A New Generation of Catholic Women Is Wearing Chapel Veils

Many American young people are eager to shed light on and address legacies of repression and toxic masculinity in the United States. And yet, a minority of Catholic young people have been looking to the past for inspiration, adopting older and more traditional practices. Some are drawn to the Latin Mass. Others wear scapulars, or devotional necklaces with religious symbols. Some young Catholic women have taken to wearing chapel veils, or head coverings worn during Mass, that reinforce distinct gender norms and roles much at odds with broader American culture. The practice of veiling is closely associated with sexual purity and modesty, a way to cover one's hair to avoid distracting men. Before the Second Vatican Council in 1962, women were required to wear white veils before they were married, as an indication of sexual purity much like the white dress or veil that women still wear when they marry. After marriage, women would switch to black chapel veils, serving of an external symbol of their union.