Why do women cover their heads in the Extraordinary Form of the Holy Mass
St Paul wrote that women should cover their heads and men uncover them as a way of explaining how women represent the Church in a particular way - as a sacred and veiled bride to Christ.
Women covering their heads used to be very common and reaches back into our Catholic history connecting us to ancient liturgy and unbroken tradition. And yet, it is almost completely unknown in the Ordinary Form - the tradition has been lost and the links broken.
Some people see the wearing of a veil or mantilla as a sign of weakness or of being subservient to men but this is completely untrue.
Pope St. John Paul II speaks of women finding their feminine identity and a special genius of their relationship with the Lord through being a bride of her husband and recognising that the Church is the bride of Christ. Through this women can align themselves with the Blessed Virgin Mary as the archetype of Mother Church which is something that men cannot do.
Women wear veils in church because as Mothers of the Church, they are a sign and inspiration for all those around them. They remind people that they are representing the church as the Bride of Christ; they demonstrate their reverence before the Blessed Sacrament by showing people that in this place and before the Lord they wear something different; they signal to people that in this state of reverence they are not up for a chat and by all of these things they are empowered as strong Catholic women.
As women, it is our responsibility to uphold the wearing of a veil as a sign of our special position in the Church and of our duty towards our family, Mother Church and Our Lord - it is a gift not to be tossed aside but to be embraced.
