Does anyone have a good link for liturgical colors by feast or date?

  • Thread starter Thread starter couponfit
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I’d say the Wiki is actually far more comprehensive since the USCCB seemingly forces certain colors on certain days. For example, they use the awful white for Good Friday, which is all good and well and allowed and everything, but black is the far more traditional color, and even violet is a better option than white.

The USCCB doesn’t show the optional colors at all.
 
I’d say the Wiki is actually far more comprehensive since the USCCB seemingly forces certain colors on certain days. For example, they use the awful white for Good Friday, which is all good and well and allowed and everything, but black is the far more traditional color, and even violet is a better option than white.

The USCCB doesn’t show the optional colors at all.
I always thought Red was the color for Good Friday. Or at least that’s the color we’ve always used at my parish.

// then again we use blue for Advent…
 
Red is the proper colour for the Solemn Liturgy on Good Friday afternoon. For any other liturgy on that day purple is the proper colour. Blue is not an approved liturgical colour.
 
I’m not convinced Wiki have got it completely right. I am happy for any one to demonstrate I’m wrong. The main colours used in the OF Roman Rite are green, purple, red, and white. Black, gold, and rose are optional colours. E.g., Wiki says rose must be used on 3rd Sunday of Advent and purple is an alternative option. In fact it’s the other way round: rose is the optional alternative.
 
Red is the proper colour for the Solemn Liturgy on Good Friday afternoon. For any other liturgy on that day purple is the proper colour. Blue is not an approved liturgical colour.
Except in certain regions for Marian feast days. Don’t know if it would be permitted in Advent for a Sarum Use mass, but those are extremely rare in the Catholic Church today. Also blue for Advent has been an option in Anglicanism for a long time and I don’t know if it will be allowed in the new Anglican Ordinariates.
 
Except in certain regions for Marian feast days. Don’t know if it would be permitted in Advent for a Sarum Use mass, but those are extremely rare in the Catholic Church today. Also blue for Advent has been an option in Anglicanism for a long time and I don’t know if it will be allowed in the new Anglican Ordinariates.
I think for the majority of CAF members the blue isn’t relevant. I debated whether or not to mention the exception about blue. It seems I came to the wrong conclusion. I believe blue can be used for Marian feast days in Spain and perhaps some other Spanish-speaking countries. The Anglicans mess around with a lot of things. Personally I hope that part of the Anglican patrimony doesn’t come into the ordinariates.
 
My google skills are not so good. Thanks?
The following is a basic start. It doesn’t give all options; it’s basic! I’ve not taken account of ritual or votive Masses or those for various needs and occasions. It excludes the options of black, gold, rose, and “best vestments”, etc.

Maundy Thursday: white for the Chrism and Evening Masses otherwise purple
Good Friday: red for the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion otherwise purple
Holy Saturday: before the Paschal Vigil purple, for the Paschal Vigil white
Christmas, Epiphany and Ascension: white
Pentecost: red
Holy Week: Monday to Thursday purple
Sundays and weekdays of Easter and Christmas: white
Sundays and weekdays of Advent and Lent: purple
Sundays and weekdays in Ordinary Time: green
Feast days of the Lord: red for his passion otherwise white
Feast days of our Lady: white
Feast days of saints: red for martyrs and whites for other saints
All Souls: purple

I hope this helps.
 
My question is how “by the colors” must you be? In my church decorating I really don’t follow the “official” colors that often. I’ve done Christmas in White, white and gold. white and red, white and blue, and combos of those colors. I have no say over what the priest wears (and 99% of the time it’s the right colors (outside Advent where we’ve use blue for 30 years). Even now during Christmas in the sanctuary there’s more blue than white in the banners (though it’s for the “night sky” over Bethlehem than anything else). I guess the question is “how wrong” is it to do this?
 
I think for the majority of CAF members the blue isn’t relevant. I debated whether or not to mention the exception about blue. It seems I came to the wrong conclusion. I believe blue can be used for Marian feast days in Spain and perhaps some other Spanish-speaking countries. The Anglicans mess around with a lot of things. Personally I hope that part of the Anglican patrimony doesn’t come into the ordinariates.
I think this is a relevant topic for most readers, because most of us I think have had at least occasional run-ins with blue being used for Advent or for Marian feast days.

Blue is also traditionally used for Marian feasts in Bavaria, I believe, but yes it’s best known in Spanish-speaking countries. And on EWTN, which seems strange to me since they are in Alabama, but I guess they must have some kind of permission. Or their religious status allows them to make the call themselves, perhaps?

When the Anglicans introduced blue as an option for Advent, it was because of renewed interest in Anglicanism’s Catholic roots and a belief that blue was used for Advent in the Sarum Use (sometimes called the Sarum Rite or even English Rite) of Medieval and Reformation-era Catholic England (and briefly Scotland and Ireland too, and I would assume Wales as well). Its my understanding that these sorts of things were actually less uniform than in modern times and some individual recorded instances of blue being used don’t necessarily mean it was a universal practice in the Sarum Use, but the point is it’s something taken from local Catholic traditions, and should be respected if the Anglican Ordinariates decide to and are allowed to retain it. Or of someone decides to seriously revive the Sarum Use.

An argument could even be made to revive the tradition in English-heritage countries in general. But any such move would have to be approved by the proper authorities, which I imagine would be the national bishops’ conference and the Vatican. This has not happened anywhere as far as I’m aware.

Also even were it to start happening in other English-speaking countries it would be a difficult cultural question for the United States. It would make no sense to have both the custom of liturgical blue for Marian feast days and for Advent, so we’d have to pick just one, or neither. The choice of either one would constitute a controversial cultural statement about the American Church.
 
My question is how “by the colors” must you be? In my church decorating I really don’t follow the “official” colors that often. I’ve done Christmas in White, white and gold. white and red, white and blue, and combos of those colors. I have no say over what the priest wears (and 99% of the time it’s the right colors (outside Advent where we’ve use blue for 30 years). Even now during Christmas in the sanctuary there’s more blue than white in the banners (though it’s for the “night sky” over Bethlehem than anything else). I guess the question is “how wrong” is it to do this?
Not everything in the church has to be 100% the assigned color for the liturgical season. What you describe sounds fine to me, as long as the priest’s vestments and such are the correct color.
 
I think this is a relevant topic for most readers, because most of us I think have had at least occasional run-ins with blue being used for Advent or for Marian feast days.

Blue is also traditionally used for Marian feasts in Bavaria, I believe, but yes it’s best known in Spanish-speaking countries. And on EWTN, which seems strange to me since they are in Alabama, but I guess they must have some kind of permission. Or their religious status allows them to make the call themselves, perhaps?

When the Anglicans introduced blue as an option for Advent, it was because of renewed interest in Anglicanism’s Catholic roots and a belief that blue was used for Advent in the Sarum Use (sometimes called the Sarum Rite or even English Rite) of Medieval and Reformation-era Catholic England (and briefly Scotland and Ireland too, and I would assume Wales as well). Its my understanding that these sorts of things were actually less uniform than in modern times and some individual recorded instances of blue being used don’t necessarily mean it was a universal practice in the Sarum Use, but the point is it’s something taken from local Catholic traditions, and should be respected if the Anglican Ordinariates decide to and are allowed to retain it. Or of someone decides to seriously revive the Sarum Use.

An argument could even be made to revive the tradition in English-heritage countries in general. But any such move would have to be approved by the proper authorities, which I imagine would be the national bishops’ conference and the Vatican. This has not happened anywhere as far as I’m aware.

Also even were it to start happening in other English-speaking countries it would be a difficult cultural question for the United States. It would make no sense to have both the custom of liturgical blue for Marian feast days and for Advent, so we’d have to pick just one, or neither. The choice of either one would constitute a controversial cultural statement about the American Church.
I would love to see blue vestments be approved and used on marian feasts. Certainly not during advent though… except December 8 and 11!
 
I think this is a relevant topic for most readers, because most of us I think have had at least occasional run-ins with blue being used for Advent or for Marian feast days.

Blue is also traditionally used for Marian feasts in Bavaria, I believe, but yes it’s best known in Spanish-speaking countries. And on EWTN, which seems strange to me since they are in Alabama, but I guess they must have some kind of permission. Or their religious status allows them to make the call themselves, perhaps?

When the Anglicans introduced blue as an option for Advent, it was because of renewed interest in Anglicanism’s Catholic roots and a belief that blue was used for Advent in the Sarum Use (sometimes called the Sarum Rite or even English Rite) of Medieval and Reformation-era Catholic England (and briefly Scotland and Ireland too, and I would assume Wales as well). Its my understanding that these sorts of things were actually less uniform than in modern times and some individual recorded instances of blue being used don’t necessarily mean it was a universal practice in the Sarum Use, but the point is it’s something taken from local Catholic traditions, and should be respected if the Anglican Ordinariates decide to and are allowed to retain it. Or of someone decides to seriously revive the Sarum Use.

An argument could even be made to revive the tradition in English-heritage countries in general. But any such move would have to be approved by the proper authorities, which I imagine would be the national bishops’ conference and the Vatican. This has not happened anywhere as far as I’m aware.

Also even were it to start happening in other English-speaking countries it would be a difficult cultural question for the United States. It would make no sense to have both the custom of liturgical blue for Marian feast days and for Advent, so we’d have to pick just one, or neither. The choice of either one would constitute a controversial cultural statement about the American Church.
I think too much is made of Sarum Use colours. I don’t think they had a formal scheme of colours like we have now.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top