Historically, modes were used primarily as polyphonic forms and were essentially pre-harmonic. Sure, you could take a vertical slice out of the notes a chapel full of monks were chanting and put a chord name to it, but actual, harmonic frameworks as such didn't come into music in a really important way until a couple of centuries later.

If you abandon the whole idea of modes, you lose a lot of tradition, which seems a bit odd for someone who is interested traditional music.

Putting guitar chords to modal songs is a modern addition, and although it can work very nicely IF tastefully done, I think it needs to be done with a very light hand.

Don Firth