1st Corinthians: "But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God (1 Cor 11: 3).
And, in the institution of marriage, God gave the husband authority over the wife, but responsibility to her as well. Not only is he the family’s decision maker, but he is also responsible for the material and spiritual welfare of his wife and children. Man is not in this position to enslave or belittle the wife.
As the Bride (the Church) is subject to Jesus, women must wear the veil as a sign that they are subjected to men: “Let wives be subject to their husbands as to the Lord; because a husband is head of the wife, just as Christ is head of the Church” (Eph 5: 22-23). The man represent Jesus, therefore he should not cover his head.
However, this subjection is not derogatory to women, because in God’s kingdom everyone is subjected to a higher authority: “For as the women is from the man, so also is the man through the woman, but all things are from God” (1 Cor 11:12).
Furthermore, the symbolism of the veil takes that which is invisible, the order established by God, and makes it visible. In the history of the Church, priestly vestments have played a similar role.
WOMEN’S HONOR
It is an honor to wear the veil. But by publicly repudiating it, a woman dishonors her feminine dignity, her sign of female subjection, just as the military officer is dishonored when he is stripped of his decorations.
The Roman Pontifical contains the imposing ceremonial of the consecration of the veils: “Receive teh sacred veil, that thou mayest be known to have despised the world, and to be truly, humbly, and with all thy heart subject to Christ as his bride; and may He defend thee from all evil, and bring thee to life eternal” (Pontificale Romanum; de benedictione).
St. Paul says an unveiled woman is a dishonor: “But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered disgraces her head, for it is the same as if she were shaven” (1 Cor 11:5).
(to be cont’d)
