1 Corinthians 11:4-16 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved. 6 For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head. 7 A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; 9 neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10 It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. 13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. 16 If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.
Is there any context that explains why St. Paul prohibits a man from praying with his head covered, which could literally include prohibiting the wearing of a kippah? And why would it be a dishonor for a man to have long hair when the Holy Shroud appears to provide this physical description of Our Lord?
I wore a veil or school beanie until v2 hit my Church and school. My mom wore a veil for a while. How our people were led into confusion. So many lies.
Paul is writing to believers in Corinth, a Greek city immersed in Greek culture; a congregation of Gentile believers. The issues spoken of involve headship and propriety. Even in today's culture, a man taking off his hat in Church is an expression of reverence to the Lord. And at least in the TLM, women wearing veils is prominent, an attitude of submission. Though my wife does not wear a veil at our NO Masses, her head is always covered.
I was curious about this and started Googling, as you do. It didn't do me much good as their are as many different takes as their are sites on the internet. One take is that it is all in the past and we don't need to bother about all this today, that St Paul was only writing for his own time. But I would beware of this, which seems to be the take since the 1960's mass got started. Dump all kinds of Traditions without hardly a thought, a bit like throwing your poor old grandmother under the Bus. One thing I notice about Our Lady appearing in apparitions is I did not ever hear or see one authentic Church approved apparition were Our Lady does NOT wear a veil. Not one ever in the 2,000 year history of apparitions. Also in Marian art only very, very rarely see Our Lady without a veil and then only in very recent art. I think if I went into a Church and saw a picture or statue or icon of Our Lady unveiled I would do a double take. Clearly of Our Lady does this she does so for a reason, its not random; she could just as easily not wear a veil. As far as the men long hair thing for men thing I am not sure. But I think as Corinth there was a very famous and powerful temple to Goddess of love Aphrodite, the Goddess of love. This Temple was served by both female and male religious prostitutes. The male prostitutes would I suppose have had long hair and dressed like women. This is something Paul would have had to fight against as we know from his letters that local Christians were falling into the habit of reattending this Temple even though converted. I suspect Paul at the time wanted to put clear water between the worshippers and homosexuality. As for men I believe Terry is right, it is a reflection of the order of family life were men are heads of the family and so keep their heads uncovered.
At our chapel, women wear veils. It is beautiful to behold, without being distracting due to physical attractiveness. Men usually wear suits and keep their heads uncovered. The thing about the long hair is something I don't understand either. Perhaps St. Paul did not consider Jesus' hair to be long, perhaps St. Paul thinks that hair which does not extend below the neck is short? Jesus clearly has half-long hair, which is evident from the valid apparitions and miracles.
