To dress becomingly for God
and neighbor, and in keeping with the reverence due to the Blessed Sacrament, kindly refrain from wearing shorts, tee-shirts, tank-tops, revealing blouses, sleeveless or backless dresses, or
form-fitting clothing of any sort. Please wear dresses and skirts fall below the knee when sitting even with leggings (i.e., around mid-calf in length). With due regard to time and circumstance, all
are encouraged to wear decorous attire befitting sacred and divine worship.
Pope Pius XII
“... modesty foresees threatening danger, forbids us to expose ourselves
to risks, demands the avoidance of those occasions which the imprudent do not shun. It does not like impure or loose talk, it shrinks from the slightest immodesty, it carefully avoids suspect
familiarity with persons of the other sex, since it brings the soul to show due reverence to the body, as being a member of Christ and the temple of the Holy Ghost. He who possesses the treasure of
Christian modesty abominates every sin of impurity and instantly flees whenever he is tempted by its seductions” (Sacra Virginitas, no. 58).
“The good of the soul is more important than that
of the body; and we must prefer the spiritual well-being of our neighbor to that of our bodily comfort... If a certain type of clothing constitutes a grave or approximate occasion of sin and puts in
danger the salvation of your soul and that of others, it is your duty to stop wearing it...”
Pope Benedict XV
". . . one cannot sufficiently deplore the blindness of so many women of every age and
condition; made foolish by desire to please, they do not see to what a degree the in decency of their clothing shocks every honest man, and offends God. Most of them would formerly have blushed for
those toilettes as for a grave fault against Christian modesty; now it does not suffice for them to exhibit them on the public thoroughfares; they do not fear to cross the threshold of the churches,
to assist at the Holy sacrifice of the Mass, and even to bear the seducing food of shameful passions to the Eucharistic Table where one receives the heavenly Author of purity. And We speak not of
those exotic and barbarous dances recently imported into fashionable circles, one more shocking than the other; one cannot imagine anything more suitable for banishing all the remains of modesty"
(Sacra Propendiem, no. 19).
St. Anthony Mary Claret
“Now observe, my daughter, the contrast between the luxurious dress of many
women and raiment and adornments of Jesus... Tell me: what relation do their fine shoes bear to the spikes in Jesus’ feet? The rings on their hands to the nails which perforated His? The fashionable
coiffure to the crown of thorns? The painted face to That covered with bruises? Shoulders exposed by the low-cut gown to His, all striped with Blood? Ah, but there is a marked likeness between these
worldly women and those who, incited by the devil, scourged Our Lord! At the hour of such a woman’s death I think Jesus will be heard asking: ‘Cujus est imago haec et circumscripto—Of whom
is she the image?’ And the reply will be: ‘Demonii—of the devil.’ Then He will say: ‘Let her who has followed the devil’s fashions be handed over to him; and to God, those who have imitated
the modesty of Jesus and Mary.”
St. Padre Pio
“I desire that all of you, my spiritual children, fight by your good example
and without any human respect, a holy battle against indecent fashion. God will be with you and you He will save! The woman that seeks vanity in her dress can never belong to Christ, and these same
lose every adornment of the soul the very moment these idols enter into their hearts. Being watchful of every vanity in their hearts, because the Lord permits the fall of these souls for such
vanity.”
Our Lady of Fatima
“The sins which cause most souls to go to Hell are the sins of the flesh.
Fashions will much offend Our Lord. People who serve God should not follow fashions. The Church has no fashions. Our Lord is always the same." ... and "Certain styles of dress will come that will
greatly offend Our Lord.”
G.K. Chesterton
"The Church prevents us from becoming children of our times."
2014 Vatican Document on the Sensus Fidei (no. 52)
"Every virtue has a double effect: first, it naturally inclines the person who possesses it towards an object (a certain kind of
action), and second, it spontaneously distances him or her from whatever is contrary to that object. For example, a person who has developed the virtue of chastity possesses a sort of ‘sixth sense’,
‘a kind of spiritual instinct’, which enables him or her to discern the right way to behave even in the most complex situations, spontaneously perceiving what it is appropriate to do and what to
avoid. A chaste person thereby instinctively adopts the right attitude..."