In 787 the Second Council of Nicea banned all tattoos as a “pagan practice.” https://earlychurchhistory.org/daily-life/tattoos-in-the-ancient-world/

Can somebody confirm that? Does that mean no tattoo is allowed at all?

What about piercings? I feel like nose rings that look like cow's nose rings are a big no-no but a thin small ring on one nostril doesn't look that bad (although I still would prefer that people not do that). Would you say even that should be forbidden?

Were they simply banned, or were they said to be evil in themselves?

I have a hard time understanding how any body modification (unless it would be something that would quickly heal over if not caused to do otherwise, such as an ear piercing, or any other kind of piercing for that matter, that has had the stud removed long enough to close up) can be acceptable.  However, if the Church has never condemned such modifications as malum in se, I cannot either.

The bizarre piercings we have nowadays, such as those to accommodate nose rings (really?), would then seem then to be more contrary to modesty (and, if I can say this, human dignity), than problematical because they are temporary mutilations of the body.

But tattoos are not temporary (unless one wanted to be really jesuitical, and say "well, they're temporary, because you will eventually die and decompose, and so will the tattoo").  Again, if the Church doesn't condemn them as per se sinful, then neither can I, but I still don't get it.

People have gone absolutely nuts in recent years.  And the teenager or twenty-something who simply has to have all of those tattoos right now, needs to think what those tattoos are going to look like 40 years from now.  They'll pretty much just be big ugly blobs.  What's good about that?  (And tattoos are far more problematical to remove, than they are to get.)

I've never had a tattoo or any other form of body modification, and I don't intend to.

The tasteful earrings on St. Therese the Little Flower is the "camel nose under the tent". I could make a meme about this (someone should!)

Left side: How it starts (St. Therese the Little Flower with 2 tasteful earrings)
Right side: how it ends (show picture of guy with nose ring, entire face covered in tats, eyebrow rings, "gauge" earrings -- the big disks in guy's earlobes, etc.

In other words, "Give an inch, they'll take a mile". It's a classic wise proverb 100% true.

People hear Fr. Brown watched "Our Lady of Fatima" once, they go home and subscribe to Netflix trash and watch R-rated movies, including Game of Thrones for 6 hours every day. THEY ARE NOT EQUIVALENT. Stop looking for excuses to be evil.

P.S. St. Therese the Little Flower is one of the most MODERN saints you can find. So even though her "Little Way" and heroic virtue got her into heaven, and is worthy of imitation -- not EVERYTHING in her life was necessarily ideal, or the #1 choice. That's not what sainthood means. Her mom Zelie didn't exactly stay-at-home and raise her kids Trad Catholic style. I think it's better and more perfect to skip earrings altogether. Remember the female saints who practiced heroic virtue (for a female) by cutting off their pretty hair...

P.S. St. Therese the Little Flower is one of the most MODERN saints you can find. So even though her "Little Way" and heroic virtue got her into heaven, and is worthy of imitation -- not EVERYTHING in her life was necessarily ideal, or the #1 choice. That's not what sainthood means. Her mom Zelie didn't exactly stay-at-home and raise her kids Trad Catholic style. I think it's better and more perfect to skip earrings altogether. Remember the female saints who practiced heroic virtue (for a female) by cutting off their pretty hair...

Ah, I don't know.  I don't see anything wrong with a single piercing and relatively modest earring, or a necklace.  You could also claim she would have been "more perfect" if she had fasted on bread and water for many years.  Perfection does not consist primarily of the outward and the bodily.  It depends on the motivation and whether it's disordered, i.e driven by "vanity".  That distinction is actually one of the foundational princples of her Little Way, that perfection does not consist primarily of heroic deeds, but of interior dispositions, love, selflessness, etc.  If you recall she wore the earrings and wore her hair up for one reason only, to try to appear older and more mature, since she was petitioning Pope Leo XIII to get into the convent before the normal canonical age.  Nor does a woman who wants to put a pair of earrings on to look feminine or pretty engage in any kind of disorder, since it's natural for women to want to appear feminine and pretty.  Perhaps they should wear potato sacks all day so as not to appear feminine and pretty also.  It's all about the interior disposition.  If a woman puts on earrings for the reasons St. Therese did or just to appear more femine (let's say she has some masculine physical features and may be trying to offset it, or perhaps is somewhat homely and want to appear more pretty), then there's absolutely nothing "less perfect" about it, any more than a man might put on a nice suite for Mass to give a certain appearance.  In other words, whether or not earrings has anything to do with perfection is a matter of the internal forum dispositions of the individual.  Obvious, some actions in the external forum are inherently incompatible with interior perfection, but this isn't one of them.

I'd be thrilled to be as "less perfect" as either St. Therese or Zelle Martin.

I forgot to uncheck the anonymous button there.

... and I'd also argue it's part of the feminine charm.

Agreed, as per my post above.  Why is it that those who still have proper sensibilities are repulsed by seeing men wearing them?

Why is it that those who still have proper sensibilities are repulsed by seeing men wearing them?

Random Thought -

This is off topic but I've always wondered why it is that the toughest men in history all wore skirts, uh, I mean kilts.  The Spartans, the Roman Legions and those dastardly Scots all wearing those short skirts?  I get it in the that Roman heat but in Scotland?  What's the deal?

Ok.  Back to the thread...

To argue that cute little earrings are the gateway to bodily mutilation is erroneous.  Women and girls have been doing what St. Therese exhibits here from time immemorial and I'd also argue it's part of the feminine charm.  What we're seeing below, however, is a sign of the post-Christian, pagan breakdown in even rational thought - a clear 'sign of the times'.  When I first 'found tradition' many of the young ladies were wearing what amounted to burlap sacks which lacked all manner of style or charm.  I'll take the St. Therese earrings any day of the week.

My sisters & I don't need to get our ears pierced to get that "feminine charm"

Who said it was necessary that a girl must have her ears pierced to have feminine charm?