LITURGICAL COLORS. - According to the character of the day or the occasion of the sacred function, different colors are prescribed for the sacred vestments, namely white, red, green, violet and black. Furthermore, on the Sundays Gaudete (3rd of Lent) and Laetare (3rd of Advent)
rose is permitted, for the major churches. The color gold may be used in place of white, red and green, on account of its preciousness or of the solemnity (S. Rit. Congr., n. 3646 ad 2), and silver only in place of white (ibid., ad 3).
The first Christians did not know a determined liturgical color for the vestments they wore in worship; soon, however, there are reports of a white vestment, required especially for priests (Constitutiones Apostolorum, VIII, 12; Canones Ps. Athanasii, can. 28; Canones Ps. Basilii, can. 99). Traces of the aforesaid colors are found in the Carolingian age, and even earlier in the Ordines Romani; in the 12th century, however, there existed in Rome a precise canon for the colors of the vestments, according to the season, as is attested and explained by Pope Innocent III (De Sacro altaris mysterio, I, 65: PL 217, 799 ff.; cf. Durandus, Rationale, 3, 18). There was, however, no uniformity, and the colors continued to differ according to places and times. Furthermore, yellow, brown, blue and grey were used, and, since there was no specific precept, in many places custom or tradition or even the taste of the celebrant served as the rule. Uniformity was achieved only after the promulgation of the Missal of St. Pius V, but only among the Latins; the Easterners continued to use different ones; the Ambrosian liturgy kept its own, and Spain obtained the privilege of blue on Marian feasts.
Other complementary norms concerning the liturgical colors for the administration of the Sacraments or Sacramentals are found in the Roman Ritual and in the decrees of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. The choice of a given color for particular days comes from symbolic considerations, since it is intended also to express thereby the character and the meaning of a solemnity. According to Innocent III, white, on the feasts of virgins and confessors, symbolizes purity and innocence; at Easter and the Ascension it recalls the white garments of the angels; everywhere it is a symbol of joy. Red, prescribed for the feasts of the Apostles and of martyrs, symbolizes the blood shed by them; at Pentecost, the charity and the ardor of the Holy Spirit. Black is a sign of mourning in the Mass for the dead, and of penance, as, in ancient times, on the days of Advent and Lent. Green, again according to the said Pope, is a color intermediate between white and red, and is used on Sundays, except those of Advent and Lent. Violet is a tempered kind of black; therefore it was once used on the Sundays Gaudete and Laetare, on which today rose is used.
Bibliography4 works
Filippo Oppenheim