Liturgical Colors: a YCW Explainer
By Emma Restuccia
I once was speaking with a friend who told me how her mom would always coordinate her Sunday best to match the colors of the Catholic liturgical season. She would wear purple during Advent, pink on Gaudete Sunday, red on Pentecost Sunday, and so forth.
While this seems to be liturgically living at its most fervent and extreme, it makes one applaud the meditation and intentionality behind the act. But there are other ways to enter more deeply and fully into the liturgical year, and to incorporate the Church calendar into our lives. One way is simply to understand and reflect on the significance of each season as manifested in the colors Mother Church gives us to understand the holy times.
Every word counts––especially in the Scriptures. Heeding mention of colors in the Scriptures can help one better contemplate the meaning and mood of each season, a way of using the physical world to ponder the spiritual. The main colors of the liturgical cycle are purple, green, white, gold, and red, each symbolizing the solemnity of their particular season.
Purple
The Church is currently in the season of Lent, so purple seems like a fitting place to begin. The color purple is named 53 times in the Bible––44 references in the Old Testament and nine in the New. In the Old Testament, many mentions of this royal and rare color describe the ornation and style of the priestly garments, the coverings of the tabernacle, altar, the Ark of the Covenant, and the robes of royal or honored people. The color purple is biblically associated with royalty, as the dye was scarce and costly to acquire.
This is why, in the New Testament, the references to this regal color are found mainly within the Passion narratives. As a mockery, the soldiers enrobe Christ in a purple cloak, placing a reed as a scepter in His hand and on His head a crown of thorns. These bitter symbols are meant to mock Christ as the King of the Jews. But, in reality, they manifest His true Kingship. Purple conveys a sense of solemnity, somberness, and regality.
Thus, the priest wears purple vestments during this holy time. In some churches, the faithful also see their statues covered with purple fabric towards the end of Lent. Statues may be covered for the duration of Lent, or just during the last two weeks of Lent––called Passiontide. The tradition of veiling statues stems from the Gospel reading in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass for Passion Sunday: “They therefore took up stones to cast at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out from the temple” (John 8:59). Jesus hid his own divinity, and the reverent veiling of statues in violet contemplates the meaning of this during the last weeks of Lent. Many lay people adopt this Lenten practice within their own homes too.
The Advent season is the other holy period in which the priest and liturgy utilize the color purple. Violet connotes the awaiting of the newborn King, and reveals the humble, lowly babe as the King and Savior of mankind. Purple again expresses royalty and kingship, but in a different way as during Lent.
Green
The color Catholics most often see in church is green, used during Ordinary Time, which composes 33 or 34 weeks of the 52 week liturgical (and calendar) year. Green is the color of this “ordinary” time because it embodies what the Church and the faithful are about during these weeks: growth, life, and patience.
Green is noted 36 times throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. Many of these references are to the natural world, to the Good Shepherd leading His sheep to verdant pastures, or comparing the righteous, the people of God, to flourishing greenery. A noticeably earthy color, green in nature calls to mind spring and summer, a time when the earth awakens––buds sprout, leaves unfold, grass grows, and new life springs forth.
“Green bespeaks hope,” John Walsh writes in The Mass and Vestments of the Catholic Church. Precisely because of this springtime connection, green is the traditional color of hope, a virtue emphasized in Ordinary Time. The long weeks of the common season provide an opportunity for patience during the Church’s time of spiritual growth, especially in the virtue of hope, which can enliven and fortify the soul for the seasons ahead.
White & Gold
The colors white and gold embody an atmosphere of triumph and glory during the Christmas, Epiphany, and Easter celebrations. These joyful colors celebrate the victory of Christ during His birth at Christmas and His resurrection at Easter. The colors of purity and light, white and gold illustrate the spiritual freedom and festivity that animate the soul in these days.
White is referenced 68 times in the bible, and gold more than 400 times. Each mention offers the chance for unique meditation but, most notably, the many references of white in the Old Testament allude to the purification of the body and of the soul from sin. The colors also signify holiness and abundance. Christ is clothed in white at His Transfiguration and Resurrection, symbolizing His breaking the bonds of death and triumph over sin as the Son of God. The color is further used during special feasts or solemnities, or during weddings and baptisms.
Red
“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,” the Church Father Tertullian famously coined. Thus, the blood red color is used during the feasts of martyrs. Red is not worn or used during a specific season, but only during individual feasts and holy days, such as Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Pentecost. In nature, this vibrant color is witnessed in fire and blood, and is often associated with love (similar to Valentine’s Day). Likewise, the special feasts in which the liturgy dons red bring to mind the fire of the Holy Spirit, Divine Love, and the blood of Christ and of the Church. The ardor and spirit of this energetic color directs the heart and mind upwards.
The sensory details and spectrum of colors the Church uses to beautify Her sacred seasons signal the faithful how they are to respond to the ever-changing focus of the liturgical calendar––with repentance, solemnity, perseverance, joy, and fervency.
