AmericanPapist Comments
I hate to disagree with Br. Jimmy here, but Advent most certainly is penitential. Not penitential in the same way that Lent is but nonetheless the season is "preparatory" for Christmas in the same way that Lent is preparatory for Easter. We are waiting on radically different sorts of events and part of that waiting is doing penance in order to clarify our hearts and minds to see and hear what the Lord has to show us in both cases. The Lord comes at Christmas and rise at Easter...coming and going in ways that the natural heart and mind could not comprehend unaided. The grace of the sacrament, along with fasting and prayer help us to see it all in the light of God's history.
Fr. Philip, OP
I love Jimmy, but I thnk he is a little wrong here. And I especially do not like this talk of different shades of purple (one almost bluish) for Advent and Lent. they shoud be the same, and they both have royal as well as penitential meanings. I hope Fr. Z sets him straight. And if I am wrong, I would happily apologize.
Perhaps a look at the readings during the season
will give a clue to the answer. The first Sunday's
Gospel is Christ's own account of the last judge-
ment. As the season progresses, we get an account
of St. John the Baptist announcing the coming of
the Messiah and preaching the need for repentance
in preparation for the day. I'm suspecting that the
Church is trying to tell us something here.
Before anyone gets on their high horse (particularly those who think they are 'traditional') let us remember that it the industrial production of dyes (and the resulting uniformity of colors) is a recent and modern development. For most of the Church's history, fabrics were dyed with natural, locally produced dyes, with great variations as to what is "red", "violet", etc. Our forebearers did not have the Department of Commerce defining these matters.
That blog post was from December 1, 2006 not this year.
Advent is a season that anticipates the the second coming of Christ while simultaneously worshiping in gratitude for the first coming of Christ. Ironically, the season of Advent is the first season in the church calendar, but it was the last season to develop in the worship of the early church. Originally in the East, the season was a penitential season for preparation of catechumenates for the baptismal Sunday of Epiphany. The season was a sort of mini-Lent. As travelers brought the practice to Rome, the season maintained a definite somber feel (deep purple for seasonal color) as a preparation for Christmas. However, in other regions of Europe like Salisbury, the Advent season is joyful and celebratory (sarum blue seasonal color). The modern liturgical movement after WWII in both the Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions shaped the season to reflect both concerns.The first two Sundays emphasize the second coming with a focus on repentance. The last two Sundays focus on Christmas with celebration and rejoicing for Christ's birth. I suggest reading Robert Webber's *Library of Christian Worship, Seasons of the Christian Year,* volume one for assistance.
Thank you for maintaining an excellent blog.
All - thanks for the comments and corrections. I've amended this post.
My parish priest was just talking about this the other day. He said that there had once (no idea when, but Vatican II or later) been talk about using a Marian blue for the season of Advent to distinguish it from Lent, but Rome decided to stick with the penitential purple. The separate shades are apparently a more subtle way of differentiating.
Or... something like that.
Our church used royal blue for many years during Advent, but 2 years ago made the switch to purple (after many complaints by parishioners). And we have a more blue-purple for Advent and a more red-purple for Lent. This is about the only indication of liturgical sanity in our church. Otherwise, the liturgy committee tends to like liturgical dance, felt banners, banjos, bongos and the like.
My parish has separate shades of violet for Lent and Advent, but here's something that should be pointed out:
No, the CHURCH does not have separately assigned shades. The color for Advent and the color for Lent is violet. That's it. Same color. Anything else is small-t tradition.
It strikes me as bad manners to usurp the legiti-
mate privileges of another. Those communities
(a few abbeys and some specific regions) that have
permission from Rome to use blue vestments on
specific feasts have a privilege the rest of us don't.
It is unique to them, not a precedent we can point
to because we want to do it too. If you want to
have blue vestments in your parish this Advent then
the first letter you write should be to Rome, not
to the church supply company.
The Church appoints the liturgical colors for Advent
using the same words She uses to describe those
for Lent. If anybody is suggesting that Advent
should have a special shade of purple it's not the
folks with the authority to make that call. Yes, there
are many types of purple, some with more blue than
others -- just look at photos from this year's Advent
Vespers at St. Peter's to see several in one cere-
mony -- yet all are clearly purple. Vestments that
are ambiguously colored ( say a very, very blue that
might be purple in a certain light (wink) ) mute what
the Church is trying to say. I think we all agree that's
not a good thing.
I've disagreed with Jimmy Akin for a few years now:
Is Advent Penitential or Not?
I think he's too focused on the canon law side that the faithful aren't legally bound to penance during Advent, but, IMHO, the spirit of the season does have a penitential aspect to it.
Guilty as charged.
Our parish uses two purples, one for Advent and another for Lent.
Go figure.
How do you prepare for the King of Souls? By preparing your soul through repentance and acts of penance.
Advent is about penance. In fact, the Gallican rites began it after St. Martin's (Nov 11). Traditionally, there were acts of penance done.
The Royal Purple hypothesis is interesting but not cogent since one could also use it during Lent to emphasis the preparation for the coming King of Israel into Jerusalem.
There's never a bad time to do penance (well, ok, maybe not during Easter Week or any day the Church sings the Gloria), and there's never a bad time to revisit a Jimmy Akin piece, but, folks, Jimmy set out sound evidence and reasons why, regardless of common understandings, Advent is not, at this time, in the West, regarded as a "penitential season". I think rebuttals of his position should be grounded on equally impressive sources. So far, they ain't. Advantage, Jimmy. :)
That's not what the Wikipedia article says. I changed that section the other day to just say "violet" but it looks like someone changed that to "purple or violet.
Roman Sacristan has a great article on this topic.
http://romansacristan.blogspot.com/
Purple is the color used during the seasons of preparation. Advent, when we are preparing for Christmas, and Lent, when we are preparing for Easter.
Advent is easily demonstrable as penitential. The organ is supposed to be silenced.
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