Some veteran readers here know about my annual rant about BLUE vestments during Advent. Lest all other Advent considerations be overshadowed by the implementation of the new, corrected translations, herebelow I rant.
I think this liturgical abuse is fading, but we may still see it here and there.
Blue is not an approved liturgical color of the Roman Rite (though some use it – on the claim of custom – for Marian feasts according to some old tradition in Spain and former Spanish territories). Yes, I know the previous Marini put blue on the Pope in Austria. That was bad, ugly, and now corrected.
For Advent purple or violet vestments are to be used, and rosacea for the 3rd Sunday as an option.
Of course there are distinctions to be made about purple and violet. Some say that a reddish purple is to be used for Lent while a bluer purple is to be used for Advent.
Fine. So long as the Advent color isn’t blue, I don’t care.
Mind you, as soon as blue is approved for use, I will be among the first to seek and obtain a set in the Roman stye! The day they are approved, I will take up a collection and get, if possible, a truly spiffing set, perhaps even a solemn set, replete with cope and humeral veil.
I think this illicit use of blue is trailing off.
Let’s have a little poll!
Chose the best answer and leave a comment in the combox, below.
For this 1st Sunday of Advent, 2011, the vestments I saw were
- Purple/Violet (95%, 2,004 Votes)
- Blue (3%, 71 Votes)
- Some other color (1%, 25 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,100
In the meantime…
[CUE MUSIC]
[display_podcast]
When you’ve had a hard time trying to figure out just what that color is Father is wearing this week, just what possessed him to put on a vestment that ugly, why not relax with a “New Roman Missal” special edition of the Say The Black – Do The Red coffee mug filled to its steaming brim with Mystic Monk Coffee?
Yes, folks, you may be unaware of this, but drinking Mystic Monk Coffee actually fights against liturgical abuse. The more Mystic Monk Coffee your priests drink, the fewer liturgical abuses they will commit. This is especially true when they are drinking if from Say The Black – Do The Red coffee mugs!
Do you want liturgical abuses on your conscience?
Mystic Monk Coffee.
It’s swell!
Sing along! Lemme help you out.
O come, o come liturgical blue;
out with the old, and in with the new.
Let’s banish purple vestments from here,
the color blue is very HOT this year.REFRAIN:
Gaudy, gaudy, gaudy chasubles,
in baby, navy, powder-puff and teal.Since Advent is the Blessed Virgin’s time,
we’ll wear blue, though it’s canonic crime,
and in the third week, we’ll wear white.
Although it’s wrong, we’ll say that it’s alright.R.
Around the wreath we’ll place blue candlelight,
and in one corner, we will place one white.
We’ll drape blue over our communion rail,
and use blue burses with blue chalice veils.R.
They were purple.
I like blue in a “don’t want to see it until it’s licit” kind of way (and I’ve never seen it used). If we can have guitars at Mass, can we please have blue? Quick, someone start an online petition to the CDW! If we hurry we’ll have it before Vatican III.
I’m afraid I had a great deal more to worry about at Mass this morning than the priest’s vestments! I went into shock at the first hymn, somthing like “Look out! Jesus is coming! Clap clap clap” and continued to the last line “and we never never never know, what He is going to do!”
And the priest preached AGAINST private confession (“unless you are a murderer, adulterer, or sadist etc – and I know none of you are”) in favour of once-a- year city wide rite 2 next week. He just couldn’t make himself say the word SIN it was all about ‘our hurts’.
I came out feeling sadly depressed. How much longer O Lord? [Perhaps you should drop the priest a kind note with a copy to the local bishop.]
On national-catholic grounds I must needs stick up for “some old Spanish traditions “. Please take reams of bombastic comments as read.We live here.
That they are, or may be , misapplied, overextended, or used as a feeble justification, outside where they come from, is another matter! I would not wish to judge.
Few now do, but Ive seen bare bleeding feet treading miles of streets under anonymous robes in Holy week processions. It isn’t a fair argument to say “take one, take all” regarding differing traditions in the church’s rich heritage, but it usually brings insincere or muddled thinkers up short for a minute.
Ah. It’s things like this that make it great to be Byzantine. Although even for us, blue is definitely a Marian thing, not a Phillip’s Fast (Advent) thing. ;)
The new translation overpowered everything. It took me a minute to remember what the priest had on. It was “other.”
[Soooo…. what was it?]
It is with great interest that I see that as of 0645 (eastern US time, 1245 Austrian time), 237 readers have responded to the poll regarding vestments at Sunday morning Mass. I suspect that due to the very early hour in the US, these respondents were probably from Europe, most signifying that the color purple was worn. It will be interesting to see if this result changes as Americans attend Mass on this beautiful first Advent morning.
@Andreas:
It is true that I’ve never seen blue vestments here in Europe (though admittedly, during advent I tend to travel little). But the votes could also have been Americans going to Mass on Saturday evening.
We had purple.
But our parish also has very nice vestments for Marian feasts. They are definitely white, but they have blueish embroidery :)
I understand that the use of blue as a liturgical colour for Advent goes back to the pre-Reformation, pre-Trent “Old Sarum” rite, which was one the old rites used in much of England then. The Anglican Cathedral of Durham (in northern England) used to use this liturgical colour for Advent back in the 1980’s and probably still does now. As an Anglican at the time I used to like the visible sign of continuity with the old pre-Reformation Catholic Church in England, but as a Catholic now I agree with Fr Z that blue is not an approved colour for Advent and must not be used. End of subject. Say the Black, Do the Red.
Yes – I have a very nice set of Byzantine blue vestments for the Marian feasts (just wore them for November 21st in fact). Here is one set from the vendor I tend to use…
http://orthovestments.com/2010/09/blue-light-silk-combination-embroidered-deacon/
Mine has an icon of the Theotokos holding the Christ-child on the back.
This brings up a very relevant question for my Latin friends: What should be the proper range of decision making authority at the local Church (diocesan) or even Episcopal Conference level as far as liturgical praxis for the Roman rite is concerned?
For instance, Fr. Z expresses his dislike for blue vestments during Advent apparently as a matter of centralized Roman law, referring to its use as an illicit abuse. [Is that a fair characterization of my position? I like blue vestments. I don’t like violations of liturgical law.]
And yet, Bishop Conferences seem to wield enough power that they can “licitly” disrupt the unity of the sacraments and allow deferring the Sacrament of Confirmation – the mystery that gives someone the right to take the name Christian, according to St. Cyril of Jerusalem – until nearly adulthood.
So why in these two instances does the greatest latitude exist at the local level in matters of grave import (order, unity and timing of the Sacraments which touch on matters of Faith) subjecting practically the whole of Christian Tradition on this matter to local “custom” while the generally lesser issue of blue liturgical vestments in Advent or Marian Feasts is a matter of centralized decision making and law by the Patriarchal Church of Rome? It would seem that these matters of what should be regulated by whom is quite reversed, since one touches upon orthodox praxis in initiating Christians into the Church and the other merely upon local customs of color. (I should point out that while I think the full integrity of a Rite should be respected, blue is still a liturgical color in other traditions and colors were at one time a matter of local ecclesiastical custom.)
My point is not to take issue with Fr. Z here on the subject of his “annual rant” on an illicit abuse, although I do appreciate well-made blue vestments and am not particularly bothered when I see them on Latin clergy. I am extremely bothered, however, by the “licit abuse” decided at the local level to confirm 14-17 year olds as a matter of course, and apparently in closer conformity to Lutheran ecclesiatical praxis than to the practice of other Churches in its communion. I should add that some of my brother Eastern Catholic clergy are also bothered since they receive calls on a regular basis from good Latin Catholic parents who are desperate to have their children Confirmed/Chrismated to make them fully initiated Christians but have been told by their local priest that they need to wait to go through some program about the time their child is ready to take driving lessons.
The chausable in the pic above with the fleurs de lis is very striking. Reminds me of a French coronation.
Fr. Z,
I wrote: “For instance, Fr. Z expresses his dislike for blue vestments during Advent apparently as a matter of centralized Roman law, referring to its use as an illicit abuse.”
You wrote: “Is that a fair characterization of my position? I like blue vestments. I don’t like violations of liturgical law.”
Forgive me for not being more precise, Father. I was trying to say exactly that. Your issue was related to matters of the law, and “blue vestments during Advent” was in violation of the law, hence your disagreement (better word than “dislike”) with their use.
Simon_GNR beat me to it. Blue for Advent based on Sarum usage has been in vogue in the Episcopal Church in recent decades and I’m guessing that the idea has spread to some Catholic churches in the U.S. and England. Maybe it could be used in the Ordinariate. But I agree that purple as the approved color should be used in Catholic churches now.
St. Jean-Marie Vianney was given blue vestments, but they had so much gold on them that his bishop ruled that they could be treated as though they were gold.
Seriously, blue, especially Marian Blue, should be reserved for Marian Feast days only. Otherwise NO BLUE on the altar!!!
One justification I have come across for using precisely the type of vestments depicted above — blue with gold trim — is to argue that they are “technically” gold. Yes, just about any casual observer would describe them as being blue with gold trim; but there is certainly a lot of gold trim, and this allows some wiggle room for the legal fiction that they are “really” gold vestments with blue highlights. IIRC, gold is permitted in place of white, green, or red. I’m not endorsing this approach; I’m just relating that it is a justification that I have heard.
“He wore bluuue…vestments….”
At a risk of running this thread into a rabbit hole, Fr Deacon Daniel, I’d say the situation regarding bishops’authority is simply this:
If Rome says you cannot do it, you cannot. If Rome stays silent, you can, till you get told otherwise.
While I just gave any canonist reading this a heartattack (I pray only figuratively), de facto it boils down to this. One could argue a lot on whether the Holy Father should be more strict on his bishops, (with blue vestments actually being pretty low on the priority list, for most people) but that’s beside the point: obedience is owed. End of story.
@Shane
The chausable in the pic above with the fleurs de lis is very striking. Reminds me of a French coronation.
It reminds me of Quebec’s provincial flag, but then again, my priest’s green and “gold” (it’s actually mustard yellow) trimmed chasuable reminds me of the Edmonton Eskimo’s green and yellow jerseys.
I think it’s clear in Fr’s song that it’s not blue vestments he dislikes, but the not following of rules and being disobedient. Really, if following such simple liturgical laws is so difficult, what makes a person think they’ll follow the more serious and difficult laws?
Violet cope for the Asperges, then a purple chasuble for Mass at the EF this morning. Also, no flowers or plants in the sanctuary, which was a momentary surprise.
RE “Father Deacon Daniel” above: Nothing wrong with blue vestments for Marian feasts but purple or violet is the appropriate color for both Advent and Lent in the Latin Church except on Gaudete and Laudete Sundays when rose may be used. And Father at my parish here in Diocese of Madison did use purple vestments.
Unfortunately, as a member of the congregation, it seemed like I was at the Tower of Babel today! Many were still using the “and also with you” response instead of “and with your spirit.” And some did not even use the new missalettes or pew cards despite being prompted to do so. I didn’t like it, but it was the first day of the new translation I’ll give the congregants a break and see if they do better next Sunday. It’s going to take some time to retrain everyone, regrettably.
Blue vestments are not an approved liturgical color of the Roman Rite. However, they’re approved in the Sarum Rite, which is the official liturgy of Salisbury Cathedral (before the Reformation). Since Sarum Rite Masses are rare, I don’t see blue vestments at all, although a friend of mine (who is an Anglo-Catholic) belongs to a parish that uses blue vestments during Advent and Marian feasts (which includes the Immaculate Conception, which always falls during Advent).
I believe an indult is needed to use blue vestments, although some vestments may have blue trim. The 3 sacred ministers at Solemn High Mass today wore the violet set of vestements, which have royal blue trim on them. The sermon was about the condemnation of “Black Friday” and the fact that it’s not Christmas Season until Dec. 25th.
Violet/purple. No unwarranted deviations here…
But then, our parish is is under the care of the Canons of St. John Cantius!
It’s a silly thing to rant about, really. Blue has been an approved custom in some places for this season (Spain, Old England, etc.).
But, the point isn’t whether blue is or ever has been approved. The point, is that too much attention to “canons” and what is “approved” is a waste, on a point like this. The catholic consensus of the faithful has to be a more mature and subtle thing than a dogmatic adherence to canons and codified approbations of customs. And no, I’m not saying that in a “Spirit of Vatican II” way. I’m Orthodox. People need to be pious and reverent and treat holy things with respect.
Look at all the greatest and most creative periods in Church history. How, for example, do you think the Middle Ages could have given rise to such an explosion of beautiful and pious customs, if the faithful simply waited for Rome or a cadre of canonists to codify and approbate all the bright new ideas? The State should take its cue from Church history and learn subsidiarity; I often think Catholicism needs a refresher course from time to time, as well. How do you think we came to associate certain vestment colours with certain feasts and season in the first place? Here’s an hint: not because a Vatican committee said so.
Some norms are of great importance, because they communicate important messages about the sacred and how it must be shown due worship: i.e., don’t make your chalice out of glass, use precious metals whenever possible, don’t allow aging busybodies to pick them up right off the altar and commune the faithful instead of the priest, etc. Those are very important norms.
Far less important, provided taste and decorum are observed, is the colour of vestments. Old rubrics for colours are as simple as “dark” vs. “light” vestments, a vague norm still employed in Orthodox Christianity. And yet, I think most of us would agree that the Orthodox generally have very appropriate and beautiful vestments, which give due credit to sacred time and space. Vestment colours are a legitimately fluid custom, which ebb and change primarily under the impetus of the faithful and local Churches. Piety (not canonical tomes) separates the wheat from the chaff amongst these new customs, and the good become new traditions. That’s the beauty of our faith. Canonical tomes merely record the good ideas, once everyone has already agreed that they are good.
In fact, many of us Orthodox don’t think it’s a coincidence, that the same Catholicism that is full of pointless rigidity about customs that should be quite flexible, is that same Catholicism that went overboard in its reaction against too much formalism and rule-keeping. They are two sides of the same coin. If Catholicism strangles the people’s ability to take part in an organic growth of pious customs, you should not be surprised if every other generation or so, some kind of insane and imbalanced rebellion produces lesbians in polyester albs and tye-dye “prayer sashes,” milling about with clay chalices and gluten-free hosts.
Find an happy medium. Too much busyness about inconsequential rules, results in too little care for important rules, when the pendulum swings back the other way. And, vice versa. The point is to prevent the pendulum swinging as much as possible.
For PaterAugustinus: But why the color blue? Why blue other than it is “local custom”? Does blue connote penance as purple has traditionally conveyed in the universal Church for centuries? Or is using blue more of a novelty in order to draw attention to the person of the cleric instead of what is happening upon the altar? I wonder. . . .
In years past, in the NO parish we used to attend, the priests used blue vestments. More recently however, I have noticed they use a bright shade of purple, which reminds me more of a little girl’s bedroom than the penitential nature of the season.
This evening, we will be attending mass in the extraordinary form, and the priest will more than likely use violet. (I have already chose that option in the poll)
We also attend Byzantine Divine Liturgy often, and blue is used on Marian feast days.
I was pretty bummed at our priest’s vestments today. Definitely, decidedly blue. You couldn’t even argue that if you squinted it was really kinda sorta purple, because the chasuble had purple embellishments on it. And I know, having seen it many times before, that our parish owns a perfectly fine set of truly purple vestments. Heck, we even have the rose ones. Why oh why oh why did we have to pull out blue?
I wore violet, but I saw a beautiful blue vestment in the sacristy that may have been used by another priest. It might have been slightly violet-tinged blue, though, and the decorative elements did have violet in them. I didn’t think it had enough violet to count as a “violet vestment”, but I wouldn’t argue with another priest who thought it made the cut.
1stly the Priest wore purple and preached a find sermon
2ndly
Father just what is your beef with blue vestments? is it a personal dislike for blue vestments per say, the fact that they should not be used in advent (I agree with you there) or that they are not the norm in the Roman Rite unless you live in somewhere such as spain where they are used because of historical reasons?
Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you…you could always be forced to look at or wear these!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/11/12/Others/Images/2011-11-12/BISHOP%20098_1321133401.jpg
For a full account, see here:
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=15193
they were lilac…
What is with the fleur de lis design? (Our priests were dressed in proper purple.)
Proper vestments…proper colours…I pray for Blue vestments to be allowed. They’d surpass black as my favourite Liturgical Colour
We had pink with violet stripes. I think it was supposed to be some kind of violet. I think it was supposed to be a chasuble. It looks like Joseph’s technicolour dreamcoat, is too big for any of the priests we have now… and there’s a perfectly good violet chasuble in the ‘relics’ cabinet – on the grounds that Roman chasubles must be obsolete…..
******************
Re: The ‘Sarum’ excuse:
From what I understand, the Salisbury Use would have used black where we use violet – in fact I think the black was originally used in the Roman Rite too. Blue was sometimes used as a substitute for black, since colours were a bit debatable back then (in the same way that the Eastern Churches use bright or dark vestments, but don’t usually specify colours). So anyone claiming that they are using blue because it was used in the ‘Sarum Rite’ is kind of pushing it. Actually, if any Salisbury Use parish had *properly* blue vestments, they would have no doubt been the most precious (lapis lazuli!) and therefore used in place of gold!
RE Fr. Deacon Daniel’s last: I am fairly certain that the woman in vestments in the above photo (first URL link),on the far right hand side, sitting down is the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, USA.
Our wonderful FSSP priest, as expected, wore purple vestments. He preached about preparing ourselves for Christmas with the daily rosary and frequent – he recommended weekly – confession. These would be private confessions, of course.
I went to my parish church this evening, since my car wouldn’t start this morning so I couldn’t attend the Byzantine rite OR a Latin rite mass in the next diocese over. The priests vestment was a striped thing, sort of like what shepherds wear in a Christmas pageant, but I had to call the predominant color purple. It had some blue stripes. Comparing it with the carefully treasured finely embroidered vestments used in my Byzantine parish…well, the overwhelming impression is, these people are not really serious about what they are doing. I know they are, according to their lights, but that is not what is conveyed.
I do like blue. My husband’s Anglican parish uses blue, and says it is Sarum blue. If approved, I would like it.
My byzantine parish has one set of sky blue ones, and one tending more towards aqua, for the Marian feasts. I don’t know why they have two; perhaps someone donated a second set. The sky blue ones are embroidered with silver threads. They also change the hanging sanctuary candle for a blue one for those feasts.
Susan Peterson
For the old rite (I don’t have access to the Spanish books for the new rite) the blue vestment indult is for Immaculate Conception and votive Masses of the Immaculate Conception only, not generally for Marian feasts. And the SCR was trying to stamp the practice out elsewhere. See my previous WDTPRS comment with citations to the SCR rulings and other sources here.
I just finished (as in last evening!) restoring a beautiful old purple velvet set for use in the EF in Lancaster, PA. Mass was beautiful!!
We had some purple/violet vestments, but pretty easy to make sure of that as my wife and I purchased them for the parish (the previous priest had his own vestments and took them with, leaving nothing with the parish, which was odd).
Father’s chasabule was definitely purple but did have a bit of a blue tint to it, so the Deacon’s stole didn’t match. Father’s stole matched his chasabule which I could see as he wore it incorrectly as the outermost layer.
Peggy R @ 11:39 a.m. –
LOL! Forget Zuhlio – we need a rendition of that by Johnny Zee!
Our priest wore blue. When I asked a friend, who works in the church office, before Mass what the blue was all about she said Father didn’t want Advent season to take on a “penance” feel. This is not a priest that has a lot of respect for Mary, as one could also assume with the blue garb. In fact, he has told some pretty bad jokes with her in it. If the blue vestments aren’t bad enough, the were selling Advent wreaths with blue candles! The sad thing is that there is a parish 8 miles from our house that follows the Vatican in ALL things. We haven’t switched because of no cry room and toting 6 kids under 9 to Mass there would be a huge distraction to all. Maybe it’s time to move. Ugh! How can priests preach about staying faithful in the little things and then not follow these “little things” like proper vestments themselves?
The young priest at our TLM chapel wore purple vestments-definitely. And very nice ones, too: Roman style with a darker purple stripe down the back.
Later in the day, I went to an ‘Advent Lessons and Carols’ service at the big Episcopal church across town. No purple there; the candles and stoles over the lectern and the pulpit were blue.
The new rector of the church wore a long silver-white cope with darker blue stripes in the front.
And I like the return of Father Z’s ‘musical rant’ about blue vestments in Advent-and echoing nanetteclaret, we do need a rendition of ‘bluue vestments’ by ‘Johnny Zee! [ducks]
@Acardnal:
You asked: ‘But why the color blue? Why blue other than it is “local custom”? ‘
Well, why the colour yellow for confessors (in Sarum and other old Usages)? Why, other than it is local custom? Many things like this start because of local custom. But, you were doubtless asking why Blue is appropriate, as is apparent by your next question:
“Does blue connote penance as purple has traditionally conveyed in the universal Church for centuries? Or is using blue more of a novelty in order to draw attention to the person of the cleric instead of what is happening upon the altar?”
Well, emphatically not the latter. I mean, any priest *could* use his vestment to draw attention to himself. But, the mere idea of Blue vestments is not “more of a novelty” designed to aid vanity. It was widely used in Churches of Roman Usage (outside of Rome) in the Middle Ages, especially England and Spain. Most pertinently, a great deal of confusion arises on the topic, due to the confusion of the terms “violet” and “purple,” as meaning more or less the same thing. One excellent vestment maker, proprietor of the St. Bede Studio, has written illuminatingly on how they are different: purple has overtones of red, violet has overtones of blue. Whether the Latin term violaceus refers to violet or purple has been ambiguous over the centuries… an ambiguity that was (theoretically) put to rest in the case of clerical *clothing* (not vestments) by the 1933 decree De Colore Violaceo, which specified that Roman Purple was the shade of violaceus, that was meant to be used for the clothing of Roman prelates.
With regard to vestments, outside of Rome a darker violet (indigo) was used for penitential seasons; in Rome, something more like Amethyst purple was preferred. Thus, my *personal* take on what kind of “blue” would be appropriate for advent, is that indigo should be used. Spain and England used a truer blue for Marian feasts, and there is no indication that they used this blue for Advent. “Violaceus” was the colour for advent, just as lent; indigo is a valid historical interpretation of that term, and it is redolent of Marian blue, while not entirely departing from the violet of penitential seasons. So, I think indigo is a very appropriate and beautiful colour for Advent vestments, and has plenty of historical, non-innovative precedent.
When discussing what is “appropriate,” one must remember that many colour schemes can receive quite good apologies… and hence, the idea of one, unchanging, universal colour scheme seems unlikely to me, unless one wants to administer chromatic justice from the iron fist of a Vatican beaureau. There have been many colour schemes, all defended on various good grounds. There will continue to be.
In reply to Precentrix, above: Sarum Missals mention only three colours: Red, White and Yellow. But, we know that many other colours were used, both by surviving examples, illustrations and the instructions given in the Sarum Customary. We know they used colours like Yellow, Orange, Ashen Gray and other colours that seem unusual to the modern arrangement. As discussed above (and as known from historical depictions), indigo and other bluish-violets were definitely used, and not only in Sarum practice. And, one must remember that Sarum practice was used far outside of Salisbury, and even out of England. The only time light blue vestments were used, was in the episcopal dalmatic. There is no mention of, nor any extant exemplar of, light blue chasubles, (diaconal) dalmatics, stoles, burses, etc.