Preparation for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

30. The Liturgical Colors

1. As in the Old, so also in the New Law there are different liturgical colors which impart to the vestments not only splendor, beauty and variety, but also a religious symbolical meaning. The rich, deep symbolism of the colors was the determining reason, why the Church selected and prescribed various colors for the different feasts and seasons, as well as for special functions of the holy year.²²²222Paramenta Altaris, Celebrantis et Ministrorum debent esse coloris convenientis Officio et Missae diei, secundum usum Romanae Ecclesiae (Missal. Rom. Rubr., gener. tit. 18, n. 1). — Non licet in Missae celebratione aliisque ecclesiasticis functionibus adhibere paramenta etiam pretiosa, quae non correspondeant coloribus a rubrica praescriptis (S. R. C. 19. Dec. 1829). — Servetur strictim rubrica quoad colorem paramentorum (S. R. C. 12. Nov. 1831). Until the Middle Age the white color was, if not exclusively, yet constantly used for religious feasts and as a symbol of joy. In the twelfth century the practice of using different colors was already pretty well developed;²²³223Innocent III. (1198–1216) counts, according to the variety of feasts and days, four principal colors (white, red, green, black); the later fifth color, that is, violet, is regarded by him as secondary to black. Quattuor sunt principales colores, quibus secundum proprietates dierum sacras vestes Ecclesia Romana distinguit: albus, rubeus, niger et viridis. Ad hos quattuor ceteri referuntur: ad rubeum colorem coccineus (scarlet), ad nigrum violaceus, ad viridem croceus (saffron). De sacr. alt. myst. l. 1, c. 65. — In Durandus (Ration. l. 3, c. 18) violet appears already in general use. — The Fourteenth Roman Ordo, which is of the fourteenth century, contains also these words: Sancta Romana Ecclesia quinque coloribus utitur in sacris vestibus, videlicet, albo, rubeo, viridi, violaceo et nigro. Quidam autem duos hos ultimos pro uno reputant (c. 49). but not until the epoch of the newly revised edition of the Missal in the sixteenth century was the selection of the liturgical colors finally determined and settled. The five colors prescribed by the Church in her liturgy, to the exclusion of all other colors,²²⁴224On the Sundays Gaudete (in Advent) and Laetare (in Lent) the vestments used in the Missa solemnis should be “rose-colored” (coloris rosacei), in order to enhance the solemnity and express joy by means of this lighter violet, which is so close to the red. Cfr. Cerem. Episc. l. 2, c. 13. 20. are the following: white, red, green, purple and black.²²⁵225Ecclesia quinque coloribus uti consuevit: albo, rubeo, viridi, violaceo et nigro (Missal. Rom. Rubr. gen. tit. 18, n. 1). — White and red are the only real festal colors, and are intended for the different feasts; while green and violet, as a rule, are used only on Sundays and week-days, and black is intended for the Good Friday services, and is used also in the liturgy for the departed.—Yellow (color flavus) and cerulean blue (color caeruleus) are positively forbidden.²²⁶226In some dioceses in Spain it is permitted, or rather obligatory, in virtue of a special papal privilege, to use sky-blue vestments at all the Masses of the Immaculate Conception, whether of the feast itself, or votive (S. R. C. 12. Febr. 1884). Gold colored vestments (paramenta coloris aurei) are also excluded from the use of the Church; but vestments composed entirely or for the most part of real gold cloth (paramenta revera ex auro maxima ex parte contexta) may be tolerated or permitted to take the place of white, red and green vestments. — The Church has, moreover, expressed her disapproval of so combining colors in one and the same vestment, that one principal or fundamental color (color primarius et praedominans) is scarcely or not at all recognizable.²²⁷227S. R. C. 23. Sept. 1837 ad dub. 8, n. 2. Likewise the indiscriminate use for two colors of double-colored vestments is interdicted, for example, a white chasuble with a red cross, to answer for a red as well as for a white vestment; such different colored vestments are tolerated for one color only, to be so decided upon, that the middle part of the vestment is to be regarded merely as ornamental.²²⁸228In chasubles of this description uniformity of color is wanting, wherefore they are not approved; their use (in poorer churches) can at most be tolerated only until they are worn out. — Finally, the use of purple instead of black is forbidden in Masses of Requiem.²²⁹229Missae defunctorum celebrandae sunt omnino in paramentis nigris adeo ut violacea adhiberi nequeant, nisi in casu, quo die 2. Novembris SS. Euchar. sacramentum publicae fidelium adorationi sit expositum pro solemni Oratione 40 Horarum, prout cautum est in Decreto sacrae hujus Congregationis diei 16. Septembris anni 1801 (Decret. Urbis et Orbis S. R. C. 27. Jun. 1868). — Consequently, in order to preserve the sacred symbolism of color, the Church has always declared against confounding, as also against combining, the liturgical colors.

2. “Simple light unfolds its beams in an extraordinary variety of hue, inasmuch as it admits of the most varied degrees of intensity and attenuation, and is refracted into an incalculable number of colors.”²³⁰230Berthold, Das Naturschöne S. 28. Colors are produced by the varied refraction of the rays of light, and, like light itself, stand in an intimate and mysterious relation to the inner spiritual life of man. Light and color, among all material things, are the nearest related to the spiritual. “The sentiments awakened in us by the particular colors are similar to the contrasts between light and darkness. The bright vivid colors act by inciting and rejoicing us, while the dark, sombre colors depress the spirits and produce the effect of darkness.” The colors are not only symbols of different mysteries, truths, thoughts, feelings, sentiments, but they also exert a more or less powerful influence over the understanding and mind, on the life of the soul and heart. Now, this universally known and acknowledged fact is employed by the Church, inasmuch as she makes use of the symbolism of colors in her liturgy for her exalted and holy purposes, for carrying out her divine service.²³¹231Colorum varietas adspectabilis quandam animo injicit mysterii celebrandi praesensionem, quae pietatem excitet foveatque plurimum (Guyet, Heortol. l. 3, c. 29).

The Church possesses in her bosom an inexhaustible, fertile life of faith and grace; this interior life she would reveal exteriorly by the variety and splendor of the liturgical colors, so as to produce and nourish in the hearts of the faithful heavenly thoughts and representations, holy affections and resolutions. Yea, inexhaustibly rich and manifold is the life of the Church. “As in the material world outside the seasons come and go, so also the Church gathers her children around her, and at the foot of the altar in the sanctuary of the immutable One she lives with them through the changing seasons of the ecclesiastical year. In the beginning of the ecclesiastical year, she prepares the hearts of the faithful for the approaching advent of the promised Redeemer; with the shepherds, she leads her children to the crib in the stable, there to celebrate at the holy hour of midnight the merciful birth of our Saviour amid the hymns of the angels (Luke 2, 14). She celebrates the feast of the Circumcision of the Redeemer, in whom all prophecy is fulfilled. With her children she accompanies to Bethlehem the Wise Men guided by the star from the East, there to adore, to make offerings to, and to kneel before the acknowledged God-man and King of the world (Matt. 2, 11). She follows the Divine Saviour in His flight into Egypt and on His return therefrom; and later on, in His public life, she accompanies her Lord and Master in His journeyings, as He preaches His divine doctrine; and from Sunday to Sunday, she is a witness of His teachings and miracles, as though He were visible on earth with us. On Palm Sunday, she solemnly enters Jerusalem with Him, strewing His way with green branches and chanting Hosannas to Him (Mark 11, 8–10). Along with Him she celebrates His last supper in the midst of His Apostles; she accompanies Him in His sorrowful journey to the Garden of Gethsemani, to His unjust judges and persecutors, and on His last journey to Golgotha; there she sees Him expire on the cross, bowing His head; and she follows Him in mourning to the sepulchre where friends have buried Him. After three days she celebrates with joyful Alleluja the Christian vernal feast, the glorious Resurrection of the Lord; she follows Him risen from the dead to the Mount of Olives, whence forty days after He ascends gloriously into heaven in the presence of His disciples; she awaits with His faithful ones the descent of the Holy Ghost and His bountiful outpouring of grace and blessing for the founding of the infant Church; on Trinity Sunday she attests her faith in the fundamental doctrine of her religion, the belief in the Ever Blessed Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; and the feast of Corpus Christi, the feast confessing His living presence in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, she makes resplendent with solemn procession and with all the grandeur and magnificence that the approaching summer enables her to display. In addition to these festivals of the Lord, the Church also celebrates the anniversary feasts of His most blessed Mother, from her Immaculate Conception and birth to her glorious Assumption into heaven, as days commemorative of the sublime graces which she herself received from God and which we too have shared and received through her; likewise she commemorates the special feasts of the Apostles, martyrs, confessors and virgins and of all His saints, in remembrance of the triumphs that they, by their heroic combats, have, with the assistance of His grace, achieved in life and death, bequeathing them to us in many moving examples for our imitation. Finally, when in the material world without the closing autumn season robs the forests of their foliage, and dying nature sinks into the icy embrace of winter, the Church brings to an end the Christian year in her temples with the feast of All Souls, the commemorative day of all those who, dying in the Lord, have passed out from the Church militant into the Church suffering, and she implores the Lord with devout supplication to grant rest unto them, and that He receive them into the Church triumphant to enjoy a blessed eternity with Him.²³²232Geissel, Schriften und Reden II, 387. Thus does a life that is warm, fresh and complete pulsate in the heart of the Church. This life the Church seeks to inculcate on all her children during the course of the ecclesiastical year, by means of her liturgy. This is the object of the varied splendor of the colors of the vestments, with which she has adorned the blooming wreath of her holy feasts and days; for the liturgical colors have a language of their own, by which they point out the spiritual, the divine and the eternal.

3. In the following pages we shall briefly state the symbolical meaning of each of the colors the Church uses at the altar.

a) White is the color of light and, therefore, symbolical of the lustre and glory of the light, that is, of radiant purity, innocence and holiness, as also of heavenly joy, bliss and transfiguration. — White is the robe of the baptized, who in the laver of regeneration are washed from the blemish of every sin; this robe they should wear untarnished and unspotted unto the judgment-seat of Jesus Christ, in order that they may be adorned with the radiant garment of glory. — To those who in the combat against sin persevere victoriously to the end of life, is made in the Apocalypse (3, 5) the promise that they shall be clothed in white garments, that is, rewarded with the possession of the eternal happiness and the glory of heaven—Qui vicerit, vestietur vestimentis albis.²³³233Vestis alba sive splendida notat candorem et splendorem gloriae coelestis, ad quam anhelamus, quamque ambimus velut ejus candidati, ut illa semper nostris oculis et menti obversetur, itaque ineamus vitam sanctam et coelestem (Cornel. a Lapide, in Eccles. 9, 8). In the radiant p. 308light of an eternal day that will never wane shines the heavenly Jerusalem; for it is made bright with the splendor of God and that light is the Lamb (Apoc. 21, 23). At the transfiguration on Mount Thabor, the face of Jesus shone out bright as the sun, and His garments became white and shining (vestitus ejus albus et refulgens) as the sunlit snow (Matt. 17; Luke 9). Whenever God’s angels have appeared to mortals here below, they invariably have manifested themselves clothed in bright and radiant vesture (Matt. 28, 3; Luke 2, 9); the multitude of the elect stand before the throne of God and the Lamb clothed in white garments (amicti stolis albis—Apoc. 7, 9).²³⁴234Stola alba Sanctorum significat 1) conscientiae puritatem, castitatem et candorem; 2) inde consequentem serenitatem, hilaritatem et laetitiam; 3) felicitatem et gloriam (Cornel. a Lapide l. c.). — Many of the saints were often during life and after death seen surrounded with a heavenly splendor. Thus, for example, it is related of the holy Father St. Benedict, that his mien was so amiable, his deportment so angelic, and the splendor which environed him so great, that one would have supposed he was not a being living upon earth, but in heaven. The pale, emaciated face of St. Lidwina shone after her death with a supermundane brightness; her whole appearance was that of an angel.

Now, at the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice “the Lord inclines the heavens and comes down” (inclinavit coelos et descendit—Ps. 17, 10) upon the altar with His hosts, with all His love and bounty, with all His treasures and graces, in order to make a heaven of our poor earth; the celebration of this celestial Sacrifice the priest should always perform with angelic purity and joyfulness. And in order to signify this, the white color is never to be entirely wanting at the altar, some parts at least of the priestly vestments (the amice and alb) must always be white.²³⁵235Ideo ministri Christi vel Ecclesiae in albis vestibus ministrant, quia Angeli, aeterni Regis ministri, in albis apparebant. Per albas itaque vestes admonentur, ut Angelos Dei ministros per castitatis munditiam in Christi servitio imitentur (Honor. Augustod. Gemma anim. l. 1, c. 198). Omni tempore sint vestimenta tua candida (Ecclus. 9, 8). At certain times, for particular reasons, the entire robing of the priest and chalice must be white. This is generally prescribed on those feasts and days when the characteristics of heavenly purity, joy and glory are to be prominently represented and expressed.

Thus all the joyful and glorious mysteries of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are celebrated in white festive colors; for what other color would be more appropriate, for example, for Christmas, for Epiphany, Easter, the Ascension, Corpus Christi? The Church celebrates at midnight the birth of our Divine Redeemer, on holy Christmas night. This blessed night is brighter than the brightest day, for it knows no obscurity, no darkness, no sorrow, no tribulation. It floods the world with a stream of light and joy; it is replete with joy above all other feasts, since in addition to its Heavenly Gift, it brings intimate and heartfelt joy to every household, a joy which, like a pleasant odor, refreshes the heart. — On the Feast of the Epiphany we are reminded of that wonderful star, which “in beauty and brilliancy surpassed the sun,” and which shone brightly into the hearts of the Wise Men, filling them with extraordinary joy. For us also this beautiful feast is a day of rejoicing. Since here below in the luminous obscurity of faith we know God, we pray in the celebration of this feast for the grace to be led in the next life to the clear and blessed vision of His eternal glory. — Easter is radiant with the glory of the Risen Saviour. At no other time of the ecclesiastical year do the church bells ring out so solemnly, does the singing sound more joyous; and the Alleluja is never-ending; the house of God is resplendent with the most beautiful decorations, and the priests ascend the altar, clad in the most festal vestments. Upon all who were permitted to see the Risen Lord, there was poured forth a stream of cheerfulness and happiness, of peace and consolation. Therefore, we also sincerely unite in joy over this great honor of our Lord. — The Ascension is likewise a day of rejoicing and triumph.²³⁶236Solemnitas ista gloriosa est et, ut ita dicam, gaudiosa, in qua et singularis Christo gloria et nobis specialis laetitia exhibetur. Consummatio enim et adimpletio est reliquarum solemnitatum et felix clausula totius itinerarii Filii Dei (S. Bernard. In Ascens. Dom. serm. 2, n. 1). Ascendit Deus in jubilo (Ps. 46, 6). This day is the close of the Lord’s earthly pilgrimage; a bright cloud conceals Him from the gaze of the Apostles, as triumphant “He mounteth above the heaven of heavens” (ascendit super coelum coeli—Ps. 67, 34), to the highest heaven, where, “crowned with glory,” He sits at the right hand of the Father. “And the Apostles adoring went back into Jerusalem with great joy” (Luke 24, 52), and we also rejoice on this day, mindful of the consoling promise of Christ: “In my Father’s house there are many mansions. . . I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again, and will take you to myself, that where I am, you also may be” (John 14, 2–3). — Finally, is not the triumphant and glorious Feast of Corpus Christi a day of overflowing joy, a day of unspeakable bliss, a day of the most rapturous exultation? It would seem on this glorious Feast as though the world had never fallen. The Church militant on earth thrills with joyous emotion, just as the rock threatens to tremble before the mighty waves of the ocean; for the time being she forgets her banishment and her state of combat. Sin appears forgotten; tears flow indeed, but are shed rather out of rapture than for penance. It is like the soul’s first day in heaven, or as though earth itself had been converted into a heaven, from sheer joy in the most holy Sacrament. It is a day on which we cannot stand still, but must move about in procession.²³⁷237Cf. Father Faber, The Blessed Sacrament.

White is, in like manner, used on feasts commemorating the mysteries of the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of God, beginning with that of her Immaculate Conception and continuing until her glorious Assumption into heaven. For Mary is the miraculous flower, a heavenly lily of dazzling whiteness, wholly beautiful and without blemish; the beautiful month of May with its blossoms and wealth of flowers, is a symbol of that abundance of graces and virtues with which she is adorned. In her dazzling light all the saints pale. Save the majesty of God no splendor equals hers; clothed in the light of the sun (Apoc. 12, 1), she has all the blessed spirits as a glittering crown of stars around her head, and all the saints as the moon-light at her feet. She shines in the beauty of the Daughter of God, in the dignity of Mother of God, in the charms of Spouse of God. She is “the bright morning star,” “the bearer of light of the Eternal Day;” “the gentle Queen of Heaven,” “the pure, tender and loving Mother,” “the most lovely heavenly Lady.” “To her gentle care and maternal sweetness” we recommend ourselves on her feasts, that she may be “a companion and protectress to us against the evil one, until through the heavenly portals we reach eternal felicity.”²³⁸238Denifle, Die Schriften des seligen Heinrich Seuse, 1. Abthlg. We cry to Mary, “the Star of the Sea”: Mites fac et castos! Vitam praesta puram! — “Make us meek and chaste! Grant that our life be pure!”

White, moreover, harmonizes admirably with the character of the feasts of the angels. The holy angels, those blessed heavenly spirits, are unspeakably pure: pure in the perfection of their beautiful being, pure in the treasures of divine grace. They bask in the very rays of divine glory; and they reflect as clear, bright mirrors the image of God Himself. Even down into our earthly darkness does this angel light dart its rays: the angels are heavenly messengers, showing us the way of life unto eternal light. They are “our brethren with praise and joy in eternal bliss, and accompany and protect us at all times” (H. Suso). O dear Angel mine, lead me on through joy and sorrow, through want and death to heavenly bliss!

White is, finally, the color of all those saints who are not martyrs, of the confessors, holy women and virgins. All these “walk with Christ in white, because they are worthy” (Apoc. 3, 4). They all either remained pure, inasmuch as they walked the dusty paths of earth unsullied, and never lost the precious and resplendent robe of baptismal innocence;—or, after having fallen into sin, they again became pure, because, as penitents, they washed the stains of their soul in the Blood of the Lamb and in the tears of repentance. But all—both those that ever remained pure and those who again became pure—“now flower as lilies before the Lord and bloom eternally” (Osee 14, 6).

The white color of the vestments admonishes the faithful to appear in the house of God clad with the bright garment of grace and purity, to assist at divine worship with heartfelt joy and gratitude; for it is meet to praise God with holy joy and to render Him thanks for the wonderful light of truth and grace unto which He has called us, and for the greatness and glory of the Redemption which has fallen to our share.

b) The red color is the strongest, the most sprightly and gorgeous of all the colors.²³⁹239Red is also the color of the purple, in which kings and princes clothed themselves; therefore, red purple answers as a symbol of royal majesty, of princely power and dignity. Formerly Christ on the Cross was often represented as a triumphant conqueror, adorned with the regal crown and the purple mantle, the emblem of royal power (regnavit a ligno Deus). The Pope frequently wears red purple garments as a peculiar distinction, notably on Good Friday (Papa luget in purpura). But for many centuries red purple has been the distinctive color of the highest dignitaries in the Church, that is, of the cardinals who, consequently, are called Patres purpurati. Merito purpura Cardinalibus quasi regibus data, cujus color in galero eximiae caritatis est symbolum, cujus igne ita ardere debent, ut semper pro defensione et bono Ecclesiae sanguinem fundere sint parati (S. Antonin. Sum. p. 3, tit. 1. Cf. Piazza, L’Iride sacra spiegata nei colori degli abiti ecclesiastici, cap. 15–16. — Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica, s. v. Porpora). “When the white ray of light is refracted on material objects, it becomes colored and assumes one of the seven colors of the rainbow, of which red—the original color of the rose—is the fullest and most conspicuous” (Laurent). “White is the color of light; red is the color of the most glaring light—of fire. White beamed forth from the Lord on Thabor, when He showed Himself as King of Eternal Light; He stands in red at the praetorium of the governor, when aflame with love and in the scarlet of wounds He enters the combat. St. John beheld Him in flowing white garment in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks (Apoc. 1, 13), as the King of eternal glory; the same St. John sees Him robed in red, when He appears in triumph as conqueror. ‘He was clothed,’ says the holy Seer of Patmos, ‘with a garment sprinkled with blood. The armies that are in heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen and clean. He shall rule the nations with a rod of iron and He treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of God Almighty’ ” (Apoc. 19, 13–15).²⁴⁰240Breiteneicher, Die Passion des Gottmenschen II, 69.

As the color of flame and blood, red represents the ardent, consuming fire of love which the Holy Ghost enkindles in the heart (Rom. 5, 5); it is emblematic of that generous, conquering love which yields up in martyrdom the greatest and dearest of all earthly blessings, namely, life itself,—and triumphs in death. As the sun sets in the bright red glow of the evening, so also love flames up powerfully in the bloody martyrdom. For “love is as strong as death, as hard as hell; the lamps thereof are fire and flames, many waters cannot quench it” (Cant. 8, 6). Without suffering there is no love. Love is shown and proved to be most heroic by the cheerful endurance of the torments of death, and by the shedding of one’s blood.²⁴¹241Caritas tunc maxima est in hac vita, quando pro illa ipsa contemnitur vita (S. Aug. De natura et gratia c. 70, n. 84). For “greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” and “in this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us” (John 15, 13; 1 John 3, 16). In the order of nature, man has nothing more precious than life; for “all that he hath he will give for his life” (Job 2, 4). Therefore, the sacrifice of life, martyrdom, is the most perfect proof of love.

Red is the liturgical vestment for the feasts of the Finding and Exaltation of the Holy Cross, as well as for the feasts of the Passion of our Lord, which for the most part fall on the Fridays of Lent; for on all these feasts Christ’s saving blood shed in torrents and the excessive love of His Sacred Heart are offered to the soul’s consideration. The Cross is the place of sacrifice, that is, the altar (ara crucis), on which the propitiatory Sacrifice was offered up for the sins of the world; it was entirely covered with blood. The remaining instruments of the Passion (the thorns, the nails, the lance) were sprinkled and crimsoned with blood. In the mystery of His passion the Lord appears with dyed garments (tinctis vestibus) as a combating hero, who has gloriously finished His combat for our freedom and gained the victory by His blood (Isa. 63, 1). In the imperishable and roseate adornment of His bleeding wounds, our Lord reveals the inextinguishable flames of love that burn for us in His merciful Heart. “Behold and consider the rose of the bloody passion, how it glows as a mark of the most ardent love. Love and suffering contend with each other: love, to burn more; suffering, to bleed more. The rose of love would be crimsoned in suffering, and the rose of suffering would glow in the fires of love. Behold, how in this rosy attire our best Vine bloomed, Jesus crimsoned with blood! Consider His whole body, and see if you do not recognize the bloom of the blood-red rose! Look at one hand and then at the other, do you not observe the red rose in each? Behold one foot and then the other, are they not rose-colored? Contemplate the pierced side, the rose is not wanting there. O what a stream of blood flowed from the deep wounds of His sacred body! In this fount (of His sacred body) our rose is dyed and glows in deepest crimson hues; for most ardently did love’s fires burn where suffering revealed itself in crimson red. In the greatness of the torment you behold the greatness of love. The Rose glitters with a twofold light before you—it is fiery in its love, and blood-red in its suffering. By the flames of love suffering is purpled; for if there were no love, there would not be this suffering. And again—from this blood-red of torment love radiates in its fulness and glory.”²⁴²242Cf. Breviar. Rom. Lect. II. Noct. in festo ss. 5 Vulnerum D. N. I. Chr. — S. Bonav. Vitis mystica c. 17–22.

Red is also used on the feasts of the saints who gloriously shed their blood for the Lord and manifested a love that surrenders up body and life itself, a love stronger than death and the torments of death.²⁴³243Quod martyribus datur color rubeus, fit propter eorum corpora, ut repraesentet sanguinem ab eis effusum mereri purpuram et regnum coeleste. Quocirca verisimile est, etiam in coelo dotem claritatis, quae erit in corporibus Martyrum, ita candidam fore, ut simul sit rubea, sive vermiculata ex candido et purpureo (Cornel. a Lapide, in Apoc. 7, 9). — To this class belong the Apostles who “planted the Church p. 313in their blood;” then the martyrs, countless multitudes of whom trod in the blood-stained footprints of the Saviour, and are now glorified in their own blood and in the blood of the Lamb;²⁴⁴244The Church sings of the Martyrs: Rubri nam fluido sanguine, laureis—Ditantur bene fulgidis. In the liturgy there are also some saints honored as martyrs, although they did not die a violent death. To these the red, that is, the color similar to fire, applies, inasmuch as they were penetrated with the fire of the Holy Spirit and of love, and, therefore, courageously persevered in the furnace of tribulation and persecution until death. finally, the martyred virgins who preserved victorious fidelity to their Divine Spouse by their constancy in faith as well as by their chaste life, inasmuch as they offered and consecrated to Him together with the lily of their virginity the rose of martyrdom, so that it cannot be decided, whether their wedding garment shines more brightly on account of their snow-white purity, or on account of their rose-colored martyrdom.²⁴⁵245Martyrdom, as proof and evidence of the most perfect love, is more excellent than virginity and is, therefore, preferred to it in the liturgy. Ecclesia praefert Martyres Virginibus tum in ordine, quem servat in Communi Sanctorum, tum in Martyrologio, tum in Litaniis et commemorationibus, tum in hoc ritu, quo in festis Virginum et Martyrum non albo, sed rubeo colore utitur (Quarti, Comment. in Rubr. Miss. p. 1, tit. 18, dub. 5). Therefore, the red rose, because of the color of blood, is considered the flower of the martyrs. Thus the Church sings on the Feast of Holy Innocents: “Hail, blossoms of martyrdom; the persecutors of Christ robbed you of the morning light of life, as the fury of the raging storm destroys the opening rosebuds.”

Red is also the color of Whitsunday. “On this great feast the Church displays in her service the utmost splendor; priest and altar are clothed in crimson red, as emblematic of the ardent flames of the Spirit of God, who descended visibly upon the Apostles, and since then upon millions and millions of souls. They are effulgent rays proceeding from ‘the face of God,’ brilliant in faith and ardent in love” (Wolter). In the form of tongues of fire the Holy Ghost descended upon the disciples, that they might be fluent in words and glowing with love (verbis ut essent proflui et caritate fervidi). And the Holy Ghost still continues ever to strew the fiery sparks of heavenly love upon the earth and in the hearts of men, to create them anew and to fill them with the courage of self-sacrifice. — At the same time, Pentecost is the birthday of the Catholic Church, which as the holy city of God upon the summit of the mountain rises towering high from the ocean of blood shed by the Lord and His martyrs. The Church has always been gloriously honored by the testimony of martyrs and made fruitful in their blood.

As the Divine Bridegroom is “white and ruddy” (candidus et rubicundus—Cant. 5, 10),²⁴⁶246Christus candidus et splendidus est ob puritatem innocentiae et splendorem sanctitatis, qua ex purissima Virgine natus sanctissimus exstitit; rubicundus propter passionem, qua sanguine suo fuit purpuratus (Cornel. a Lapide in Cant. Cantic. l. c.). His spouse, the human soul, should p. 314also shine resplendent in the delicate white of purity and in the fiery red of divine love, which when commingled make up the lovely rosy garment of grace. O charming heavenly attire of grace in a soul! Brilliant beauty that adorns and delights the garden of God! Who would not desire this adornment, covet this beauty, this roseate raiment of the soul! Thy soul must shine in the rose-colored garment of purity, love and grace, if thou wouldst be admitted to the heavenly wedding-feast. — Red also reminds thee of the great accounting-day, of the dreadful day of judgment. Behold, the Son of man comes on bright, shining clouds; He comes surrounded by the brilliant heavenly court; He comes with great power and majesty. Like the blood-red radiant rising sun, He appears in the purple clouds of the eternal heavens, in the purple rays of the holy Cross, in the purple splendor of His radiant wounds. The Cross will shine in the heavens, and will cast frightful blood-red rays on the wicked. On the body of the Judge of the world His sacred wounds will shine as fiery purple and terrify all who have rendered His precious blood fruitless and trampled it under foot.

c) Green is a medium between the strong and the weak colors; therefore, it is the most refreshing and the most soothing of colors to the eye. Everywhere, when spring awakens, country and meadow, hill and dale grow green and bud forth, blossom and exhale sweet odors; all nature develops new life and growth, decks herself out in fresh and lovely verdure and gives promise of plenteous harvest. According to the general opinion and also in the liturgy, green is, therefore, a symbol of hope.²⁴⁷247This symbolical conception of green may be established in various ways. In winter the pleasant green of springtime is the subject of our confidence, and when it appears, it becomes for us an earnest of an abundant harvest. — Just as green refreshes and revives the eye in a high degree, so it is especially the virtue of hope that cheers and encourages, consoles and rejoices us (spe gaudentes, in tribulationibus patientes, Rom. 12, 12). — In nature green is a sign of life and, therefore, it becomes in the higher order the symbol of the life of grace and glory, which constitutes the principal object of Christian hope (gloriamur in spe gloriae filiorum Dei, Rom. 5, 2; in spem vitae aeternae, quam repromisit Deus, Tit. 1, 2). Hence the Church prays: Mentis perustae vulnera—Munda virore gratiae; and of Easter Sunday she sings: Dies venit, dies tua,—In qua reflorent omnia.

Green harmonizes with the nature of the Church. She is a mighty tree, which rears its head majestically heavenward, spreads its shady branches and leaves covering the earth with blessings, displaying its richest blossoms in all their beauty, and producing an abundant harvest of precious fruits of grace and virtue. She is the well-watered garden of the Lord; Christ, the Good Shepherd, leads His flock to pasture on its ever-green meadows, waters and refreshes them at the fountains of the ever-fresh and living waters of grace. Thus the Church here below grows green and blooms, increases and ripens on her way to her eternal consummation.

The Church is robed in green garments to express her joyous, vivid hope, of coming to the ever delightful and ever-green pastures of the celestial paradise,²⁴⁸248Constituat te Christus Filius Dei vivi intra paradisi sui semper amoena virentia (Ordo commendat. animae). of possessing the incorruptible inheritance and the never-fading crown of glory in heaven (1 Peter 1, 4; 5, 4). In the heavenly Jerusalem the blessed eat of the tree of life, whose never-falling leaves are for the healing of the nations (Apoc. 22, 2); there shall the Lamb lead them to the fountains of the waters of life (Apoc. 7, 17).

For the reason that green holds an intermediate place between the bright and the dark colors, it is used in the Church service on days, which have, on the one hand, no special festal and joyful character, but which, on the other, are moreover not days appointed for penance and mourning. To this class belong the Sundays and week-days after the Octave of the Epiphany until Septuagesima and from the Octave of Pentecost until Advent.²⁴⁹249The Sundays named are, therefore, called Dominicae virides. Cfr. Angel. Rocca, Thesaurus pontif. sacrarumque antiquit. I, 75: An summo Pontifici sacrum facienti conveniat uti sacris vestibus colore viridi affectis. — When after the Feast of the Epiphany we see green used at the altar, we should re-awaken and re-animate the virtue of Christian hope in our heart; for the green vestments are a consoling pledge of the hope of eternal salvation, that has been regained for us by Christ’s merciful Birth and Manifestation, by the revelation of His goodness and love for men. — The ecclesiastical season after Pentecost represents the journeying of the children of God to their true country in heaven. “Years fly with the rapidity of an arrow, one after another, and centuries follow one another in never-ending succession; but their term of years comes and goes only because He guides and directs it in its course, whose glance encompasses all the centuries of time (Ecclus. 36, 19), that in their rapid flight the years of time may announce that there is One who was before all time and who exists unto all ages (42, 21), the King of Ages (1 Tim. 1, 17), whose throne is forever and ever (Heb. 1, 8) and whose kingdom endureth throughout all generations (Ps. 144, 13). Everything under the sun is changeable and must perish, because He who endureth forever, wills that it should perish. Man, too, may not remain upon earth. Created out of nothing, his life is short and filled with labors and his end is painful, and after all nothing remains to him but the tomb (Job 17, 1. — Wisdom 2, 1–2). A creature of yesterday, he passes as a shadow moving and changing, until after a few short days he dies (Job 14, 2, 5); but his life is so brief, that he may acknowledge that there is One, the Lord of Life, who has set for him this short period (14, 5), so that he may not forget the unchangeable on account of the changeable, and attach his heart to the goods that are dust like himself. It is appointed for him once to die (Heb. 9, 27); but he dies only when and because He that rules also over death (Ps. 67, p. 31621), suffers him to die, so that he may understand that only through the Lord, the Conqueror of Death (1 Cor. 15, 42), power has been taken from death and from the fear of death (Heb. 2, 15), that the Master of the harvest of men sows the corruptible body in corruption only that it may again arise in incorruption (1 Cor. 15, 42), and that all that proceed from Adam and who by sin have become subject to death (Rom. 5, 12), only by death and the grace of God can come to Him in His eternal tabernacles, where He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and where there will be no more sadness, nor sorrow, nor pain, nor death any more (Apoc. 21, 3–4)” (Geissel). This earthly pilgrimage is, indeed, beset with hardships, difficulties, privations and temptations, and yet abounding in consolation and joy by reason of the unfailing expectation of eternal rest, of final victory and of never-ending triumph in our heavenly country. And by “this hope is our salvation and our joy” (Rom. 8, 24; 12, 12): it mitigates the sorrow of the present time and brings along with it the consolation of a happier future. Deprived of this hope we should be the most miserable of men (1 Cor. 15, 19). — During the period after Pentecost the Church wears green vestments, in order to fill us in faith with all joy and peace, so that we may abound in hope and the power of the Holy Ghost (Rom. 15, 13): for to us in our pilgrimage, hope for the goods of the Lord in the land of the living is a guiding-star, a pilgrim’s staff and a support.

d) Purple belongs to the subdued colors, but it is somewhat enlivened by red. Inasmuch as the violet-color resembles the dark grey of ashes, it inculcates an earnest spirit of penance and a true penitential disposition; but in so far as it is like the dark coloring of the violet (violaceus from viola), which modestly conceals itself amid the grass of the field, in the vale and wood from human eye, blooming and yielding its perfume but for its Creator, it may be considered as an emblem of unpretentious humility, of holy retirement, of well-tempered sorrow, of a sorrowful longing and sighing after heaven.²⁵⁰250The symbolism of violet may also be rendered in a somewhat different way. Inasmuch as violet is dark blue, it symbolizes in general sorrow and grief (for it produces a dark blue shadow upon the face);—and inasmuch as it is violet blue, it indicates at the same time, that this penitential sadness and sorrow proceeds from an humble and humbled heart (for violet is symbolical of humility and of the humble). The dark, serious violet, therefore, bespeaks sadness; though not a complete and universal sadness, but one that is moderated and tempered with rays of joy.²⁵¹251In former times violet was rarely used, for example, on the Feast of Holy Innocents and on Laetare Sunday, because black was regarded as a penitential color; since the end of the thirteenth century, the present more strict distinction between violet and black has been gradually developed. The Ordo Rom. XIV, c. 53 has the following rubric in reference to the use of black in the fourteenth century: Colore nigro utitur (s. Romana Ecclesia) feria sexta in Parasceve, in Missis defunctorum et in processionibus, quas Romanus Pontifex nudis pedibus facit. Sciendum tamen est quod diebus, quibus est usus nigri coloris, uti violaceo non est inconveniens. Consequently, violet is a p. 317fitting emblem of that holy sadness pleasing to God, which produces a spirit of penance steadfast unto salvation (quae secundum Deum tristitia est, poenitentiam in salutem stabilem operatur—2 Corinth. 7, 10), and also of that laudable sorrow felt by the soul in being obliged to remain far from the Lord, in a world foreign to her, and daily, yea, hourly endangering her salvation. The soul penetrated with this sorrow does indeed frequently exclaim: “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7, 24)—or: “Woe is me: that my sojourning is prolonged!” (Ps. 119, 5); but her sorrow, her sadness is not without its consolation and sweetness.

From what has been said the liturgical use of violet vestments on certain days of the ecclesiastical year can easily be explained. In general, the color is worn on those days that bear the serious character of penance. The penitential color used is intended to represent and proclaim to the eye the penitential sentiments, the holy grief and ardent supplications of the Church. The days for violet are, in the first place, the Ember days (excepting those of Pentecost week) and the vigils, as well as the days appointed for the greater penitential procession (Litaniae majores) on St. Mark’s Day and on the three days termed Rogation Days (Rogationes) before the Ascension. Violet reminds the faithful on these days that they should be intent upon appeasing the justice of God by penance, cleansing their hearts from sin; that they should fervently implore God to free them from famine and tribulation, and turn away from them calamities and divine judgments. — The dark sombre violet color is intended principally for the seasons of Advent and Lent. The observance of Advent is, indeed, enlivened with manifold tones of ever increasing joyousness, since we have the comforting certainty that our Lord Himself will come and redeem us, and that we shall soon behold His glory full of grace and truth. — Nevertheless, Advent prominently bears the stamp of a holy penitential grief, and of a sorrowful and longing desire for redemption from sin and its oppressive misery. The chief duty during the season of Advent is to employ its days in cleansing perfectly the heart and in preparing a worthy dwelling-place for the coming Saviour. Ab alto Jesus promicat,—from on high Jesus already sends the first rays of His splendor to greet us; He cries out to the soul: “Be zealous, therefore, and do penance. Behold, I stand at the gate and knock. If any man shall hear My voice and open to Me the door, I will come unto him and I will sup with him and he with Me” (Apoc. 3, 19–20). — The violet color in which the Church robes herself from Septuagesima Sunday, or Ash Wednesday until Easter, forcibly admonishes us to consecrate this penitential season to the spirit of mortification and to works of penance. We should then faithfully consider, devoutly reverence and generously embrace the mystery of the cross; we should sincerely acknowledge, contritely detest and atone for our sins, correct our frivolous, sensual, slothful life, and to this end indulge in “words, food, drink, sleep, jokes more sparingly, p. 318and be more watchful;” by means of prayer, meditation, fasting we should be converted with our whole heart to God from the vanity and the turmoil of the world, to God, who is so good and a God of mercy (Joel 2, 12–13). The dark penitential color shows us that we must still abide far removed from the heavenly Zion on the rivers of Babylon—meditating, praying, weeping, and longing for the eternal home. “What are we here on earth? Exiles, captives, a prey to every danger met with in Babylon. If we love our true country, if our heart longs to see it again, then we must break with all the allurements offered by this foreign land, we must reject the cup of forbidden pleasure with which it intoxicates so many of our captive brethren. It invites us to its joys and pleasures, but our harps should be left suspended on the willows of its accursed rivers, until the signal for our return to Jerusalem shall be given (Ps. 125). They would tempt us at least to sing the songs of Zion in the unholy land, as though our heart could be moved with joy far away from our true home, although we know that this would bring on us eternal banishment; but ‘how could we sing the songs of the Lord in a strange land?’ (Ps. 136). The Church endeavors to inspire us with these sentiments during the long days of our tribulation; she draws our attention to the dangers that menace us, which are partly within our own selves, partly in the outer world.” (Guéranger).

e) Black is a color essentially the opposite of white: the series of all colors and of all combinations of colors is limited by the white on the one side, and by the black on the other; in these two the distinction of colors is suspended. Black is, therefore, the color of extinct life, of the absence of the light of joy, of death and the tomb,—consequently, it is symbolical of that most profound, sorrowful mourning such as death produces.²⁵²252Hence nigrae (sc. vestes) = mourning robes, as albae (sc. vestes) = solemn and festal robes. Clothed in black garments the Church bewails the death of her Divine Spouse on Good Friday; she stands at the grave and at the altar arrayed in black, when praying and offering Sacrifice for her departed children.²⁵³253The wearing of black garments is prescribed for the clergy. This color constantly reminds them of their obligation to lead a life dead to the world and retired from it, a life that is mortified and hidden with Christ in God. “Black garments should be a sign of a pure, white soul,” writes St. Jerome to the monk Rusticus.

Good Friday is the day commemorative of the sufferings and death of the Lord—and, therefore, of the entire ecclesiastical year the day of most profound grief and sorrow. Then it is that the house of God is a house of mourning, and the divine worship a worship of mourning. The altars are bare and unadorned; lamentations and sorrowful psalms alone are heard. All that the Church says and does,—her entire Good Friday liturgy breathes but affliction and grief. For on this day the Divine Victim shed His blood on the Cross for the sins of the world; the heavens were then overshadowed with a black pall of mourning, the earth, too, mourned, shaken to its very foundations. “At the Last Supper our Lord clothed Himself in white, when He girt Himself with the white linen cloth and washed the feet of His disciples. This was a sign of peace. In the judgment hall of Pilate He was clad in red, when the soldiers placed the scarlet cloak about Him: and this was a sign of blood and of reconciliation by blood. But on Calvary He is shrouded in black by the darkness of the sun, and this is the sign of grief and of approaching death. For now is come the all-important hour, the hour of which God Himself had spoken ages before by the Prophet Ezechiel: ‘I will cover the heavens, when Thou shalt be put out, and I will make the stars thereof dark. I will make all the lights of heaven to mourn over Thee and I will cause darkness over the land, saith the Lord God’ ” (Ezech. 32, 7–8). The annual commemoration of the bloody death of Jesus is at all times a day of pain, a day of sorrow, a day of silent grief for us, because our salvation proceeded only from His wounds, our life sprung only from His death—and because our sins inflicted these wounds, caused His death. Justly, therefore, does the Church on Good Friday robe herself in the color of death and mourning, and prostrate herself in profound adoration, in meditation full of bitter grief before the Cross on which was suspended the salvation of the world.²⁵⁴254Justum est ut hi, pro quibus passus est (Dominus) impassibilis, cum omni hujus saeculi tempore, tum praecipue in die suae passionis ei compatiantur, pro se dolenti condoleant, pro se tristanti tristitiae vicem rependant, amore pro se morientis in hac potissimum die ab omni carnis delectatione semetipsos commortificent (Pseudo-Alcuin. c. 18).

Black is also the color of the liturgy for the dead. The Church is a loving mother; she does not abandon or forget her children even after death, but she even accompanies them with her mourning service (Exsequiae) to the grave and follows them beyond the grave unto the other world, unto eternity. She knows not whether the faithful departed may immediately be admitted to the eternal light, to enjoy the Beatific Vision (Ps. 35, 10), or whether they have yet to abide for awhile in darkness and in the shadow of death (Isa. 9, 2). The latter is generally the case; for the majority at their departure from this life are not perfectly cleansed from every defilement contracted from intercourse with the living and by reason of human frailty (per fragilitatem carnis humana conversatione). Therefore, is the passage to an unknown eternity and to the severe judgment-seat of an irritated and just God fraught with fear so grave and so awful. By the black color at the funeral service the Church would admonish the living to have compassion and mercy on the poor suffering souls, who can no longer merit of themselves by good deeds, prayer and penance, and by their suffrages to mitigate their pains and assist them to gain speedy admission to the vision of eternal light.²⁵⁵255The case is quite different with regard to children, the little ones whom God takes to Himself. They die wearing the unsullied garment of baptismal innocence and enter immediately into heavenly glory. Therefore, they are not interred with the expression of mourning, but of joy: the priest wearing a white stole.