THE CHAPEL VEIL IN OLD GUAM

I have been going through hundreds of old Guam photos and started to notice how women wore different styles of chapel veils down through the years.

In this photo above, taken in the 1920s, the older women were still wearing black, or at least dark colored, shawls. These women grew up in Spanish times when there were no stores selling lace veils. Perhaps the women from the few affluent families had lace veils imported from Manila and elsewhere brought to them by traveling spouses, relatives or friends.

This photo from the 1960s shows older women again, but this time wearing lace veils. Much cooler than the shawls of older times, yet these women generally preferred the long veils.

This photo from the 1950s shows a kind of veil women on Guam were famous for wearing - the ordinary hanky!  There is a definite trend toward smaller veils (for coolness?) by this time among the younger women. If no lace veil were available, they simply used a clean hanky usually kept just for church use.

SHE LIKES HER VEIL

This little girl was recently given a veil for Mass, and she has become a great promoter of its use!  She loves wearing it, even when Mass is over.

1 Corinthians 11:10 : "Therefore ought the woman to have a power over her head, because of the angels."

"Power over her head" meant a veil of some sort.  It was a sign that the woman belonged to her husband and was thus a visible expression of modesty and propriety.

"Because of the angels."  The angels minister to God in heaven in worship and adoration.  In that heavenly worship, there is the utmost reverence and propriety.  When we worship in Mass, the angels are with us.  Therefore, in our Mass, the utmost reverence and propriety must be seen by the angels.

Little girls and unmarried women do not belong to a husband yet.  But Saint Paul teaches other reasons for wearing the veil, and states that it is a command of the Lord, a custom of the primitive churches.  It is good to start forming our women in the custom and meaning of wearing the chapel veil while they are still very young.

This little girl's enthusiasm is proof of the wisdom of that practice.

THE CHAPEL VEIL

You will notice many women of all ages, even the very young, wearing veils in chapel.  Saint Paul taught (1 Cor 11:1-16) that women should cover their heads while at prayer.  If his apostolic authority were not enough, Saint Paul tells those who would object that the Church knew no other custom or tradition!  So it is a matter of Catholic tradition.  The early Fathers of the Church, both East (Saint John Chrysostom) and West (Saints Ambrose and Augustine) strongly advocate the covering of the woman's head, at all times.  The wearing of the chapel veil was legally enshrined in the Code of Canon Law issued in 1917, Canon 1262.2.  The 1983 Code of Canon Law is in force today, and makes no mention of it at all, neither mandating nor prohibiting the chapel veil.  Some would argue that the 1983 Code itself calls for the retention of the custom, since the 1983 Code says that unless Church law specifically revokes an old custom or law, that custom or law is still in effect. Whatever the case may be whether the custom is still law or not, the chapel veil is full of religious significance.  It promotes modesty in dress; it is a reminder, as Saint Paul teaches, of the relationship between God, man and woman; and it symbolizes the woman's connection with the Blessed Mother, and not only because the veiled woman shares the same gender as Mary.  In Scripture, veiled things represent the presence of God.  The first temple was actually a tent, a kind of large veil.  When the temple made of stone was built, a veil hung before the holiest room in the temple where God was present in a special way.  Mary is the true tabernacle of God, and she was veiled.  So the veiled woman in chapel or church reminds us that God became man through a woman, the Blessed Mother.  What an honor then for the woman to be veiled in church!  Chapel veils can be purchased through the several Catholic gift shops on island.