Catholic Customs - Particularly dress/headgear customs.

[Daegus]

Recently I've found much interest in customs of the Catholic Church. I have seen that the Jewish people (the men in particular) have the yarmulke or skull cap, the Muslims have... some sort of hat thing.. and our clergy has a zuchetto to wear. Women in the Church can wear veils in particular but I've never seen any customs for men to have.

I know this may seem a little vain, but I am very interested and a little jealous that people of other religions have something to show for their faith (like cool hats), but we the laity of the Church, don't really have anything besides the way we conduct ourselves.

Any opinion?

[ConstantineTG]

Don't forget the Sikhs and their turbans

I just wear my crucifix outside my shirt. Thats enough for me. Besides, my head sweats too easily

[veilofveronica]

Hello.

Many Traditional Catholic women choose to cover their heads at Mass. It's a practice I recently started doing. I plan to wear a veil or headscarf whenever I attend Church. Women did that prior to Vatican 2, and there actually are some good arguments that they were never actually supposed to stop.

Some Catholic ladies choose to veil all the time. I don't, but some do. Catholic men should remove a hat or headcovering when in Church, and traditionally tip their hat or remove it when passing a Church or a blessed statue, such as one of the Virgin Mary.

I think there's also something to be said for a more modest dress code among Catholics, women and men alike. There's some good sources for this on the Internet.. This link has some ideas, it's fed from the same one I put up earlier.

I don't wear skirts all the time, mainly due to my climate (it's freezing here!) . Catholics also wear sacramentals that are visible parts of our faith, like wearing medals, crucifixes, etc.

Yours in Christ.

[AmyMCGS]

What comes to mind in terms of something for men to wear are the medals-- you generally do not see people other than Catholics wearing a saint medal or a four way cross medal. I instantly assume a man (or woman, though they stand out less on a woman) wearing such a medal is Catholic.

I do know one non-Catholic who wears a medal... my husband wears a badge-shaped medal of Saint Michael, the patron saint of police. The priest who married us blessed it for him.

[Zacdecat]

Some of the men where I live love their hats...fedora and such like, they can tip their lid at the ladies and take it off when entering a building.

Even if you don't wear a hat there is always the scapular...just about everyone here wears one....it generally pops right on out when there is a truely anti Catholic person.

[Petergee]

Originally Posted by Daegus

Recently I've found much interest in customs of the Catholic Church. I have seen that the Jewish people (the men in particular) have the yarmulke or skull cap, the Muslims have... some sort of hat thing.. and our clergy has a zuchetto to wear. Women in the Church can wear veils in particular but I've never seen any customs for men to have.

I know this may seem a little vain, but I am very interested and a little jealous that people of other religions have something to show for their faith (like cool hats), but we the laity of the Church, don't really have anything besides the way we conduct ourselves.

Any opinion?

I think there's a very good reason for that. Our Founder intended that we should be "in the world but not of the world" and so, unlike nearly all other reigions, we were not to draw up a list of "permitted" and "forbidden" foods and drinks, or to wear or not wear certain clothes etc. We should be able to be distinguished as Catholics by the way we love God and our neighbour.

The headwear for other religions you mention is mainly an ethnic/cultural tradition rather than a religious imperative. Catholicism embraces all nations, races and cultures.

And if you really want to wear distinctive clothes you could become a priest or Religious.

When I was a boy it used to be that anyone wearing a cross or especially a crucifix was almost certainly a Catholic, but nowadays many protestants and even non-Christians do so.