Are Catholics prohibited from getting their body tattooed?
score:8
Are Catholics prohibited from getting their body tattooed?
There is no official Catholic condemnation against getting tattoos. I know some priests who have tattoos! The whole idea of getting tattoos is to say the least very discouraged by the Church.
First of all, the Church has not made any kind of formal decision on the matter of tattoos. There is some Biblical evidence on this, for example, a passage in Leviticus that says:
"You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh on account of the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord" (Lev. 19:28).
Yet, it seems that this prohibition was present so as to avoid the people of Israel from following the pagan mourning practices of the Canannites. Moreover, these Old Testament ritualistic laws are not binding on Christians.
The Church does say that we should avoid practices that mutilate or damage our body, as you can see in no. 2296 of the Catechism.
The question of tattoos was on the mind of at least one pope. Pope Hadrian I forbade the usage of tattoos on one's body in 787 AD.
In 787 AD, Pope Hadrian banned tattooing. It still thrived in Britain until the Norman Invasion of 1066. The Normans disdained tattooing. It disappeared from Western culture from the 12th to the 16th centuries. - A Brief History of Tattoos
Nevertheless there were a few exception from this ban of tattoos by Pope Hadrian I.
Christian tattooing rarely enters the written record but when it does, it does so in interesting ways. Pope Hadrian I, in 787 AD, banned tattooing (since it was associated with heathen practices) but there was an exemption for religious tattoos since they would “bring spiritual rewards.”
In the Medieval period, mentions of tattoos become more numerous including clerics (such as Dominican priest and German mystic Heinrich Suso (1295-1366) who tattooed the name of Jesus over his heart). - Christian Tattooing
Why did British sailors get the Crucifixion scene tattoo on their backs.
European sailors were known to tattoo the crucifixion on their backs to prevent flogging (since it was a crime to deface an image of Christ). - A Brief History of Tattoos
Here is a sample of a genuinely Catholic tattoo from Seven Types of Christian Tattoos.
I also know of some World War II marines (Catholics and non-Catholics alike) who got their dog tag numbers tattooed to their torsos or major portions of their limbs, for identification reasons in combat situations.
Why two dog tags are issued to soldiers?9 The dog tag tattoo makes a third and permanent dog tag and often indicates the religious affiliations of soldiers.
Dog tag is an informal but common term for a specific type of identification tag worn by military personnel. The tags' primary use is for the identification of casualties; as such, they have information about the personnel written on them, and convey essential basic medical information such as their blood type and history of inoculations. They often indicate religious preference as well.
A pair of blank dog tags on a ball chain Dog tags are usually fabricated from a corrosion-resistant metal. They commonly contain two copies of the information, either in the form of a single tag that can be broken in half, or as two identical tags on the same chain. This purposeful duplication allows one tag, or half-tag, to be collected from a personnel's dead body for notification, while the duplicate remains with the corpse if the conditions of battle prevent it from being immediately recovered. The term arose and became popular because of the tags' resemblance to animal registration tags.
More post
- 📝 Primacy of Andrew in Eastern Orthodoxy
- 📝 According to Catholicism, why can unconsummated marriages be dissolved?
- 📝 Why do Rastafarians believe it is okay to use cannabis?
- 📝 According to Emanuel Swedenborg, who is the man Jesus, born of a woman, who died and then was resurrected?
- 📝 According to the Catholic Church, are Jews saved without faith in Jesus?
- 📝 Why do some traditional Catholics choose Confirmation in the Extraordinary Form over going with their parish Confirmation?
- 📝 With whom did Abel and Seth marry?
- 📝 Do Seventh Day Adventists believe people who attend church on Sunday will go to hell?
- 📝 Converting to Judaism or Islam vs Trinitarian or Uniterian
- 📝 How should a Christian look at the Crusaders?
- 📝 Who is Augustine arguing against in his Confessions, book 12?
- 📝 How do Latter-day Saints rebut Don Stewart's article "Are There Still Apostles Today?"?
- 📝 What is so special about a fig tree. Is it the tree of life?
- 📝 Is Cain saved or he will go into the eternal perdition?
- 📝 Which nature of Christ said “My Father is greater than I” (John 14:28)?
- 📝 Why were Catholic fasting obligations steadily relaxed?
- 📝 Can a priest validly celebrate a mass without anybody else present?
- 📝 Who was the Blessed Virgin Mary's guardian angel?
- 📝 Does Catholicism allow the possibility of new books being added to the Bible?
- 📝 Is the Catholic declaration of an extra biblical saint infallible?
- 📝 How do Christains argue that "messianic psalms" are messianic and refer to Jesus Christ?
- 📝 According to the Catholic Church, is it a sin to marry your cousin?
- 📝 What does Genesis 3:16 mean?
- 📝 What did Jesus mean when He said “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me”
- 📝 Which Lent should someone Baptized in an Eastern Roman Catholic rite follow?
- 📝 What is the Swedenborgian (New Church) view of therapies that involve access to the subconscious mind?
- 📝 According to Protestantism, why did God make exoplanets?
- 📝 Was Augustine opposed to the death penalty?
- 📝 What is the will of God?
- 📝 Why was Zachariah punished while Mary was not?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Are Catholics prohibited from getting their body tattooed?
- 📝 Are JWs restricted from expressing things in their own words?
- 📝 Do Catholics believe that they are actually eating the body of Christ? Does this make them cannibals?
- 📝 Why are Catholics singled out from "Christians"?
- 📝 If someone is barred from receiving communion by their own Bishop, what are the consequences of continuing to receive it outside their diocese?
- 📝 Are Catholics expected to bury amputated body parts in a cemetery?
- 📝 Where did the idea that Catholics can have a break from their Lenten discipline on Sunday originate?
- 📝 Are there published testimonies from Christians with a diagnosed personality disorder like psychopathy about their experience of sanctification?
- 📝 Are there any denominations that defend their doctrines by appealing to extra-biblical evidence from the 1st/2nd century of the early Church?
- 📝 Catholics Fulfilling Their Sunday and Holy Day Obligation to Attend Mass Who are Late
- 📝 Are there published testimonies from Christians who independently discovered the doctrine of the Trinity on their own by just reading the Bible?
- 📝 What are the historical and scriptural reasons why women are prohibited and/or discouraged from wearing pants in some churches?
- 📝 Are there published testimonies from former Zen Masters or advanced Buddhist Monks in general about their conversion to Christianity?
- 📝 Are there published testimonies from Latter-day Saints about their personal experiences with the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost?
- 📝 Do Catholics have to request a religious exception for matters of conscience from their parish priest?
- 📝 Are there published testimonies from Jehovah's Witnesses about their experiences with the presence of the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 Are there published testimonies from Christians about their personal experiences with the gift of prophecy?
- 📝 When are the various assorted labels for Catholics - see body - applied and how are they related?
- 📝 Are Christians bound to the laws of their country?
- 📝 On what do Catholics base their doctrine of the eternal virginity of Mary?
- 📝 For Catholics who object to Vatican II, what are the key issues?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for withholding communion from believers who are unbaptized?
- 📝 Are Catholics allowed to read the NIV translation?
- 📝 Are there any writings from the church fathers teaching Original Sin before Augustine?
- 📝 Are there any surviving hymns from the Valdensian movement?
- 📝 Among modern critics who believe in the attributed authorship of the Gospels, what are their arguments?
- 📝 What are the main arguments used by Christian pro-lifers to justify their stance against abortion?
- 📝 How do Jehovah's Witnesses respond to the charge that they are false prophets (because their end-of-the-world predictions didn't come true)?
- 📝 From an idealist perspective, what are the "seven spirits of God"?
- 📝 Why are Mormon Temples Ceremonies kept secret from non-Mormons?