Why do women no longer cover their heads in respect while in Mass?

Yours Truly,

Shamus O’Verte

Let me first explain your question to our younger readers.

When I was young and the woolly mammoth still roamed, women would not think of entering a Catholic church without their heads covered. It was always fascinating to see the tissue papers or loose-leaf sheets that were drafted into use as hats.  

The practice seems to refer to a verse in St. Paul that reads: "Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head and every woman who prays or prophesies with her head UNcovered dishonors her head. It is just as though she had shaved her head. If a woman does not cover her head she should have her hair cut off.... For this reason, because of the angels, a woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head." 1Cor. 11:4-10. 

This chapter make feminists howl and is one of the most obscure passages in the bible, and believe me, it’s got some stiff competition for that title.

First of all, it is very “proto-Talmudic.” St. Paul’s obscure line of reasoning that is very rabbinical, the sort of thing that “can cross a rabbi’s eyes.” Among orthodox Jews, women often cut their hair very short, almost shaved and then wear a wig, called a “sheitl.” Go figure. 

The rabbis say this is because the Song of Songs, tells us in chapter 4, verse one and following, that a woman’s hair is one of her most seductive aspects. "Thy hair is like a flock of goats descending from Mount Gilead." ( I personally have never found a flock of goats seductive. Maybe it’s something about Mount Gilead.)  

In Numbers 5: 18 there is a reference to the uncovering of a woman’s head as humiliation. 

In the reference just quoted from St. Paul, the Apostle seems to say that even the angels find a woman’s hair so lovely that they are distracted by it. St. Paul is mentioning all this obscure Judaica to bolster an argument. Remember that he is addressing the Corinthians. 

The Corinthians had an unsavory reputation in the ancient world. The Greek verb “korinthiazein,” (to play the Corinthian) meant to chase around on a Friday night, if you catch my drift. Corinth was one of the great seaports of the Greco-Roman world. To avoid storms and the distance around the Greek Peloponnese, ships would actually be dragged across the mile wide isthmus of Corinth from the harbor on the Aegean into the bay of Corinth.

Now, in Corinth there was a temple in honor of the goddess Aphrodite and there one found a thousand of the most beautiful women of the ancient world serving as priestesses of Aphrodite.

They had an interesting sense of liturgy, if you catch my drift again, and while their boats were being towed overland, the sailors would run into town to pray. “Salve, nauta”, as the Romans used to say.

The only women in the ancient world who went about talking to strange men, and I do mean strange, with their heads unveiled were priestesses and those of similar profession. So, when the Christians began to meet in private homes in ancient Corinth, the women, being at home with their brother’s and sisters in the Lord, would take off their veils and greet each other with a holy kiss, as is recommended in Scripture. The Corinthians, peeking through the blinds must have thought “Oh boy, just what Corinth needs! Another swell religion with friendly priestesses.

I suspect that St. Paul was simply saying, “Put your veils back on, girls. The neighbors are getting the wrong impression!”  He bolstered his argument with some good rabbinical reasoning, about angels and shaved heads.

I have given you lots of reasons and history for the veiling of women in church. That, however is not your question. Your question if I recall, is “Why do we no longer do it?”

Back to St. Paul. In his seventh chapter of the same letter, First Corinthians, he says that regarding unmarried women he has not received any commandment from the Lord, but he gives his own opinion. How interesting! St. Paul’s own opinion, not God’s!

How do we know what is God’s opinion in the Bible or just St. Paul’s, that old curmudgeon?

In my youth it was easy. The stuff I didn't like was just St. Paul’s opinion and the stuff I liked was from the Lord. It was the sixties. We were young and infallible, though the pope was not.

What hogwash! 

How do we know what is binding in the Scripture and what is not? God in His mercy has given the teaching authority of the Church, called the Magisterium, which has patiently and consistently steered the ship of faith through stormy seas. As we find things in the Scriptures which are optional, like veils, there are things like marital fidelity which are not optional. They are required. 

Tradition, guarded by the popes, help us to know what is necessary and what is not.  In the nineteen sixties, veils on woman were judged to have been unnecessary for that time. Perhaps at some future date, the culture will again demand veils on women, or moose horns on men or whatever, but the Lord is glorified in our humility, be we male or female, as St. Paul points out.

In the Liturgy and the Bible, it is a clear principle that what is sacred is veiled, that is why we used to veil the chalice, and some still do. The veiling of women was always a sign of respect for the sacredness and power of the woman, thought not many understood it that way. 

In the sixties, the veiling of women had ceased to be a sign of reverence so, off came the veil. 

Now of course, many young women, and men for that matter come to church quite unveiled, and sporting interesting jewelry etc. in odd places. Perhaps the Holy Spirit dictated that we take a hiatus from the veiling of women at prayer so as to remember why it had been done in the first place.

I suspect that we are close to that point. I see a lot more veils in church these days and when I contrast that with the amazing amount of unveiled flesh that makes its appearance on a hot day in summer, the veil is so much lovelier and more graceful. Unveiling certainly makes the flesh seems cheap, and the veiling really can remind one of the sacredness and power of women, the life givers. 

When I see someone come into church with very little clothing and even less sense I am brought back to ancient Corinth and remember what the Apostle said. “Put your veils back on, girls, the neighbors are getting the wrong impression."

As ever,

Rev. Know-It-All