Repost: Immodest Women's Dress (Nov. 1929)

[171] Question: In the Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus ordered to be recited by His Holiness Pope Pius XI we read: "In particular we purpose to expiate immodesty and shamelessness in behavior and dress." What is immodest and shameless dress? Would the following words of the Sacred Congregation of Religious of September 24, 1928, addressed to the educational institutions for girls in Rome apply: "We recall 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 elbow, and scarce reaches a bit below the knee. Furthermore, dresses made of transparent material are improper, as are also flesh-colored stockings which suggests the legs being bare."
SACERDOS.

Answer: The very fact that the Holy Father thought it important enough to mention specially the expiation for the sins committed [172] by the immodest behavior and dress, proves how serious a matter it is in the eyes of the Supreme Pontiff. It is difficult to determine with absolute precision what dresses are immodest. The approved fashions of today have certainly sinned against Christian decency under the pretext of enhancing the beauty of the female figure and of a hygienic form of dress. The worship of nature in opposition to the God of all created things is at the bottom of the ideas manifested in the fashions, which offend the religious feelings of Christian people who have a sincere regard for God's law that demands reverence for the human body because it is the temple of the Holy Ghost. The Saviour [sic] says that he who looks at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery in his heart. The enemies of God and of all true Christians constantly endeavor to put God out of the heart and mind of His devoted children, and they know that they can succeed best by first seducing them to sins of the lust of the flesh. Besides, they tackle the servants of God in the weakest point, for it is well known that the flesh continually rebels against the spirit. All the nudity that the so-called fashionably dressed girls and women exhibit, must necessarily arouse the passions of the flesh in the opposite sex, and God only knows how many sins are committed by impure thoughts and desires frequently followed by impure actions. Unfortunately, there are very few people, even among those who want to lead a Christian life, who have enough strength of character and independence to resist the perverse fashion of women's dress; they feel shame and humiliation at the way they are dressed, because they are forever trying to pull the dress down far enough to cover their knees while they are sitting down in trains and buses; but they will continue to wear that kind of clothing because it is the fashion of the day. It has been said that the girls and young women cannot help wearing such dresses, because they cannot buy any others in the market. Be this as it may, not all girls and young women dress in the extremes of the fashion, and there must therefore be some way out of the bondage of fashion that is meant to give a sinful attractiveness to the human figure. The words of the Sacred Congregation of Religious quoted by our correspondent are very helpful to the priests and Catholic educators inasmuch as they express the mind of the Holy See on the subject of immodesty in women's dress. We have frequently read in the [173] Osservatore Romano of the efforts made by very many bishops in Europe to combat the present sinful excesses of the fashion in women's dresses, and it is to be hoped that the hierarchy of the United States take a united stand against the ever-growing evil, for the individual pastor or bishop cannot effectively fight an evil that reaches through the length and breadth of the country.

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Source: "Immodest Women's Dress," The Homiletic and Pastoral Review 30, no. 1-6 (October, 1929 to March, 1930): 171–173.