Whether the Adornment of Women Is Devoid of Mortal Sin?
Objection 1: It would seem that the adornment of women is not devoid
of mortal sin. For whatever is contrary to a precept of the Divine
law is a mortal sin. Now the adornment of women is contrary to a
precept of the Divine law; for it is written (1 Pet. 3:3): "Whose,"
namely women's, "adorning, let it not be the outward plaiting of the
hair, or the wearing of gold, or the putting on of apparel."
Wherefore a gloss of Cyprian says: "Those who are clothed in silk and
purple cannot sincerely put on Christ: those who are bedecked with
gold and pearls and trinkets have forfeited the adornments of mind
and body." Now this is not done without a mortal sin. Therefore the
adornment of women cannot be devoid of mortal sin.
Obj. 2: Further, Cyprian says (De Habit. Virg.): "I hold that not
only virgins and widows, but also wives and all women without
exception, should be admonished that nowise should they deface God's
work and fabric, the clay that He has fashioned, with the aid of
yellow pigments, black powders or rouge, or by applying any dye that
alters the natural features." And afterwards he adds: "They lay hands
on God, when they strive to reform what He has formed. This is an
assault on the Divine handiwork, a distortion of the truth. Thou
shalt not be able to see God, having no longer the eyes that God
made, but those the devil has unmade; with him shalt thou burn on
whose account thou art bedecked." But this is not due except to
mortal sin. Therefore the adornment of women is not devoid of mortal
sin.
Obj. 3: Further, just as it is unbecoming for a woman to wear man's
clothes, so is it unbecoming for her to adorn herself inordinately.
Now the former is a sin, for it is written (Deut. 22:5): "A woman
shall not be clothed with man's apparel, neither shall a man use
woman's apparel." Therefore it seems that also the excessive
adornment of women is a mortal sin.
Obj. 4: _On the contrary,_ If this were true it would seem that the
makers of these means of adornment sin mortally.
_I answer that,_ As regards the adornment of women, we must bear in
mind the general statements made above (A. 1) concerning outward
apparel, and also something special, namely that a woman's apparel
may incite men to lust, according to Prov. 7:10, "Behold a woman
meeteth him in harlot's attire, prepared to deceive souls."
Nevertheless a woman may use means to please her husband, lest
through despising her he fall into adultery. Hence it is written (1
Cor. 7:34) that the woman "that is married thinketh on the things of
the world, how she may please her husband." Wherefore if a married
woman adorn herself in order to please her husband she can do this
without sin.
But those women who have no husband nor wish to have one, or who are
in a state of life inconsistent with marriage, cannot without sin
desire to give lustful pleasure to those men who see them, because
this is to incite them to sin. And if indeed they adorn themselves
with this intention of provoking others to lust, they sin mortally;
whereas if they do so from frivolity, or from vanity for the sake of
ostentation, it is not always mortal, but sometimes venial. And the
same applies to men in this respect. Hence Augustine says (Ep. ccxlv
ad Possid.): "I do not wish you to be hasty in forbidding the wearing
of gold or costly attire except in the case of those who being
neither married nor wishful to marry, should think how they may
please God: whereas the others think on the things of the world,
either husbands how they may please their wives, or wives how they
may please their husbands, except that it is unbecoming for women
though married to uncover their hair, since the Apostle commands them
to cover the head." Yet in this case some might be excused from sin,
when they do this not through vanity but on account of some contrary
custom: although such a custom is not to be commended.
Reply Obj. 1: As a gloss says on this passage, "The wives of those
who were in distress despised their husbands, and decked themselves
that they might please other men": and the Apostle forbids this.
Cyprian is speaking in the same sense; yet he does not forbid married
women to adorn themselves in order to please their husbands, lest the
latter be afforded an occasion of sin with other women. Hence the
Apostle says (1 Tim. 2:9): "Women . . . in ornate [Douay: 'decent']
apparel, adorning themselves with modesty and sobriety, not with
plaited hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly attire": whence we are
given to understand that women are not forbidden to adorn themselves
soberly and moderately but to do so excessively, shamelessly, and
immodestly.
Reply Obj. 2: Cyprian is speaking of women painting themselves: this
is a kind of falsification, which cannot be devoid of sin. Wherefore
Augustine says (Ep. ccxlv ad Possid.): "To dye oneself with paints in
order to have a rosier or a paler complexion is a lying counterfeit.
I doubt whether even their husbands are willing to be deceived by it,
by whom alone" (i.e. the husbands) "are they to be permitted, but not
ordered, to adorn themselves." However, such painting does not always
involve a mortal sin, but only when it is done for the sake of
sensuous pleasure or in contempt of God, and it is to like cases that
Cyprian refers.
It must, however, be observed that it is one thing to counterfeit a
beauty one has not, and another to hide a disfigurement arising from
some cause such as sickness or the like. For this is lawful, since
according to the Apostle (1 Cor. 12:23), "such as we think to be the
less honorable members of the body, about these we put more abundant
honor."
Reply Obj. 3: As stated in the foregoing Article, outward apparel
should be consistent with the estate of the person, according to the
general custom. Hence it is in itself sinful for a woman to wear
man's clothes, or vice versa; especially since this may be a cause of
sensuous pleasure; and it is expressly forbidden in the Law (Deut.
22) because the Gentiles used to practice this change of attire for
the purpose of idolatrous superstition. Nevertheless this may be done
sometimes without sin on account of some necessity, either in order
to hide oneself from enemies, or through lack of other clothes, or
for some similar motive.
Reply Obj. 4: In the case of an art directed to the production of
goods which men cannot use without sin, it follows that the workmen
sin in making such things, as directly affording others an occasion
of sin; for instance, if a man were to make idols or anything
pertaining to idolatrous worship. But in the case of an art the
products of which may be employed by man either for a good or for an
evil use, such as swords, arrows, and the like, the practice of such
an art is not sinful. These alone should be called arts; wherefore
Chrysostom says [*Hom. xlix super Matth.]: "The name of art should be
applied to those only which contribute towards and produce
necessaries and mainstays of life." In the case of an art that
produces things which for the most part some people put to an evil
use, although such arts are not unlawful in themselves, nevertheless,
according to the teaching of Plato, they should be extirpated from
the State by the governing authority. Accordingly, since women may
lawfully adorn themselves, whether to maintain the fitness of their
estate, or even by adding something thereto, in order to please their
husbands, it follows that those who make such means of adornment do
not sin in the practice of their art, except perhaps by inventing
means that are superfluous and fantastic. Hence Chrysostom says
(Super Matth.) that "even the shoemakers' and clothiers' arts stand
in need of restraint, for they have lent their art to lust, by
abusing its needs, and debasing art by art."
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