gail

I remember many years ago going to various old Catholic churches (I am not Catholic) and most women covered their heads with a scarf or hat. Going to Italy in 3 weeks. Is this still done? I understand need to dress appropriately - no bare shoulders, shorts, etc - but what about the head thing.

Cowboy1968

Women can keep their heads covered, but they don't have to.

clausar

Where were these catholic churches, where you had to cover your head? do you remember?
I can't recall of any European country where this is required..
This happens mostly in some orthodox churches in Eastern Europe, but also there, not everywhere.

cw

You won't need to cover your head in visiting European churches.

Dukey1

Gail, you are most certainly correct that it was the custom some years ago for women to cover their heads upon entry to a Roman Catholic church in Europe as well as in the US.

The "rules" have been somewhat more relaxed over the years, however.

Cowboy1968

As a European Roman-Catholic I can assure you that some years ago has been some decades ago.
Tourists usually visit churches when there is no service. What you see is the usual bunch of old ladies hanging out there, and those still often wear scarfs or heads. This may give the impression that it was normal. Even back in the 1970s, as early as I can remember, having your head covered was an old ladies' thing. Probably bit later also around the Med where things had been a bit more traditional.
But at least today and for the last 20 years it has been a non-issue.

Apres_Londee

I never covered my head in Florence or Rome. And during New Year's Eve Mass at Santa Maria Maggiore (2nd only to St Peter's) even the old ladies didn't wear head coverings. I was in jeans even and everyone was very nice to me.

Dukey1

Cowboy1968,

having the head covered was not just an old ladies' thing

tedgale

Cowboy: MANY of us on Fodors are old enough to remember when it was the norm in NA. And when the Mass was said in Latin.

BTW: I commend the OP for asking.

I was in Istanbul last month and the behaviour I saw in mosques was shocking.

French women, bristling with republican secularism, who refused to cover their heads with the scarves they were requested to don. An English yob who slipped into the area for prayer in order to be photographed by his GF, despite twice being shooed away....

Cowboy1968

Take it from an altar boy... it was ( and still is, btw)

irishface

When I was growing up, Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches both required females of all ages to cover their heads in church whether mass was going on or it was just a visit. (Males of all ages bared their heads.) When I went off to college, one of the requirements on the list (along with gym uniform) for young women was a hat. (And this was a nondenominational college.)

Growing up, my sister and I often heard "You can tell a lady by her hat and the cleanliness of her gloves and handkerchief." We might roll our eyes when my mother wasn't looking, but it was sure easier to comply than to "put on a face". Hankies and gloves were also on the college list.

cw

Many if not most women at my church (in Mass.) stopped wearing hats or veils to church in the 60s. (But my mother never stopped wearing hats, but that was her preference, not a requirement.)

Henry

gail,
This may help http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christi...ng#Catholicism

ParisAmsterdam

I can remember visiting churches in Montreal with an aunt back in the early 1960s and she always had to whip out a scarf and put it on her head. Neither of us was Catholic.

Cowboy1968

Wikipedia has a pretty salomonic (and, IMO, correct) explanation: Where women wear head coverings in everyday life, they will also wear it to church.

Some "etiquette" has nothing to do with universally accepted standards for Roman Catholic churches.
For example, here in good ole conservative Bavaria, Pope country after all, the RC churches are full of women exposing their.. gasp.. BARE SHOULDERS when it's warm (summer dresses or tops). Or guys attend service in shorts.

In Italy, bare shoulders are not as well accepted, but this is only Italian folklore like putting people who talk too much into concrete foundations. And has nothing to do with "How do dress in any RC church on the planet".

But OP was right to ask.. you never know the local etiquette unless you've been there.

nytraveler

It is no longer required for a woman to cover her head in any catholic church in europe. (And yes, when I was a yong girl back in the last ice age it was reuied for women to wear covering in Carholic churches in the US - although often it was a tiny veil.) Today, elderly locals may stick with the custom in some parts of europe - and some women will wear a hat or veil for more formal ceremonies.

And dress accepted - but not approved - in the US - such as shorts and tank tops are not acceptable in Italy. Even if yuo can get in the church yuo can expect that locals may berate you for your lack of respect.

Men should not wear hats in church at all - no matter what kind of hat - or how bald they may be..

tedgale

Men and hats: agreed, that really affronts me.

Yet I've seen Italian youth in ballcaps in a church. Spoke to one guy once - I'd do it again, too.

My mum woulda smacked me upside the head if I'd kept my hat on in an elevator, let alone a church.

Alec

Birettas for clergy and cowls for monks excepted!

jaja

As a girl (and no, we did not attend Mass in a cave)we would attach a facial tissue to the top of our head with a bobby pin before entering a Catholic church at any time. Pharisees.

jaja

The tissue thing was only if nothing else was available...the mantillas or chapel caps almost every lady had.