Note how the opponents of the saints obfuscate:
A very clear unanimity against makeup by the GREATEST doctors of the church, yet they don't want to discuss that.
As a result, I will continue to post St. Alphonsus's (and St. Thomas's) opinions until one of them attempts to refute them:
First, regarding the NCR citation from St. Alphonsus:
The quotation can be found in Grant's English-language translation in Vol. I, p. 583. However, it is not St. Alphonsus's own opinion, but his commentary on the opinion of Cajetan and Navarre. He says their opinion is that "they seem to teach that they [those women described in the NCR quote] are only held under venial sin (but less probably), when in a particular case a fall is foreseen..." [i.e., by scandal].
So, what does St. Alphonsus himself actually hold to be the true position?
He gives the principle on p. 581:
"54. A woman that probably foresees from her dress, even if it is suited to her state, that someone in particular is going to fall mortally, she is held to not wear it for a short time, or to flee the sight of such a man."
OK, so that is about immodest dress. We are talking about makeup, so is the quote/principle still pertinent?
It would seem yes, because in the very next paragraph he cites the Salamancans, Cajetan, Trull, Paulus, and Navarre all appealing to the quote from St. Thomas Aquinas (from the first page of this thread), which discussed dress to please the husband, but also makeup to please him.
Alphonsus then opposes their appeals to St. Thomas, stating:
"Note, however, here what St. Thomas teaches in 2.2 qu 169, art. 2, where he says women desiring to please men from vanity only sin venally whenever they do it [Note that St. Alphonsus is saying that even St. Thomas believed this was venial sin]. But in his commentary on the first epistle to Timothy, chapter 2, the Angelic doctor so speaks: 'simple dress, with right intention, custom and condition of state preserved, is not a sin. But with regard to make-up it is always a sin; for women are not permitted to be elegantly dressed except on account of men, and men refuse to be deceived, as a powdered woman would appear to him." (Vol. 1, p. 582)
In other words, St. Alphonsus is opposing the Salamancans, Cajetan, et al, by pointing out to them that although St. Thomas gives women some leeway in dress for their husbands, St. Thomas (and St. Alphonsus) do NOT do so in the case of makeup.
Alphonsus then quotes the opinions of still more doctors:
"Azor, Lessius, and Bonacina excuse them from mortal sin [not venial] who by the custom of the place uncover half the breast, or use powder, makeup, or wigs; provided that they only intend greater adornment of beauty, not wantonness for others, without any other end that would be mortal...Nevertheless, they add that the custom of uncovering their breast, or only lightly covering them iss a grave matter and a mortal sin where it is not introduced. (p. 583)
Consequently (and keeping in mind that the popes have declared that anyone may be guided by the principles of St. Alphonsus's Theologia Moralis without fear), it seems that unless I have somehow misread Alphonsus, it seems that there is unanimity among the moralists that wearing makeup is at least venially sinful.
Topic: Women Who Wear ANY Makeup Sin (Read 26169 times)