FACTS ABOUT OUR FAITH

 

MASS, EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE AND BANQUET

Liturgical Colors The colors of outer vestments vary with liturgical seasons, feasts and other circumstances. The colors and their use are:

Green: For the season of Ordinary Time; symbolic of hope and the vitality of the life of faith.

Violet (Purple): For Advent and Lent; may also be used in Masses for the dead; symbolic of penance. (See below, Violet for Advent.)

Red: For the Sunday of the Passion, Good Friday, Pentecost; feasts of the Passion of Our Lord, the Apostles and Evangelists, martyrs; symbolic of the supreme sacrifice of life for the love of God.

Rose: May be used in place of purple on the Third Sunday of Advent (formerly called Gaudete Sunday) and the Fourth Sunday of Lent (formerly called Laetare Sunday); symbolic of anticipatory joy during a time of penance.

White: For the seasons of Christmas and Easter; feasts and commemorations of Our Lord, except those of the Passion; feasts and commemorations of the Blessed Virgin Mary, angels, saints who are not martyrs, All Saints (Nov. 1), St. John the Baptist (June 24), St. John the Evangelist (Dec. 27), the Chair of St. Peter (Feb. 22), the Conversion of St. Paul (Jan. 25). White, symbolic of purity and integrity of the life of faith, may generally be substituted for other colors, and can be used for funeral and other Masses for the dead.

Options are provided regarding the color of vestments used in offices and Masses for the dead. The newsletter of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy, in line with No. 308 of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, announced in July 1970: “In the dioceses of the United States, white vestments may be used, in addition to violet (purple) and black, in offices and Masses for the dead.”

Violet for Advent: Violet is the official liturgical color for the season of Advent, according to the September 1988, edition of the newsletter of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy. Blue was being proposed in order to distinguish between the Advent season and the specifically penitential season of Lent. The newsletter said, however, that “the same effect can be achieved by following the official color sequence of the Church, which requires the use of violet for Advent and Lent, while taking advantage of the varying shades which exist for violet. Light blue vestments are not authorized for use in the United States.”

Considerable freedom is permitted in the choice of colors of vestments worn for votive Masses.

EXCERPTS TAKEN FROM:

BUY IT NOW! Click on the book for more information.   EXCERPTS TAKEN FROM: 2004 Catholic Almanac By Matthew Bunson, General Editor