Dear Father,
Why are the priest’s vestments green all the time? I think it’s boring. I once saw a priest wearing rainbow-colored vestments and liked it. Can you or the Bishop tell the priests to switch it up a bit?
-Iris
Dear Iris,
You raise an interesting point about why the priest at Mass cannot do whatever he pleases. This applies to which vestments he wears, their color and all the other rubrics or instructions for celebrating each of the sacraments. This particularly applies to the Mass because it is our supreme act of worship of Almighty God, and is a serious matter, not to be toyed with at the whim of anyone.
In recent centuries, there are only several colors we may use at Mass celebrated according to the Roman rite: gold, white, black, violet, red, rose and green. These are not the colors of the rainbow or may so-called rainbow vestments be worn, even if the rainbow is most properly the sign of the covenant that God made with Noah. Other Western Catholic rites sometimes use other colors particular to them alone.
Each of the Roman Catholic Mass colors has a special significance for each Mass that is celebrated. A priest, or even a bishop for that matter, has very limited options on the color he wears at Mass. Here is a mostly complete explanation of the colors used at Mass and other liturgies.
Gold (or silver) is a festive color symbolizing light and joy. It is worn for the most special solemnities celebrated at Mass, such as Easter, Christmas and special days in the life of a diocese, parish or religious order.
White, also symbolizing light and joy, is worn during the Easter and Christmas seasons and on the days that we celebrate saints who were popes, bishops and priests, as well as those saints who were in religious vows.
Masses honoring our Blessed Mother call for the priest to wear white. White is worn on other special days of the year, such as celebrations of the Angels, the birthday of St John the Baptist, the Chair of Peter (nowadays referring to St. Peter’s taking pastoral responsibility in Rome) and the Conversion of St. Paul.
Red has a double meaning. First, it symbolizes blood. And so, red is worn on Palm Sunday and Good Friday as a sign of the blood Christ shed for love of us. It is also worn on days that we celebrate saints who died as martyrs, as a sign of the blood they shed for love of Christ. The second meaning of red is fire. Thus, red is worn for Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit appeared as tongues of fire.
Black, a sign of mourning, naturally is worn for funerals. This was the long-standing custom until the 1970s. Then white tended to predominate at funerals as a sign of our hope in the resurrection. Many Masses for the dead now use violet or even black. My only concern about wearing white at funerals is that we sometimes mask our grief at the passing of a loved one. Violet and black help us admit our loss. They also remind us of our need to offer prayers and penances for the deceased so that they may have their time in purgatory shortened and may gain heaven speedily.
Violet can be thought of as a softening of the color black. That’s why it is appropriate for funerals but is the primary vestment color during Lent and Advent. Lent is the time for mourning our sins because they have offended God and caused our separation from Him. Violet and penance go hand in hand. Advent, too, is the time for violet because we are preparing for Christmas. We want to remove the spiritual obstacles that stand in the way of celebrating Christ’s First Coming but without the severity of Lenten penances.
Rose vestments are used only two days of the year: the fourth Sunday of Lent and the third Sunday of Advent. Rose is a softening of violet and signifies our joyful anticipation of either Easter or Christmas.
Finally, green is used for all the other days of our Church calendar. Green can make us think of plants and therefore life. It is also a sign of hope in eternal life, especially as we ponder our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. It also points to the fact that we are not celebrating a feast or a special season of some sort in the Church.
The use of various colors at Mass developed over a long period of time. In fact, it wasn’t until the 13th century that Pope Innocent III mandated some of the colors to be used.
While you may see green quite a bit during the year, a regular Mass-goer is certain to see many other colors. To use your term, we are already switching it up quite a bit. Just not the rainbow.
