modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent”. Amanda, I want you to be clear about this: whether we like it or not, women are the moral compass of society. If they are aware of this and dress modestly, the level of morality rises. If they are not, the level of morality descends. Today it is reaching an all-time low, which in all honesty gives reason to fear a complete breakdown of morality. It is no secret that the world is increasingly ensnared and enslaved by lust. It can also be helpful to look at the way saints reacted to immodest dress. Fr. Stefano M. Manelli writes: “A strict insistence on this particular point is a constant in the lives of all the Saints, from the Apostle, St. Paul (telling the woman to wear a veil so that she may not need to have her head appear ‘as if she were shorn’: [1 Cor 11:5-6]), to St John Chrysostom, St Ambrose, etc., down to Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, who would permit no halfway measures, but always insisted on modest dresses clearly below the knees”22. In fact, concerning the latter, if their dresses were low-cut or too short when coming to confession, St Pio would refuse them the sacrament and send them away. As dresses in the 1960’s became scantier and scantier, he sent larger and The Fatima Seers: Jacinta Marto, Lúcia Santos and Francisco Marto. 57
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