Does your Church use Blue for Advent?

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I went to a neighboring parish this weekend and it was purple but the darkest purple I think they could find because it appeared very blue-like. The wreath of course was clearly purple. I think the liturgists think they are costume and set designers from Hollywood and Broadway and have to “Project Runway” it all up. Stick with the basics please.
 
My Parish has always wore violet and rose colored vestments. Our former pastor would celbrate daily Mass in navy blue. :nope: The Parish where I attend daily Mass used to always have their priests wear blue, until this year. Although the sanctuary is decorated with royal blue and there are three royal blue candles on the Advent wreath; so far the priests have been wearing violet chasubles. Although not perfect, it is better then what we had before.

I read before that the custom of royal blue during Advent was from the Protestant diocese of salsbury, or something like that. It was retained to that diocese before the schism (remember the Liturgy was not codified before Trent), and then later after the reforms of the Church of England, it became more widespread. Thus wearing blue for Advent is a Protestant tradition with no approval from Rome for use outside of the diocese of its origin. I won’t say this is theologically wrong, but it is wrong as matter of discpline. Rome has not approved of this color to distinquish the season of Advent from Lent and so it should not be used.
 
Charybdis said:
Just a sort of tongue in cheek post here but I was wanting to ask if your priest/church uses the unauthorized blue color for anything related to Advent instead of the Church approved Purple???

Our advent wreath in the church was decked out in these horrid looking royal blue candles!!!
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You know how some posters have a little picture in their signature? I saw this on one of the poster’s signatures - I won’t name who it is because I never asked the person if this what he thinks it should like, or he had it there for other reasons… he does present a link to where he got this pic
It is the purple, red, pink, green advent wreath. I"m guessing there is some sort of symbolic meaning behing each of the colors… me? I think it is gaudy:bigyikes: . I prefer purple, purple, pink, purple.👍

cruzblanca.org/hermanoleon/sem/c/adv/1/index.htm
 
Charybdis said:
Just a sort of tongue in cheek post here but I was wanting to ask if your priest/church uses the unauthorized blue color for anything related to Advent instead of the Church approved Purple???

Our advent wreath in the church was decked out in these horrid looking royal blue candles!!!
Click to expand...
You know how some posters have a little picture in their signature? I saw this on one of the poster’s signatures - I won’t name who it is because I never asked the person if this what he thinks it should like, or he had it there for other reasons… he does present a link to where he got this pic
It is the purple, red, pink, green advent wreath. I"m guessing there is some sort of symbolic meaning behing each of the colors… me? I think it is gaudy:bigyikes: . I prefer purple, purple, pink, purple.👍

cruzblanca.org/hermanoleon/sem/c/adv/1/index.htm
 
Our Advent wreath has three violet and one rose candle. Our priests wore violet chasubles, and we have a rose chasuble for the third week of Advent.
 
MichiganTrumbul said:
Most certainly. I have seen such vestments …

BUT …

as long as the vestments are clearly base color white with blue trim; 60-white to 40-blue, for example, would be pushing it. 🙂

MT
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Oh no, the vestments are more like 90% white, with only 10% blue trim.
 
Hmm… I was told of one of my local Priests that in the UK there are moves to differentiate the Purple of Advent and the Purple of Lent, with the former being more towards the blue and the latter being more towards the red. Assuming orthodoxy, how I would see it is that more blue would be a reminder of the Marian aspect, and more red would be a reminder of the blood. Yet then again…
 
Corki said:
I thought that blue was allowed in Latin America for certain Marian feasts but NOT for Advent. :confused: Not sure though.
Anyway, we are properly purple at our parish - no blue. But our Advent wreath this year has three purple candles and one gold one. Not sure about that one.
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Correct, in L. A. Blue or White with Blue is used only for Marian feasts.

The Gold has got to go!!!
 
KatieD said:
Today our priest wore blue. What did yours wear?
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I hope it was white-trimmed-with-blue, for the Immaculate Conception, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

My priest wore a white chasuble with a gold scapular (for lack of a better word) bearing an image of Our Lady (the parish also has scapulars with images of Christ (the Sacred Heart, I think) and St Pio (maybe others too?))

tee
 
I visited a different parish, tonight, in order to celebrate the Holy Day and I was honestly startled to see that the presider was wearing blue vestments. I spoke to him after Mass and he told me they were “a gift from a relative” and that he always wears them on Marian feast days. I asked him if his relative lived in Spain (I told him I’d read an article about blue vestments) but he seemed bewildered by the comment. I suggested it might be nicer to wear white with blue trim, but that didn’t go over too well.

I seriously doubt that the use of blue is a protest against the Church! I could tell by this particular priest’s comments during the homily that he loved our Blessed Mother and appreciated the solemnity of the Feast Day. I just fear that the use of blue is an example of the triumph of ignorance and a surrender to individualism. “It looks good on him, so – what the heck – go for it!”

I have a different question, though, and that is on the practice of celebrating the Holy Day of Obligation on the “vigil” of the Feast Day. It seems to me that if the Church fixes December 8 as the date of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception there’s no compelling reason to hold the Feast Day Mass on the evening of the 7th (which is what happened at my parish – and why I visited another parish in the first place). Any comments??
 
Paul_from_MA said:
I have a different question, though, and that is on the practice of celebrating the Holy Day of Obligation on the “vigil” of the Feast Day. It seems to me that if the Church fixes December 8 as the date of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception there’s no compelling reason to hold the Feast Day Mass on the evening of the 7th (which is what happened at my parish – and why I visited another parish in the first place). Any comments??
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Can. 1248 §1 The obligation of assisting at Mass is satisfied wherever Mass is celebrated in a catholic rite either on a holyday itself or on the evening of the previous day.
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Or do you mean that your parish offered no Masses today?

tee
 
Thanks for getting back so quickly, and for finding the citation from canon law. My concern isn’t that I would have incurred sin if I’d attended Mass yesterday rather than today – my concern is that yesterday was the Feast of St. Ambrose and that, if you’re going to celebrate Mass on Dec 7, you ought to utilize the readings and collect for that day.
Code: 
 For example, suppose I went to Mass at 7pm tonight (as I did) and the particular parish wanted to celebrate the vigil of the Feast of St. Juan Diego?  Would I have missed my chance to participate in the Mass of the Holy Day?

 It seems to me that the PURPOSE of making certain days obligatory is to gather us together at one time for one focus.  I'm a member of our parish Christian Worship Commission, so I can stimulate discussion about when to assign Mass times.  If you had some influence in your parish, what would you want to do?
 
Have seen Protestants use blue vestments, but this evening a visiting priest who concelebrated wore a dark blue stole over an alb. Had never seen blue in a Catholic Church, even in Orange County, Calif.
:ehh:
 
Charybdis said:
…Our advent wreath in the church was decked out in these horrid looking royal blue candles!!!
Click to expand...
In the United States of America this means there has been a failure to comply with a liturgical book.

The Book of Blessings has a blessing for the Advent Wreath, which is for the USA only. It is not in the Latin edition of this book.

The Introduction to the blessing has:
“1510 Customarily the Advent Wreath is constructed of a circle of evergreen branches into which are inserted four candles. According to tradition, three of the candles are violet and the fourth is rose. However, four violet or white candles may also be used.”
(From Book of Blessings, Liturgical Press, Minnesota, 1989, ISBN 0-8146-1875-8, page 573.)

So four blue candles is a failure to faithfully follow a liturgical book, in the USA. Therefore it is an offence under the Code of Canon Law:
“Can. 846 §1 The liturgical books, approved by the competent authority, are to be faithfully followed in the celebration of the sacraments.”
(The Code of Canon Law: New Revised English Translation, HarperCollins Liturgical, 1997, ISBN 0-00-599375-X, page 197).

I think a liturgical book should be followed, whether it is for a sacrament or not. But I suppose a stronger case could be made if were displayed and/or lighted during the Eucharist.
 
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