Can you endure one more letter from Saint Ignatius as part of a conclusion to the Ignatian Year?
I see often in right-leaning Catholic sites some consternation about modesty in dress. More men than women seem concerned about mostly all women and possible offenses against the eyes of mostly all men and their imaginations.
When I was reviewing various letter titles, I found this bit of catechesis to Alberto Azzolini categorized under confession. Make of it what you will:
(W)e learn that (you are) uneasy about the practice of the women in Venice in matters of dress and personal adornment—and rightly so, for they give occasion (which others frequently take) to offend God our Lord. However, where the practice is general and there neither appears to be nor is there any going beyond the usual custom in the matter itself, nor any intention of sinning or leading others to sin, it is not considered mortally sinful. Indeed, if done by a woman to please her husband, it is not venially sinful.
Well.
I found this image from a site describing Venetian fashion in the 16th century. There was this image:
Maybe there was something about the hair in the shape of two horns on the woman’s head. Not wanting to get into the mansplaining modesty thing, I was curious that Ignatius seems not as bothered by women’s dress as either his contemporaries or some of mine.
Catholic Sensibility 