Editing Modesty (section)

====Catholicism====
[[File:Dress code sign Even the body has its own language, Cathedral of Lecce, 2010.jpg|thumb|A placard "Dress with dignity and respect the sacred place" informs visitors about the minimum dress standards required to enter the [[Lecce Cathedral]] in Italy.]]
Saint [[Thomas Aquinas]] defined modesty as "[[humility]], studiousness, [[temperance (virtue)|temperance]] in outward movements and in apparel."<ref>[[Summa Theologiae|S. Th.]] II-II, q. 160, a. 2. As quoted in {{Cite journal|author1=John-Mark Miravalle|date=2017-06-01|title=Resisting the Less Important: Aquinas on Modesty|journal=[[Journal of Moral Theology]]|volume=6|issue=2|pp=166–174|language=en-US|access-date=2025-01-20|url=https://jmt.scholasticahq.com/article/11361-resisting-the-less-important-aquinas-on-modesty|OCLC=10168859715|ISSN=2166-2851}}</ref>

The [[Catechism of the Catholic Church]] points out that "Modesty is decency. It inspires one's choice of clothing" (CCC, 2522)."<ref name="Pivarunas1996"/>

The wearing of a [[Christian headcovering|veil]] (headcovering) for women while praying at home and while worshipping at [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] has been practiced by Christian women since the time of the early Church.<ref name="Bercot1992"/><ref name="Fisher2019">{{cite web |last1=Fisher |first1=Simcha |title=The types of women who veil at Mass |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/12/03/types-women-who-veil-mass |publisher=[[America Magazine]] |access-date=15 November 2020 |language=en |date=3 December 2019}}</ref><ref name="Sciba2018">{{cite web |last1=Sciba |first1=Katie |title=Beneath the Veil: How Unusual Practice Becomes Beloved Prayer |url=https://blessedisshe.net/blog/beneath-veil/ |publisher=Blessed Is She |access-date=18 April 2021 |language=English |date=14 May 2018}}</ref> The wearing of headcoverings during the celebration of the liturgy was mandated as a universal rule for the [[Latin Church]] by the [[Canon law (Catholic Church)#Codification|Code of Canon Law of 1917]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jgray.org/codes/cic17lat.html |title=1917 Codex Iuris Canonici |work=Canon 1262, Section 2 |access-date=2011-01-19 |archive-date=2020-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200908053112/http://www.jgray.org/codes/cic17lat.html |url-status=dead }} (Latin)</ref> abrogated by the [[1983 Code of Canon Law|Code of Canon Law of 1983]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P2.HTM |title=Canon 6 §1 of the Code of Canon Law }}</ref>

The standards issued by [[Pope Pius XI]] declared that "women who wear immodest dress shall be denied [[Holy Communion]], and shall not be admitted as a godmother at [[Baptism]] or as a sponsor at [[Confirmation]]".<ref name="Joselit2014">{{cite book |last1=Joselit |first1=Jenna Weissman |title=A Perfect Fit: Clothes, Character, and the Promise of America |date=2014 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |isbn=978-1-4668-6984-4 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="Pivarunas1996">{{cite web |author1=[[Mark Pivarunas]] |title=Modesty in Dress |url=https://cmri.org/articles-on-the-traditional-catholic-faith/modesty-in-dress/ |publisher=[[Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen]] |access-date=27 March 2021 |language=English |date=21 June 1996}}</ref> They further stated "Nuns, in accordance with the Letter of 23 August 1928, of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, shall not admit to their colleges, schools, oratories, or amusement centers, nor allow to remain there any girls who do not observe Christian modesty in dress; and in the education of their charges they shall take special care to sow deeply in their hearts a love of chastity and Christian modesty.

Pope Pius XI also issued the standard of decent dress, declaring that "A dress cannot be called decent which is cut deeper than two fingers breadth under the pit of the throat; which does not cover the arms at least to the elbows; and scarcely reaches a bit beyond the knees. Furthermore, dresses of transparent materials are improper."

Between 1933 and 1980, the [[Catholic Legion of Decency]] was active in monitoring morally objectionable content in films. It condemned a number of films, including several on account of the clothing worn. For example, [[list of films condemned by the Legion of Decency|the Legion has condemned]] the display of [[cleavage (breasts)|cleavage]] in ''[[The Outlaw]]'' (1941) and in ''[[The French Line]]'' (1954).

In 1944 on the feast of the [[Immaculate Conception]], the so-called "Marylike Crusade" (formally known as the "Purity Crusade of Mary Immaculate") was initiated by Rev. Bernard Kunkel to codify [[Pope Pius XII|Pope Pius' XII]] directives on the Catholic standards of dress, known as "Marylike modesty".<ref name="Evans2012">{{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Rachel Held |title=A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband "master" |date=2012 |publisher=[[Thomas Nelson (publisher)|Thomas Nelson]] |isbn=978-1-59555-367-6 |page=126 |language=English}}</ref> It seeks for Christians to emulate the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]] under the title "Mother Most Chaste" as the model for modesty.<ref name="MSGH2017"/> Mary-like Modesty includes for women, wearing sleeves "extending at least to the elbows" and "skirts reaching below the knees", as well as having a neckline no more than two inches with the rest of the bodice fully covered.<ref>Kunkel, Rev. Bernard. [https://ecatholic2000.com/life/prayer143.shtml ''My Life in Prayer Book''], Book Two, Chapter III: The Marylike Standards for Modesty in Dress</ref><ref name="Evans2012"/> The Marylike Crusade promotes a vow for Catholics to take: "While I am determined always to dress with Marylike modesty, both at home and in public, I intend to be specially careful to do so when visiting any place dedicated to God."<ref name="O'Toole2018">{{cite book |last1=O'Toole |first1=James M. |title=Habits of Devotion: Catholic Religious Practice in Twentieth-Century America |date=5 July 2018 |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |isbn=978-1-5017-2666-8 |page=105 |language=English}}</ref> The Marylike Crusade received an [[Apostolic Blessing]] from Pope Pius XII on 14 July 1954 and on 11 May 1955, Pope Pius XII extended this "to the members, to their Directors and Moderators, to their families and loved ones, and to all who further their laudable movement for modesty in dress and behaviour."<ref name="MSGH2017">{{cite journal |title=The Pope of Fatima, Pius XII, Puts His Seal on Our Lady of Fatima's Request for Modesty |journal=Behold Thy Mother |date=2017 |volume=19 |issue=56 |page=22 |publisher=Missionary Sisters of the Holy Ghost |language=English}}</ref> The standards of Mary-like Modesty established by the Purity Crusade of Mary Immaculate continue to be promoted by Traditionalist Catholics as normative.<ref name="CMRI">{{cite web |title=Dress Code |date=14 August 2016 |url=https://cmri.org/cmri-directory-of-traditional-latin-masses/dress-code-for-cmri-churches/ |publisher=[[Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen]] |access-date=27 March 2021 |language=English}}</ref>

In 2004 [[Cardinal Anthony Okogie]] sent letters to the priests in the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos]] and asked them to prohibit "fashions promoting lust and immorality" within churches.<ref name="Blunt2004">{{cite news |last1=Blunt |first1=Elizabeth |title=Nigerian Catholics told to be modest |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3549210.stm |access-date=8 April 2022 |language=English |date=9 August 2004|quote=In his latest circular letter to parishes, the Archbishop of Lagos, Cardinal Anthony Okogie, under the heading "nudity", calls on priests not to allow in church what he calls "fashions promoting lust and immorality". He says that any of the faithful wearing "clothes which reveal sensitive parts of the body such as the bust, chest, belly, or upper arms, transparent clothing or dresses with slits above the knees" should be "quietly asked to worship outside". As for boys, it says there should be no "jerry curls [long curly hair], tight jeans or earrings". A Sunday morning visit to the Church of the Assumption, in the Ikoyi district of Lagos, showed the Archbishop's recommendations were being well observed. … Everyone I spoke to had heard of the Archbishop's campaign for modest dressing, and said they were wholly in agreement. … I heard outspoken condemnation of people who come to the house of God half-naked, diatribes against tight trousers, skimpy tops and "spaghetti straps". Several women said they believed they should imitate the Holy Mother, Mary, and cover their heads, since she always appears in images with a veil.}}</ref> Under this rubric, people wearing "clothes which reveal sensitive parts of the body such as the bust, chest, belly, or upper arms, transparent clothing or dresses with slits above the knees" are forbidden to attend [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] inside the church.<ref name="Blunt2004"/> The faithful Catholics in the Archdiocese have been wholly supportive of the dictum concerning modesty, with many women practicing [[Christian headcovering]] with the Virgin Mary as their model.<ref name="Blunt2004"/>

Some Catholics have attempted to form cohesive theories of modesty. Sometimes this is from a sociological perspective,<ref name="autogenerated2">[http://www.theuniversityconcourse.com/article/1819.html Modesty and beauty - the lost connection] by Regina Schmiedicke</ref> while at other times it takes a more systematic, [[Thomism|Thomistic]] approach, combined with the writings of the [[Church Fathers]].<ref>[http://gorpub.freeshell.org/books.html#modesty The Modesty Handbook] (describing the nature of modesty from a Catholic perspective, based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Church Fathers).</ref> Approaches arguing primarily from traditional practices and traditional authorities, such as the saints, can also be found.<ref>See, e.g., [http://sicutincaelo.org/b03_twsg.html Those Who Serve God Should Not Follow the Fashions] by Robert T. Hart (2004).</ref> In various localities, from time to time the church hierarchy have given opinions on various matters regarding dressing and modesty of the faithful.<ref>See all the following citations, which all expound at least partly upon such guidelines.</ref> While [[Pope Nicholas I|Nicholas the Great]] wrote to the first Christian ruler of Bulgaria, Boris I, in the 9th century, that it was acceptable for the Bulgarian women to continue to wear trousers, [[Giuseppe Siri|Giuseppe Cardinal Siri]] stated in 1960 that [[Trousers as women's clothing|trousers were unacceptable dress for women]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030323162109/http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/3543/nodress.htm Notification Concerning Men's Dress Worn by Women] by Giuseppe Cardinal Siri (1960)</ref> Many traditional Catholics have attempted to further expand on this latter standard.<ref>See G. K. Chesterton, [http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=39813 ''What's Wrong with the World''], Part III, Chap. V, for an early attempt (1910); see also [http://gorpub.freeshell.org/cr.html#praise In Praise of the Skirt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924093659/http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=39813#praise |date=2015-09-24 }}, for a more contemporary one (2006)</ref> Around 1913, it became fashionable for dresses to be worn with a modest round or V-shaped neckline. In the [[German Empire]], for example, all [[Roman Catholic]] bishops joined in issuing a pastoral letter attacking the new fashions.<ref>Gernsheim, Alison. ''Victorian and Edwardian Fashion. A Photographic Survey''. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 1981. Reprint of 1963 edition. {{ISBN|0-486-24205-6}}, p. 94</ref>