"Sartorial statement"
Why I wore a veil when I met John Paul IIby Cristina Odone, 10/10/2006, telegraph.co.uk
The framed photograph sits proudly on my bookshelf: Pope John Paul II stands in the Sistine Chapel, surrounded by intellectuals from across Europe – and, in a black mantilla, me.
In 1999, the Vatican held a conference to prepare for the Jubilee Year of 2000. They invited a group of academics, writers and broadcasters. Despite some raised eyebrows from Westminster Cathedral about my eligibility, I was Britain's representative. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I was nervous: would my speech on religion and the media be OK, would my fellow delegates discuss the Summa Theologica over their cornflakes, would I have to kiss the Pope's ring?
The one thing I felt certain about was what to wear: the mantilla – a lace head-covering, usually black – perfectly blends humility, modesty and respect. This doesn't mean I choose to wear it to Mass every Sunday. For one thing, although it was once the must-have accessory of Catholic womanhood, only a very few, very pious women use it any more; and, anyway, the mantilla seems a bit ostentatious now that it has adorned Diana, Princess of Wales and Cherie Blair. But as a sartorial statement of my Catholic faith, there is nothing to beat it.
posted by Fr LWG at 11:31 PM
4 Comments:
Love this post. .... I did have a brief moment of mild shock, however, when I inadvertently breezed by the story's by-line and thought that the writer was the owner of this blog! A fella, a priest in a mantilla! (Not that there's anything wrong with that...) Could just be a priest trying to look at things from the perspective of a woman. You know, as in a female writer dying her hair to see what life is like as a blond. Or, as the male writer did in Memoirs of a Guisha, applying makeup to himself in order to be able to write from the perspective of a woman. (Lesson 1: Read carefully. Lesson 2: Never assume.)
Interesting story, from top to bottom.
It's sad because head coverings are as much required for baptised women today as they were back in Paul's era but they're seen as a mark of repression and so this particular commandment is ignored. Once again, society eeks into the gaping holes of Christianity.
I don't go anywhere without it! Actually I was on my way to Mass this weekend when I realized that I switched pocketbooks and didn't have my veil. I travel almost 45 min to go to the Latin Mass and I felt that awful feeling when you know you have forgotten something. When I got closer to the Church I realized that I didn't have my veil with me. I have a spare chapel veil that I keep in my glove compartment for an emergency. I would have felt very uncomfortable without it. Also, I never attend or enter a Church without being in a dress or skirt. This is the most reverent way i can show The Lord his due respect. I just wish more women would follow this
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