ASK FATHER: The proper way for women to wear a chapel veil?

WDTPRS ^ | 5/20/15 | Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

[markomalley]

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

I have noticed at the Traditional Latin Mass I attend that the women cover their heads with their veils once their sit down in their pews. [?!?] I was told by a friend that the norm years ago was that women veiled their heads before their entered the church and took off their veils once they stepped out of church, not once they sat down in their pews. [!] Which is the proper way for women who veil their heads? Are the women who veil once they enter their pews doing anything wrong? Should the priest(s) address this?

Ahhhh…. such an important question!

Boy are you onto something!

Yes, there is an exact way for the veil to be worn and when it should be put on.

As far as the act of veiling is concerned, it should be done no farther than 20 meters from the lowest step of the church’s door.

Moving on, the edge of the veil should be drawn precisely 4.25cm from the critical angle of the hairdo’s forward arc. Centimeters, mind you.

I suggest that you keep records on this. Using a clipboard, start tracking stats for the actual veiling, changing doors each week. Then, perhaps after Mass and after women have had a chance to say their thanksgiving prayers, using a discreet measuring device… perhaps some sort of caliper… measure the width of the “draw”.

You would do a real service for the pastor were you able to chart this out, perhaps with graphs (priests can be a bit flummoxed by tables of numbers and such). That way Father can intervene with stern admonitions when veils are being improperly deployed.

You have your mission!

And remember, there are no longer any canonical penalties for veiling in the wrong place or with the incorrect draw. Okay? That’s key! We aren’t judgmental about these things anymore. For a couple years now we are being more merciful.

[VermiciousKnid]

I always wear a veil in church — a mantilla, worn with the veil trailing down my back. But I wanted to comment on your post regarding mourning veils which cover the face:

Back in the old days when every woman wore a veil (or hat) to church, I used to see mourning veils all the time. As a child, I didn’t really know why they were worn over the face, but I do now.

Today, when attending a funeral, I am usually the most heartbroken by the obvious grief on the faces of those closest to the deceased. I’ve often wished I didn’t have to see such an intimate emotion, and that the bereaved were not forced by convention to display it so publicly. The mourning veil, I think, spared the widow from having to do so. IMO, that’s a good thing, and should I survive my own husband, I shall take advantage of the privacy a mourning veil will offer me.

Regards,

[RitaOK]

A very beautiful sentiment and excellent reasoning. Thanks.

[RitaOK]

“Yes, I figured he was being sarcastic. But I’m not sure why. Women don’t have to wear veils any more, but it seems legitimate to ask what was customary before the rules were thrown in the trash.”

I was taken also by the sarcasm to a very legitimate question. Nothing much is sacred as it is. Now the traditional mantilla gets a chuckle as if a joke. Too bad, isn’t it?

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I chuckle a little bit when I see people wearing waist-length gold-colored mantillas that would do a Spanish noblewoman proud, sitting next to people with tiny chapel caps that resemble a fancy napkin balanced on the crown of the head. I even occasional wonder if there is an objectively correct way to veil.

Then I remember that either way, it's something I will never have to worry about and I think,

[Engedi]

Oh yes, I so remember the doilies.