"Religion
does not fear the dagger’s point; but it can vanish under corruption. Let us
not grow tired of corruption: we may use a pretext, such as sport, hygiene,
health resorts. It is necessary to corrupt, that our boys and girls practice
nudism in dress. To avoid too much reaction, one would have to progress in a
methodical manner: first, undress up to the elbow; then up to the knees; then
arms and legs completely uncovered; later, the upper part of the chest, the
shoulders, etc. etc."
International
Review on Freemasonry, 1928
|
A former On-Camera-Meteorologist for The Weather Channel, model,
actress and Miss Michigan National Teen-Ager, Colleen Hammond lived the
American Dream and found it to be a nightmare. While working in television, she
reverted to the Catholic Faith. The moment their first baby was born, Colleen
"saw the light" and abandoned her highly successful career in
television to become a stay-at-home-mother, now living with her husband and
their four children in North Texas.
In 2004, Mrs. Colleen Hammond wrote a book entitled "Dressing
with Dignity", which became an instant best-seller. This ground-breaking
book challenges today’s fashions and provides the information you need to
protect yourself and your loved ones from the onslaught of tasteless, immodest clothing.
We publish here excerpts from Chapter Four of this book,
"Designs against Modesty and Catholic Response", which talks about
the forces behind the 20th-century revolution in women’s fashions:
Written by a woman, Colleen Hammond
When you look around at society today, you can’t help but notice the
disintegration in morals and values. And we know things don’t just happen by
accident, so it would not be reasonable to think that clothing styles went down
the tube this far and this fast just by chance.
Most of us have heard that Satan’s biggest deception is convincing
people that he doesn’t exist. He has been extremely busy, especially since the
1800’s, working behind the scenes to oppose all that is beautiful, sacred and
holy. One of the human groups he has used for this opposition has been
Freemasonry (also known simply as Masonry).
Those involved in the Illuminati (a secret society within the Masonic
lodges) were taught bitter anti-Catholicism. The Encyclopedia became
the bible of the Enlightenment, Freemasonry provided the rituals and hierarchy,
with the Catholic Church being the enemy.
In 1738, Pope Clement XII issued his papal bull In Eminenti,
condemning Freemasonry and giving many reasons, including Freemasonry’s
"oaths of secrecy and of fidelity to Masonry." He severely forbade
Catholics to join Masonic societies, threatening an excommunication against
those who would even "favor" these societies.
In 1825, Pope Leo XII lamented the fact that governments had not paid
attention to papal decrees against Masonry, and that thus Masonry had spawned
even more dangerous sects.
Pope Pius VIII wrote about the Masons in his Encyclical Traditi (1829):
"Their law is untruth, their god is the devil, and their cult is
turpitude."
Pope Gregory XVI wrote in Mirari Vas (1832): "Evil comes
out of secret societies, bottomless abyss of misery, which those conspiring
societies have dug and in which heresies and sects have, as may be said,
vomited as in a privy all they hold of licentiousness, sacrilege and blasphemy."
 |
"St.
Padre Pio refused women access to the confessional if their dresses were too
short. On the door of the church was this message: 'By Padre Pio’s explicit
wish, women must enter the confessional wearing skirts at least 8 inches below
the knee. It is forbidden to borrow longer dresses in church and to wear them
for the Confessional.' "
|
"Cardinal Siri, of Genoa, Italy, wrote a letter in 1960 called
"Notification Concerning Men’s Dress Worn by Women." He expressed
concern that by wearing trousers, women were imitating and competing with men.
His concern was that this would bring about in women the mental attitudes of a
man, and would modify a woman’s gestures, attitudes and behaviour."
|
Later, in Humanum Genus (1884), Pope Leo XIII would state that some Freemasons "have plainly determined and proposed that, artfully and of set purpose, the multitude should be satiated with a boundless license of vice, as when this had been done, it would easily come under their power and authority for any acts of daring."
In fact, the Catholic Church has been so adamant in its stand against
Freemasonry that Canon 1374 of the ((so called) new Code of Canon Law (1983) stipulates:
"One who joins an association which plots against the Church is to be
punished with a just penalty; one who promotes or moderates such an
association, however, is to be punished with an interdict." The Vatican
then reaffirmed that "The faithful who belong to Masonic associations are
in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion."
But let’s get back to the early 1800’s.
The "Illuminated Masons" were very outspoken in their desire
to destroy the Catholic Church. Their goal was to destroy Christianity, but
they admitted that it couldn’t be ruined from the outside. They had to make a
two-pronged attack.
The founder of the Illuminati, Adam Weishaupt, had formulated one part
of the strategy late in the 1700’s: "We will infiltrate that place [the
Vatican], and once inside, we will never come out. We will bore from within
until nothing remains but an empty shell."
The Masons aimed to infiltrate "the sacristies, the seminaries and
the monasteries." But it would take time for the Masons to get into
Catholic institutions. So they had another plan. It had to do with women.
"In order to destroy Catholicism, it is necessary to commence by
suppressing woman... But since we cannot suppress woman, let us corrupt her
with the Church..." (Letter of Vindez to Nubius, pen names of two
leaders of the Alta Vendita, the highest lodge of the Italian Carbonari,
Masonic revolutionaries, Aug. 9, 1838.)
Freemasons apparently understood that women are the moral compasses of
society. The serpent knew this and approached Eve. Even Confucius said that
woman is the moral root of society, and the culture will only grow in
proportion to the moral strength of its women.
Just as the Freemasons wanted to infiltrate the religious orders, they
also planned to infiltrate the fashion world. They planned to influence women’s
and children’s fashion trends and styles by getting their own people involved
in the fashion industry. It was also the Illuminati’s plan to form and control
public opinion through the media.
Around this time, St. John Bosco (1815-1888), who lived in Turin,
Italy, was also fighting various worldly forces. The Saint received many
visions in the form of dreams. The main thread of nearly all those dreams was
the importance of maintaining innocence and purity.
The Catholic Church has always taught that all acts of impurity are
grave sins — ALL OF THEM! Every impure thought or impure deed is a mortal sin (as
long as the person realizes it is a grave matter and does it anyway). The
unfortunate reality is that today, these grave sins are sugar-coated and now
encouraged as innocent (and even "healthy"!) "fantasizing."
Just imagine what St. John Bosco would think if he could flip on a television
today or walk into a shopping mall during warm weather!
The beginning of the 20th century was also a time of great change
in women’s fashions. In 1910, the Archbishop of Paris led a campaign against
women’s immodest fashions. Think about that for a moment! What were women
wearing in 1910 that was so bad?
Five years later the Church released a General Pastoral Directive
stating that women must be dressed decently at Mass and that the priest may
refuse them entrance into the church if they are not dressed properly.
The fact is that in comparison to the modest fashions of just a decade
or two prior to this, the new fashions displayed an alarming trend toward
immodesty that was — all things considered —simply unacceptable. Viewed from
our perspective, one has to wonder whether or not the Popes were privy to the
plan of the fashion designers for them to have blown the whistle on the new
fashions so early in the game, historically speaking.
Imagine the very conservative styles of that time period-before the
flapper craze of the 1920’s that saw short skirts to the knees and sleeveless
dresses. Obviously, fashions were already changing drastically-and not for the
better.
On May 13, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima first appeared to three children in
Portugal. She would appear on the 13th of the next five months and would later
tell one of the children, Blessed Jacinta Marto, that "more souls go to
Hell for sins of the flesh than for any other reason." This innocent young
child may not have fully realized what "sins of the flesh" meant, but
the Baltimore Catechism teaches us that these sins fall under the Sixth and
Ninth Commandments.
Our Lady of Fatima also said that certain fashions would be introduced
"that will offend Our Lord very much." Jacinta commented later that
people who serve God should not follow current fashion trends. Jacinta also
said that the Church has no fashions, and that "Our Lord is always the
same."
Slacks appeared on the fashion runways of Paris in 1920. The next year,
Pope Benedict XV expressed his shock that women would embrace the current
fashion trends and styles of dancing. He wrote, "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
indecency of their clothing shocks every honest man, and offends God. Most of
them would formerly have blushed for those toilettes [outfits] 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." (Encyclical Letter Sacra Propediem, Jan. 6, 1921.)
In the 1920’s, women’s clothing styles were taking a radical and
revolutionary new look. For the first time in history, women of refinement were
seen wearing sleeves above the elbow and hemlines that crawled up to the knee.
Remember that Masonic directive: "First, undress up to the elbow; then up
to the knees; then arms and legs completely uncovered; later, the upper part of
the chest, the shoulders, etc. etc."
In 1928 Pope Pius XI wrote, "There is a sad forgetfulness of
Christian modesty, especially in the life and dress of women." (Encyclical
Letter Miserentissimus Redemptor.)
Worldly Catholics and secular society responded by saying that modesty
in dress was regulated by "customs and styles of time, place and
circumstances." They encouraged women to ignore these statements from the
Church. Instead, they said, it was society and culture that should dictate what
is modest and appropriate.
But in their publications, Freemasons had revealed their motive and
plan. The following quote bears repeating:
"Religion does not fear the dagger’s point; but it can vanish
under corruption. Let us not grow tired of corruption: we may use a pretext,
such as sport, hygiene, health resorts. It is necessary to corrupt, that our
boys and girls practice nudism in dress. To avoid too much reaction, one would
have to progress in a methodical manner: first, undress up to the elbow; then
up to the knees; then arms and legs completely uncovered; later, the upper part
of the chest, the shoulders, etc. etc." (International Review on
Freemasonry, 1928.)
If you look at the fashion trends since 1928, you can see that styles
have very closely followed this strategy. At that time, garments were already
up to the elbows and knees.
The year 1928 was also the beginning of Pope Pius Xl’s Modesty Crusade.
It makes one think that he may have known about the plan of Freemasonry. The
Modesty Crusade started with a Letter to the Bishops of Italy (August 23, 1928)
and was directed primarily at schools run by religious sisters. It spoke
against immodest fashions, "which prevail today to the detriment of good
breeding..."
Then on January 12, 1930, the Sacred Congregation of the Council (now
called the Congregation for the Clergy), by order of Pope Pius XI, issued a
Letter to the Bishops that exhorted bishops, priests, nuns, teachers, parents,
etc. to insist on modesty in those under their charge. The document concludes
with these words:
"Maidens and women dressed immodestly are to be debarred from Holy
Communion and from acting as sponsors at the Sacraments of Baptism and
Confirmation; further, if the offense be extreme, they may even be forbidden to
enter the church."
Detailed instructions on modesty of dress for women had been issued on
September 24, 1928, by the Cardinal-Vicar (Vicar General) of Pope Pius XI in
Rome, Basilio Cardinal Pompili:
"We recall that a dress cannot be called decent which is cut
deeper than two fingers’ breadth under the pit of the throat, which does not
cover the arms at least to the elbows, and scarcely reaches a bit beyond the
knees. Furthermore, dresses of transparent material are improper."
Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) continued the Modesty Crusade during his pontificate.
In an allocution of May 22, 1941 to young Catholic girls during World War II,
he urged them not to fall for fashions that had, until then, been worn only by
"women of doubtful virtue." His words are a sobering reminder that
the Church is ever mindful of the salvation of souls.
"Numbers of believing and pious women. . . in accepting to follow
certain bold fashions, break down, by their example, the resistance of many
other women to such fashions, which may become for them the cause of spiritual
ruin. As long as these provocative styles remain identified with women of
doubtful virtue, good women do not dare to follow them; but once these styles
have been accepted by women of good reputation, decent women soon follow their
example, and are carried along by the tide into possible disaster."
The Canadian bishops followed suit in the Spring of 1946, this time
admonishing men to wear shirts in public-even at the beach--and to avoid tight
trousers.
That summer, 1946, the first bikini strutted its way down the runways
of Paris. Coco Chanel came back onto the fashion scene in 1954 and reintroduced
her designs from the 1930’s.
That summer, Pope Pius XII said, "Now many girls do not see
anything wrong with following certain shameless styles, like so many sheep. They
would surely blush if they could only guess the impression they make and the
feelings they arouse in those who see them." (Allocution to Children
of Mary Immaculate, July 17, 1954.)
Pope Pius XII cautioned women that, if certain styles were an occasion
of sin for others, it was their duty not to wear them. He also warned mothers
to make sure their children were dressed modestly. His timeless admonition
sounds as though it could have been written today!
"The good of our soul is more important than that of our body; and
we have to prefer the spiritual welfare of our neighbour to our bodily
comforts... If a certain kind of dress constitutes a grave and proximate
occasion of sin, and endangers the salvation of your soul and others, it is
your duty to give it up...
"O Christian mothers, if you knew what a future of anxieties and
perils, of ill subdued doubts, of hardly suppressed shame you prepare for your
sons and daughters, imprudently getting them accustomed to live scantily
dressed and making them lose the sense of modesty, you would be ashamed of
yourselves and you would dread the harm you are making for yourselves, the harm
which you are causing these children, whom Heaven has entrusted to you to be
brought up as Christians." (Allocution to the Girls of Catholic
Action, May 22, 1941.)
Tragically, some mothers today are enabling their young daughters to
dress in "hooker chic." Have parents become desensitized to today’s
fashions? Have they been duped by the fashion industry? Manipulated by wanting
their children to be "popular"?
Whatever the reason, one commentator gets right to the point:
"The sad fact is that a lot of today’s tween and teen girls dress
like streetwalkers... How do so many little girls end up looking like sex
objects? How? Because their parents let them...
"Face the facts: Most 12 to 16-year-olds don’t have access to a
lot of cash-unless, of course, their parents give it to them... And it’s
usually the mom who happily drives the little darlings to the mall for a fun
day of shopping. Face it: Little girls dress according to what their mommies
allow.
"I thought mothers were supposed to protect their daughters, to
teach them to value themselves and their bodies. What chance does a little girl
stand of keeping her childhood or innocence intact when it’s mommy that’s
driving her to the store and paying for the thongs, the itty-bitty skirts, the
hipster jeans and the plunging necklines?
"And when did fathers start letting their precious little girls
dress like "ladies of the night"? Hello, is anybody out there?"
(Rebecca Hagelin, "America’s little girls… or tramps?" World Net
Daily, Mar. 4, 2005.)
Do parents realize that "ladies of the night" wouldn’t wear
on street corners in the 1950’s what some girls wear to the mall these days?
So let’s get back to the 1950’s.
Pope Pius XII recognized that women are the moral fiber of society, and
he knew that the culture would implode if modesty were not put into practice.
"Society reveals what it is by the clothes it wears," Pius XII said
on August 29, 1954. "... An unworthy, indecent mode of dress has
prevailed" without any distinction of place, "on beaches, in country
resorts, on the streets, etc. Vice necessarily follows upon public
nudity..."
The Pope wasn’t the only one who had something to say about fashion’s
downward spiral. Everyday clothing was using less and less material, and going
to the beach was a relatively new pastime that was gaining in popularity. In
1959, Cardinal PIay Daniel, Archbishop of Toledo, Spain, stated,
"A special danger to morals is represented by public bathing at
beaches. . . Mixed bathing between men and women, which is nearly always a
proximate occasion of sin and a scandal, must be avoided."
The Cardinal was simply echoing and reinforcing what the Roman Emperors
knew two thousand years ago: mixed swimming leads to promiscuity. That’s a long
way from where our culture is today, isn’t it!
Cardinal Siri, of Genoa, Italy, wrote a letter in 1960 called
"Notification Concerning Men’s Dress Worn by Women." He expressed
concern that by wearing trousers, women were imitating and competing with men.
His concern was that this would bring about in women the mental attitudes of a
man, and would modify a woman’s gestures, attitudes and behaviour.
Every woman I know acknowledges that when she’s wearing a dress, she
moves and acts differently from when she is wearing pants.
St. Padre Pio refused women access to the confessional if their dresses
were too short. On the door of the church was this message:
"By Padre Pio’s explicit wish, women must enter the confessional
wearing skirts at least 8 inches below the knee. It is forbidden to borrow
longer dresses in church and to wear them for the Confessional."
As one author commented, while fashion designers had skirts climbing to
more than eight inches above the knee, Padre Pio warned women to keep their
skirts eight inches below the knee.
More recently, the (so called) Catechism of the Catholic Church had a
number of things to say about modesty in dress and behaviour. These passages
are the most pertinent:
"Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty
protects the intimate centre of the person. It means refusing to unveil what
should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity, to whose sensitivity it bears
witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in
conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity. (2521). Modesty
protects the mystery of persons and their love. . . . Modesty is decency. It
inspires one’s choice of clothing. (2522). Modesty inspires a way of life which
makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and prevailing
ideologies. (2523). The forms taken by modesty vary from one culture to
another. Everywhere, however, modesty exists as an intuition of the spiritual
dignity proper to man. It is born with the awakening consciousness of being a
subject. Teaching modesty to children and adolescents means awakening in them
respect for the human person. (2524)."
We can see that over the years, Holy Mother Church has seen fit to
educate and warn the faithful about fashion trends and about the gravity of
immodest and undignified behaviour and dress.
We have the evidence that today’s fashions are the result of planning
by those whose goal is the total destruction of Christian society. But we have
also been advised as to what path to take. It’s up to us to use our free will
and decide what to do for our families and ourselves.
Colleen Hammond.
For more
information on Colleen Hammond’s book, go to: www.colleenhammond.com/index.html
A first edition was published in 2004
by Valora Media, Inc. (http://valoramedia.com/dignity.html), and a second
edition in 2005 by Tan Books and Publishers
(https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php)
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