Liturgical (and Royal) Colours

8/9/2019 Liturgical (and Royal) Colours

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Liturgical coloursby J.W. Richter

Design: Pietro Siffi.

published in Wikipedia'sWikimedia Commons

(public domain. )

Fig. 1: A Roman chasuble
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Summary

Although the Book Exodus defines blue as a divineprescription for the Hebrew High Priests' garments and curtains

at the Covenant Tent the symbol blue (and equally yellow)have been avoided as standard liturgical colours, probably

resulting from the idea of avoiding any evil influence from the

altar.

In contrast to the ancient biblical adoration forblue symbolism

medieval traditions generally symbolize evil by blue (Eve'scolour) and yellow (fortraitors and evil women). Therefore theevil colour blue as a religious symbol originally had to be

abandoned from the Church's holy locations such as the altar.

With a growing adoration for the Virgin Mary the Church

however had to develop a minor acceptance for the colour blue

as a female symbol, which originally has been restricted for

paintings and sculptures. The cardinals' garments and coat of

arms are still restricted to the divine colourred.

As the popes and the cardinals the kings and the emperors used

to consider themselves as a representative of the divine powers.

Early emperors and kings had been elected by their soldiers as

the most powerful leaders of the clans. In order to avoid

negative biblical symbolism and as male persons they may

have preferred redas well as their symbolic colour.

In contrast in later eras the kings en emperors decided to inherit

their divine ancestry instead of being elected by the people or

the Popes. This may have caused some problems in accepting

the female colour blue as a negative symbol in the royal

families. The female members may simply have protested

against the idea of being the cause for all evil.

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As a result of these protests the colour blue stopped horrifying

the non-clerical classes in the Middle Age. Notably the late-

medieval royals and emperors accepted blue in their early coats

of arms, graves, flags and garments. This allowed the royals todress themselves in red & blue as representatives of a male and

female created people as a symmetrically created divine image

of God.

In contrast the Church still avoids blue as a standard liturgical

colour in Masses and in the garments for the highest ranks of

the clerical staff.

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Contents

Summary....................................................................................2Liturgical colours.......................................................................5

Garments for the Hebrew High Priests.................................5

The Freemasons....................................................................6

The Catholic Church.............................................................7

Evil Symbols.........................................................................7

The chasuble's colour ..............................................................11

Medieval colouring schemes...............................................12

Blue.....................................................................................12Blue in Slavic-use churches................................................13

Blue in Lutheranism............................................................13

Blue in Anglican churches...................................................14

The Royals' Colours Red & Blue.............................................15

The Investiture Contest ......................................................15

Male representative of the divine powers...........................16

Inherited divine ancestry.....................................................16The Virgin Mary .................................................................17

The Cardinals' Garments..........................................................18

Clerical Coats of Arms .......................................................18

Papal Coat of Arms.............................................................19

The Holy See.......................................................................20

Appendix..................................................................................21

Colour Codes in the Book Exodus......................................21

The Second Book of Chronicles..........................................25

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Liturgical colours

Liturgical colours are those specific colours which are used forvestments and hangings within the context of Christian and

some other liturgies. The Wikipedia's text Liturgical colours

states:

The symbolism of violet, white, green, red, gold, black,rose, and other colours may serve to underline moods

appropriate to a season of the liturgical year or may

highlight a special occasion. Notably the elementary colours blue and yellow are absent

in this list and to be precise the Dutch description for the

Chasuble simply even states1 :

blue fails to be used as a liturgical colour.

Garments for the Hebrew High Priests

Of course the absence of blue as a liturgical colour contrasts to

the Divine commands as documented in the biblical Books

Exodus and Chronicles in which God prescribes the garmentsfor the high priests (namelyAaron)2.

The Books Exodus and Chronicles reveal a total of 25

commands for the symbolic coloured woven materials (scarlet

red, blueandpurpletwining) in the divine instructions for theCovenant tent and for Solomon's temple e.g.3:

1:kazuifel2:Secret Colour Codes in the Bible and The Hermetic Codex3: an overview of these quotations has been listed in the appendix to this

manuscript.

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Exodus 39

Of the blue, purple, and scarlet, they made finely

worked garments, for ministering in the holy place, andmade the holy garments for Aaron; as Yahweh

commanded Moses. 2He made the ephod of gold, blue,

purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. 3They beat the

gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in

the blue, in the purple, in the scarlet, and in the fine

linen, the work of the skilful workman. 4They made

shoulder-pieces for it, joined together. At the two ends itwas joined together. 5The skilfully woven band that was

on it, with which to fasten it on, was of the same piece,

like its work; of gold, ofblue, purple, scarlet, and fine

twined linen; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

In these descriptions the German Luther-Bible also mentions

the colourwhite as an additional, maybe important attribute for

the twinedlinen

4

.

The Freemasons

With respect to the garments' colours the Freemasons have

been following the Bible more strictly than the Church itself by

prescribing the colourblue for their garments, which have beenderived from the biblical aprons, ephods, etcetera..5

4:The Hermetic Codex5:

Blue and Red Symbolism in Freemasonary

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The Catholic Church

Instead of following the biblical prescriptions in the Book

Exodus the Church defined a set of colours for the Mass, which

normally excludes the use of the symbolic colour blue at the

altar. The reason for this restriction probably resulted from the

idea to generally avoid all female elements at the altar. The

only exception for this restriction have been defined for Our

Lady's celebrations in a few countries, where blue traditionally

had been accepted as a liturgical colour.

Evil Symbols

Yellow as a colour has not been found in any liturgical

prescription. Instead of yellow however gold has been defined

for Russian and Slavic-use churches. The absence of yellow as

a liturgical colour may have been caused by the evilsymbolismin medieval traditions, which prescribed yellow as the

garments for evil women and traitors (Judas and sometimes St.Peter as well)6. In medieval traditions Eve (and consequentlyall female descendants of Man except of course the Virgin

Mary) may have been considered evil.

Genesis 37 introduces the Serpent, "slier than everybeast of the field." The serpent tempts the woman to eat

from the tree of knowledge, telling her that it will make

her more like God and it will not lead to death. Shesuccumbs, and gives the fruit to the man, who eats also,

"and the eyes of the two of them were opened." Awarenow of their nakedness, they make coverings of fig

leaves, and hide from the sight of God.

6: see:Yellow for Judas andYellow for Saint Peter7:From:Adam end Eve in Wikipedia

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God asks them about what they have done. Adam

blames Eve, and Eve blames the serpent. God cursesthe Serpent and then curses Adam and Eve with hard

labour and with pain in childbirth, and banishes them from his garden, setting a cherub at the gate to bar

their way to the Tree of Life, "lest he put out his hand ...and eat, and live forever."

Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553): Adam and Eve, 1533.

Bode-Museum, Berlin. Photograph: Till Niermann

included inpublic domain (copyright has expired.)

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Fig. 2: Adam and Eve
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Ultimately the words evil and devil (d'evil ? or d'Eve)may even have been derived from Eve.

To avoid the absence of any evil influence medieval traditions

probably prohibited any use of evil symbols such as Eve's

symbol blue and the devilish colour yellow.

The attribute blue for female persons has been applied at leastup to 1954.

At elementary school in Eindhoven in 1954 a Catholic teacher

ordered the children to draw male persons (Jesus, Adam &

God) in red colours and female persons (Eve and the virgin

Mary) in blue.

Reference in German at: Religionsunterricht 1954-1955

and in Dutch language at: Godsdienstles 1954-1955.

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Fig. 3: Adam (red) and Eve

(blue)
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After the Fall of Man the couple had to be drawn inpurple.

The colourpurple however refers to a couple, joined in amatrimonial relation as must be considered as a divine symbol,

which also had been adopted by the Roman emperors at the

time of Nero and earlier.

References in German at: Religionsunterricht 1954-1955

and in Dutch language at: Godsdienstles 1954-1955.

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Fig. 4: After the Fall of Man the

couple is purple
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The chasuble's colour

"The vestment proper to the priest celebrant at CatholicMass and other sacred actions directly connected with

Mass is, unless otherwise indicated, the chasuble, worn

over the alb and stole"8.

The chasuble originated as a sort of conical poncho, called in

Latin a "casula" or "little house," that was the common outer

travelling garment in the late Roman Empire. It was simply a

roughly oval piece of cloth, with a round hole in the middlethrough which to pass the head, that fell below the knees on all

sides. It had to be gathered up on the arms to allow the arms to

be used freely. Like the stole, it is normally of the liturgical

colour of the Mass being celebrated.

Liturgical colours for the Mass and garments have been defined

in a rather complex scheme9 varying in historical periods as

defined in Liturgical colours. The basic principle is:

green has been used as a default forOrdinary Time

violet has been used forAdvent, Lent, Reconciliationand Holy Saturday.

White has been used for Christmastide, Easter and agreat number of other feasts.

Red has been used for e..g Pentecost, Palm Sunday,Passion of the Lord.

8: General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 3379:see: Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, no. 346; cf. text for Australia,

England and Wales,United States

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Rose for transitions such as Third Sunday of AdventandFourth Sunday of Lent(Laetare).

Black forAll Souls' Day and offices for the DeadOn more solemn days, festive, that is, more precious, sacred

vestments may be used, even if not of the colour of the day.

Such vestments may, for instance, be made from cloth ofsilver(permitted in the past only for white) or cloth of gold(historically allowed in place of white, red, or green).

Moreover, the Conference of Bishops may determine andpropose to the Apostolic See adaptations suited to the needs

and culture of peoples.

Medieval colouring schemes

The rules on liturgical colours before the time of Pope Pius X

were essentially those indicated in the edition of the Roman

Missal that Pope Pius V promulgated in 1570, except for the

addition of feasts not included in his Missal. The scheme ofcolours in his Missal reflected usage that had become fixed in

Rome by the twelfth century.

Blue

In fact the Church never accepted blue as a standard liturgical

colour. Blue, as a colour associated with the Virgin Mary,

however has been allowed for the feast of the ImmaculateConception in some dioceses in Spain, Portugal, Mexico andSouth America. In the Philippines it is authorized for all feasts

of the Virgin Mary, a practice followed in some other placeswithout official authorization.

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There have also been unauthorized uses of blue in place of

violet for the season ofAdvent, as a symbol of expectation and

hope - the blue of a new day10.

Blue in Slavic-use churches11

Slavic-use churches apply a similar scheme as the Catholic

Church, which reserved light blue for the Feasts of the

Theotokos

Blue in LutheranismThe Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) suggests that blue,

the traditional colour for Advent (with purple being the

alternate), be used for the Advent season, reflecting the

traditional use of blue in the Scandinavian Lutheran churches.

Both the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the

Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), along with

the United Methodist Church use a similar system, but withpurple being the primary colour for both Advent and Lent (with

blue being the alternate colour for Advent only), and the use of

gold in place of white for both Christmas and Easter (in similar

practice to the Roman Catholic Church).

10: A new day would normally start as a red and certainly not as a blue

coloured sky... (?)11:

documented in Liturgical colours

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Blue in Anglican churches12

Because colours are not established by liturgical law in

Anglican churches, variations are common. Notable variations

include the use ofblue in Advent and "Lenten array" in Lent,consisting of unbleached muslin, linen, or burlap (varying in

colour but usually ranging from off-white to beige), with

crimson or black accents.

12:documented inLiturgical colours

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The Royals' Colours Red & Blue

Compared to the clerical classes the colour blue has not beenhorrifying the non-clerical classes at all. Notably the late-

medieval royals and emperors used to dress themselves in red

& blue combinations. The Hermetic Codex illustrates a great

number of medieval red & blue royal garments. Why did the

royals refuse to consider the colour blue as an evil symbol?

The Investiture ContestIn the Middle Age the royals have always been struggling for

power over the clerical classes. They strove for a maximal

share in financial income, which had to be supplied by the

working classes. In their struggle with the clerical forces the

royals applied all powers they could develop, including the

biblical symbolic colours, which had been defined in the Book

Exodus.

The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest was the

most significant conflict between Church and state in medieval

Europe. In the 11th and 12th centuries, a series of popes

challenged the authority of European monarchies over control

of appointments, or investitures, of church officials such as

bishops and abbots. Although the principal conflict began in

1075 between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV, Holy Roman

Emperor, a brief but significant struggle over investiture alsooccurred between Henry I of England and the papacy of

Paschal II in the years 1103 to 1107, and the issue played a

minor role in the struggles between church and state in France

as well. The entire controversy was finally resolved by the

Concordat of Worms in 1122.

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By undercutting the Imperial power established by the Salian

emperors, the controversy led to nearly 50 years of civil war in

Germany, and the triumph of the great dukes and abbots, until

Imperial power was reestablished under the Hohenstaufendynasty.

Male representative of the divine powers

As the popes and the cardinals the kings and the emperors

considered themselves as a representative of the divine powers.

Early emperors and kings had been elected by their soldiers as

the most powerful leaders of the clans. As soldiers they were

male men and therefore their symbolic colour may have been

chosen as the standard colour red for the males.

The Church's leaders of course merely consisted of male

representatives of God, which all have been dressed in red,

which is Adam's colour as a male person13, created as an image

of male God (and therefore coloured red). In the Middle Age

clerical leaders would not (officially) have been married.Therefore their symbolic colour may have been chosen as the

standard colourredfor the males.

In the early Middle Age both the clerical and the non-clerical

leaders may generally have been considering female persons as

inferior as a result for the Eve's sinful decision to eat the Apple.

Inherited divine ancestry

In later eras the kings en emperors decided to inherit their

divine ancestry instead of being elected by the people or the

Pope.

13:halve of originalman, see

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This however caused some problems in accepting the female

colourblue as a negative symbol.

Although the royals may have shared some of the biblical

symbolism they avoided to horrify their families by merely

accepting male symbols for their status. In fact most medieval

royal families have been forced to accept female rulers in the

course of history. The royals also had to accept the idea of

being born from a female motherand to be married to female

spouses... 14.

The acceptance of blue as a royal symbol for mothers, female

spouses (sometimes probably including the concubines) and

daughters may have been derived directly from the Book

Exodus or by the very need to satisfy the female members in

the royal families.

The Virgin Mary

With a growing adoration for the Virgin Mary the Church alsohad to develop a minor acceptance for the colour blue as a

female symbol, which originally had to be restricted for

paintings and sculptures. Blue is still absent in the cardinals'

garments and the clerical coats of arms, which may be analysed

in the following chapter.

14: These facts largely have been ignored by clerical rulers

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The Cardinals' Garments

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually a bishop, ofthe Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the

College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The

duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the

College and making themselves available individually or

collectively to the pope if he requests their counsel. Most

cardinals have additional duties, such as leading a diocese or

archdiocese or running a department of the Roman Curia.

Cardinal Wolsey(Thomas Wolsey)

(public domain because its copyright has expired)

Clerical Coats of Arms

The coat of arms of a cardinal are indicated by a redgalero

(wide-brimmed hat) with 15 tassels on each side (the motto and

escutcheon are proper to the individual cardinal).

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Fig. 5: Cardinal

Wolsey
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Image designed by P. Jaworski (PioM ),POLAND/Pozna; 14V2005 FDL;

Template of cardinals' coat of arms.Wikimedia Commons, under the termsof theGNU Free Documentation License,

Papal Coat of ArmsFor at least 800 years, each Pope has had his own personal coat

of arms that serves as a symbol of his papacy. In the overview

Papal Coat of Arms most of these papal coats of arms apply

golden and red & blue-combinations.

Though unique for each pope, the arms are always surmounted

by the two keys in saltire (i.e., crossed over one another so as

to form an X) behind the escutcheon (shield) (one silver keyand one gold key, tied with a red cord), and above them a silver

triregnum with three gold crowns and red infulae (lappets

two strips of fabric hanging from the back of the triregnum

which fall over the neck and shoulders when worn).

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Fig. 6: The coat of arms of acardinal
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The Holy See

In contrast to the individual papal coats of arms the coat of

arms of theHoly See excludes the use of blue colours. That of

the State of Vatican City is the same except that the positions of

the gold and silver keys are interchanged.

Image published by Cronholm144Wikimedia Commons GNU Free Documentation License,

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Fig. 7: The coat of arms of theHoly See
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Appendix

Colour Codes in the Book Exodus

25: 3This is the offering which you shall take from them: gold,

silver, brass, 4blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats hair,5rams skins dyed red, sea cow hides, acacia wood, 6oil for the

light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense,7onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the

breastplate.

26: Moreover you shall make the tent with ten curtains; of

fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with

cherubim. The work of the skillful workman you shall make

them.

4You shall make loops ofblue on the edge of the one curtain

from the edge in the coupling; and likewise shall you make inthe edge of the curtain that is outmost in the second coupling.

14You shall make a covering for the tent of rams skins dyed

red, and a covering of sea cow hides above.

31You shall make a veil ofblue, and purple, and scarlet, and

fine twined linen, with cherubim. The work of the skillful

workman shall it be made.

36You shall make a screen for the door of the Tent, of blue,

and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of

the embroiderer. 37You shall make for the screen five pillars of

acacia, and overlay them with gold: their hooks shall be of

gold: and you shall cast five sockets of brass for them.

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27: 9You shall make the court of the tent: for the south side

southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined

linen one hundred cubits long for one side: 10and the pillars of

it shall be twenty, and their sockets twenty, of brass; the hooks

of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver.

16For the gate of the court shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of

blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work

of the embroiderer; their pillars four, and their sockets four.

18The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, and thebreadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits, of fine

twined linen, and their sockets of brass.

28: 5They shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple,

and the scarlet, and the fine linen. 6They shall make the

ephod of gold, ofblue, and purple, scarlet, and fine twined

linen, the work of the skilful workman. 7It shall have two

shoulder-pieces joined to the two ends of it, that it may be

joined together. 8The skilfully woven band, which is on it, that

is on him, shall be like its work and of the same piece; of gold,

ofblue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.

15You shall make a breastplate of judgment, the work of the

skilful workman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it;

of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twinedlinen, shall you make it.

28They shall bind the breastplate by the rings of it to the rings

of the ephod with a lace ofblue, that it may be on the skillfully

woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate may not

swing out from the ephod.

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35: 5 Take from among you an offering to Yahweh. Whoever is

of a willing heart, let him bring it, Yahwehs offering: gold,

silver, brass, 6blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats hair,7rams skins dyed red, sea cow hides, acacia wood, 8oil for the

light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense,9onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the

breastplate.23Everyone, with whom was found blue, purple, scarlet, fine

linen, goats hair, rams skins dyed red, and sea cow hides,

brought them.

25All the women who were wise-hearted spun with their hands,

and brought that which they had spun, the blue, the purple,

the scarlet, and the fine linen.

35He has filled them with wisdom of heart, to work all manner

of workmanship, of the engraver, of the skillful workman, and

of the embroiderer, in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine

linen, and of the weaver, even of those who do anyworkmanship, and of those who make skillful works.

36:8All the wise-hearted men among those who did the work

made the tent with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, blue,

purple, and scarlet, with cherubim, the work of the skillful

workman, they made them.

11He made loops ofblue on the edge of the one curtain from

the edge in the coupling.

35He made the veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined

linen: with cherubim. He made it the work of a skillful

workman.

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37He made a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, purple,

scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer;

3818The screen for the gate of the court was the work of the

embroiderer, ofblue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen.

23With him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of

Dan, an engraver, and a skillful workman, and an embroidererin blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen.

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Of the blue, purple, and scarlet, they made finely worked

garments, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy

garments for Aaron; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

2

He madethe ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined

linen. 3They beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires,

to work it in the blue, in the purple, in the scarlet, and in the

fine linen, the work of the skillful workman. 4They made

shoulder-pieces for it, joined together. At the two ends it was

joined together. 5The skillfully woven band that was on it, with

which to fasten it on, was of the same piece, like its work; of

gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen; as

Yahweh commanded Moses.

8He made the breastplate, the work of a skillful workman, like

the work of the ephod; of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and

fine twined linen.

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21They bound the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the

ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be on the skillfully

woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not

come loose from the ephod, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

22He made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all ofblue.

24They made on the skirts of the robe pomegranates of blue,

purple, scarlet, and twined linen.

27They made the coats offine linen of woven workfor Aaron,

and for his sons,

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and the turban of fine linen, and the linenheadbands offine linen, and the linen breeches of fine twined

linen, 29and the sash of fine twined linen, and blue, and

purple, and scarlet, the work of the embroiderer, as Yahweh

commanded Moses.

30They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and

wrote on it a writing, like the engravings of a signet: HOLY

TO YAHWEH. 31They tied to it a lace ofblue, to fasten it onthe turban above, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

The Second Book of Chronicles

For the people of Israel the temple had been created by

Yahweh, who revealed his plans to his chosen15. Thus Yahweh

said to Moses:

"And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among

them"16

15: Mircea Eliade, In the Sacred and the Profane-The Nature of Religion.16: Exodus 15,8-9.

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And as David is handing out the plans for the temple-buildings,

the tabernacle and all the utensils to his son Solomon he

assures him that:

"all this ... the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand

upon me" 17.

And Solomon confirms to YHWH:

"Thou hast commanded me to build a temple upon Thy holy

mount, and an altar in the city wherein Thou dwellest, a

resemblance of the holy tabernacle which Thou hast prepared

from the beginning"18.

Although the Covenant Tent and the Temple reveal a

completely different character it may be noted that God's

prescription for the colouring code remains identical to both

David and Solomon. The Second Book of Chronicles reports:

27Now therefore send me a man skilful to work in gold, and in

silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson,

and blue, and who knows how to engrave all manner of

engravings, to be with the skilful men who are with me in

Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.

17:II Chronicles, 28, 1918:Wisdom of Solomon, 9, 8

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313 Now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with

understanding, of Huram my fathers, 14the son of a woman of

the daughters of Dan; and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful

to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in

timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson,

also to engrave any manner of engraving, and to devise any

device; that there may be a place appointed to him with your

skillful men, and with the skillful men of my lord David your

father.

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Liturgical (and Royal) Colours

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