On the Veiling of Virgins

Contents

Reading pages: 1–10 · 11–17

1. 1Tertullian argues that virgins should be veiled from puberty because truth, not custom, must rule; the rule of faith never changes, but discipline is being brought to maturity by the Paraclete.
2. 2Many apostolic churches in Greece and elsewhere veil their virgins; since they are one church with us, their custom is ours too, and the custom that hides virgins from view better suits God's discipline.
3. 3Veiling had been left to choice in Carthage until unveiled virgins, claiming to be scandalized, demanded that veiled virgins be uncovered; Tertullian condemns stripping a consecrated virgin of her veil as a kind of violation.
4. 4Paul's rule that “women” be veiled includes virgins: he distinguishes virgins from married women only where the subject requires it, and “woman” is the general term that covers every female, as “body” covers every limb.
5. 5Eve was called “woman” while still a virgin in paradise, so the word denotes the female sex, not the married state; only the name “Eve”, mother of the living, looked forward to marriage.
6. 6Paul calls the Virgin Mary a “woman” and the angel blesses her “among women”, so the word includes virgins; she was so called not because she was betrothed but because she was female.
7. 7All Paul's reasons for veiling women apply equally or more to virgins: the man as head, the shame of a shorn head, woman as man's glory, and above all the angels, who fell through desire for the daughters of men, that is, for virgins.
8. 8Paul's reasons for leaving men uncovered apply to boys as well as grown men, and his “every woman” likewise includes virgins; the Corinthians, to whom he wrote, still veil their virgins.
9. 9Women may not speak, teach, baptize, or offer in church, and virgins share this condition; so they have no special right to go unveiled, and Tertullian rebukes a bishop who enrolled a young virgin among the widows.
10. 10If virgins deserved a visible mark of honour, male virgins and the continent, whose struggle is harder, would deserve it more; since men have none, women should have none either.
11. 11Virgins should be veiled not from birth but from puberty, when, like Adam and Eve after the fall, they become aware of their sex; Rebecca veiled herself on first seeing her bridegroom, and nature and time make a girl a woman whether or not she is betrothed.
12. 12A grown girl's body and her own grooming declare that she is a woman; it is inconsistent for her to claim virginity only by going bareheaded.
13. 13Virgins who veil themselves in public but go bareheaded in church are seeking the brothers' praise, whereas Christ commands that good deeds, and above all the offering of one's own body, be done in secret for God alone.
14. 14Displaying virgins to attract others makes virginity a matter of glory and rivalry; some who fall conceal it by staying unveiled, some attempt to destroy their unborn children, and public admiration wears down modesty.
15. 15True virginity fears itself and hides under the veil as under armor, guarding against envy, the evil eye, and temptation, content to be known to God alone.
16. 16Scripture, nature, and discipline all point to the veil; Tertullian urges every virgin to veil her head, since she is already married to Christ.
17. 17Tertullian warns married women against token head-coverings, citing Arabian women, a sister's vision of an angel, and the ostrich, and closes with a blessing.