Advent Color : Purple, Violet, Blue & WHY?
  • francis
    Posts: 10,816
    Curious where the newer indigo shades have come from. Anyone know?

    And while you are at it, is Advent a penitential season? Was it ever/always? Has it changed?
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01165a.htm

    Yes, it is a Penitential Season.

    The Church just says violet is the color, it doesn't specify a different shade for Advent and Lent (and other days that violet vestments are used).

    Like Lent the organ should only be used to accompany singing and not played for solos other than on Gaudete Sunday.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Black was actually a difficult and expensive color to fix in previous eras. Indigo was a common part of the solution, and when black fabrics faded over time, those made with indigo might well fade to a shade of indigo.

    The modern employment of blue for Advent is based on a modern misunderstanding of original Sarum practices and the nature of dyes of old.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • francis
    Posts: 10,816
    Liam

    That is some interesting information
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Francis,

    Advent and Lent are both penitential seasons, but different kinds of penance, for distinct purposes.

    Advent is the 9th month before the birth of the child. Accordingly the preparations are for a great festival, intentionally.

    Lent is preparation for our participation in the suffering and death of Christ, and for repenting of our personal contribution to the sufferings of Christ.

    Blue is a color of indult for the Sarum Rite and for Spain. Blue is, otherwise, not a liturgical color in the Roman Rite.

  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,477
    Blue is a color of indult for the Sarum Rite


    Not a thing.
    Thanked by 1JSHerman
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,192
    From THE SARUM USE (PDF) By the Reverend Canon Professor J. Robert Wright

    Color Sequence
    This was not clearly specified, and scholars do not agree. Also, some places
    that followed Sarum Use in some respects are known not to have followed
    what they thought the Sarum colors were. Generally, for the principal feasts,
    it appears that the best vestments were worn, whatever their color was. Many
    churches owned only two sets of vestments: red or white or cloth-of-gold for
    all festivals and some non-penitential days, and green or blue or brown or
    grey for ferias and/or penitential use. Larger churches had more variety,
    which can be confusing, for example: The general and ordinary ferial color
    was GREEN, but BROWN or GREY or BLUE were also used for this
    purpose. BLUE was apparently not used for feasts of Our Lady. RED was
    used for all Sundays of the year outside of Lent and Paschaltide, for the
    blessing of ashes on Ash Wednesday, for all of Passiontide including
    Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and for all feasts of apostles, martyrs,
    and evangelists. WHITE was used for all of Paschaltide, from Easter Day
    through Pentecost, for feasts of Our Lady and their octaves, for the feast of
    St. John the Evangelist in Christmas week, for both feasts of St. Michael, and
    for the Dedication of a Church. YELLOW was used for all feasts of
    confessors. BLACK was used in the office and Mass of the dead.
    UNBLEACHED CLOTH (OFF-WHITE) or BROWN or GREEN or
    sometimes VIOLET was used for Lent, from Quadragesima to the Saturday
    before Passion Sunday, and also apparently in Advent.


    From Catholic Encyclopedia - Sarum Rite:

    (6) The Sarum sequence of colours is very ill-defined. However, as in the Dominican Missal, it is expressly laid down that on solemn days the most precious vestments be used irrespective of their hue. Otherwise, the recognized Sarum colours were white, red, green, and yellow, with black for Masses for the Dead. In the later centuries purple or violet, and blue, seem to have been very generally added. Yellow vestments are prescribed for feasts of Confessors. To our Blessed Lady white was allotted, but never blue, which colour, on its introduction from the Continent, was looked upon as merely a substitute for purple or violet.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,978
    Color requirements seem more precise in the Latin church than in eastern churches.

    As for vestments, when the Typikon says anything about them at all, it only specifies 'light' or 'dark' vestments, so local tradition is the only 'standard'. In the Orthodox Church, six liturgical colors are used: white, green, purple, red, blue, and gold.

    Colors called for on a specific occasion are either, "light" or "dark." That's about it.


    Thanked by 1Gavin
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,477
    more precise in the Latin church


    And only very recently.
    Thanked by 1Gavin
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    precise in the Latin church


    Not a thing
    Thanked by 2Adam Wood Richard Mix
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,798
    I grew up thinking the jet set were those who traveled by air, learning much later that black became established fashion centuries ago. The notion that modern blue vestments are a misunderstanding of how black dyes age however has a little whiff of urban legend about it.

    At our church we usually take full advantage of the indult for New Spain.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,816
    Well, for you that subscribe to Fr. Z, here is his rant.

    http://wdtprs.com/blog/tag/blue-vestments/
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,309
    Some shades that appear blue to us could technically count as violet... The color rubrics are in themselves generous, and scientific groupings of color cover a variety of shades. Different languages also consider color differently.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Adam Wood
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