LITURGICAL COLORS. — According to the character of the day or the occasion of the sacred function, different colors are prescribed for liturgical vestments, namely white, red, green, violet, and black. Moreover, on the Sundays Gaudete (3rd of Lent) and Laetare (3rd of Advent), a rose color is permitted for major churches. Gold may be used in place of white, red, and green on account of its preciousness or solemnity (S. Rit. Congr., no. 3646 ad 2), and silver only in place of white (ibid., ad 3).
The early Christians did not know a fixed liturgical color for the vestments worn in worship; however, soon there are records of a white garment, especially required for priests (Constitutiones Apostolorum, VIII, 12; Canones Ps. Athanasii, can. 28; Canones Ps. Basilii, can. 99). Traces of the aforementioned colors are found in Carolingian goldwork, and even earlier in the Ordines Romani; by the 12th century, however, there existed in Rome a precise canon for the colors of vestments according to the season, as attested and explained by Pope Innocent III (De Sacro altaris mysterio, I, 65: PL 217, 799 sg.; cf. Durandus, Rationale, 3, 18). There was, however, no uniformity, and the colors continued to differ according to place and time. Moreover, yellow, brown, blue, gray were used, and, since there was no specific precept, in many places the custom, 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 Latins; the Easterners continued to use different colors; the Ambrosian liturgy retained its own, Spain obtained the privilege of blue for Marian feasts.
Other complementary norms regarding 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 certain days stems from symbolic considerations, wishing also to express through it the character and meaning of a solemnity. According to Innocent III, white, in the feasts of virgins and confessors, symbolizes purity and innocence; at Easter and Ascension it recalls the white garments of the angels; everywhere it is a symbol of joy. Red, prescribed for the feasts of Apostles and martyrs, symbolizes the blood they shed; at Pentecost, the charity and ardor of the Holy Spirit. Black is a sign of mourning in the Mass for the dead, and of penance, as formerly, in the days of Advent and Lent. Rose, always according to the same Pope, is an intermediate color between white and red, and is used on Sundays, except those of Advent and Lent. Violet is a tempered kind of black, and so formerly was used on the Sundays Gaudete and Laetare, on which today rose is used.