Editing Advent (section)

=== Liturgical colour ===
[[File:Adventvespers.jpg|thumb|left|Celebration of a Advent [[vespers]]. Cope and antependium are violet, the liturgical colour of Advent in the Roman Rite.]]
{{See also|Liturgical colours}}

Since approximately the 13th century, the usual liturgical colour in [[Western Christianity]] for Advent has been violet; [[Pope Innocent III]] declared black to be the proper colour for Advent, though [[Durandus of Saint-Pourçain]] claims violet has preference over black.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kellner |first=K.A.H. |year=1908 |title=Heortology: A history of the Christian festivals from their origin to the present day |publisher=Kegan Paul Trench Trubner & Co. Ltd. |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4gMPAAAAQAAJ&dq=black+vestments+during+advent+history&pg=PA430 430] |via=Google Books}}</ref> The violet or purple colour is often used for [[antependia]], the [[vestments]] of the clergy, and often also the [[church tabernacle|tabernacle]].
On the third Sunday of Advent, [[Gaudete Sunday]], rose may be used instead, referencing the rose used on [[Laetare Sunday]], the fourth Sunday of Lent.<ref name=GIRM>{{cite book |title=Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani |lang=la |trans-title=General Instruction of the Roman Missal |title-link=General Instruction of the Roman Missal |year=1969 |edition=English |publisher=[[Roman Catholic Church]] }}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p= 346&nbsp;ff}} A rose-coloured candle in Western Christianity is referenced as a sign of joy ({{lang|la|Gaudete}}) lit on the third Sunday of Advent.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Gaudete Sunday |encyclopedia=The [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] |url=http://newadvent.org/cathen/06394b.htm |via=newadvent.org |access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref>

While the traditional colour for Advent is violet, there is a growing interest in and acceptance, by some [[Christian denominations]] of blue as an alternative liturgical colour for Advent, a custom traced to the usage of the [[Church of Sweden]] (Lutheran) and the [[Mozarabic Rite]], which dates from the 8th century.<ref>{{cite web |title=The color blue in Advent |date=May 2007 |website=United Methodist Discipleship Ministries (umcdiscipleship.org) |publisher=[[The United Methodist Church]] |url=https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/the-color-blue-in-advent}}</ref>

The [[Lutheran Book of Worship]] lists blue as the preferred colour for Advent, while the Methodist [[Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965)|Book of Worship]] and the Presbyterian [[The Book of Common Worship of 1993|Book of Common Worship]] identify purple or blue as appropriate for Advent. Proponents of this new liturgical trend argue that purple is traditionally associated with solemnity and somberness, which is fitting to the repentant character of [[Lent]]. There has been an increasing trend in Protestant churches to supplant purple with blue during Advent as it is a hopeful season of preparation that anticipates both Bethlehem and the consummation of history in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.<ref name="CRI/Voice, Institute – The Color Blue in Advent">{{cite web|url=http://www.cresourcei.org/cyadvent.html |title=The Season of Advent – Anticipation and Hope |publisher=CRI/Voice, Institute |access-date=14 December 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100202013406/http://www.cresourcei.org/cyadvent.html |archive-date=2 February 2010 }}</ref> This colour is often called "Sarum blue", referring to its purported use at Salisbury Cathedral. Many of the ornaments and ceremonial practices associated with the [[Use of Sarum|Sarum rite]] were revived in the Anglican Communion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as part of the Anglo-Catholic [[Oxford Movement]] in the Church of England. While Anglican liturgist [[Percy Dearmer]] does not object to the use of blue during Advent, he did not attribute its use to Sarum. "[T]he so-called Sarum uses are really one-half made up from the fancy of nineteenth-century ritualists."<ref>{{cite book |last=Dearmer |first=Percy |author-link=Percy Dearmer |year=1899 |section=Chapter&nbsp;III: Colours, vestments, and ornaments |title=The Parson's Handbook |place=London  |publisher=Grant Richards |section-url=http://anglicanhistory.org/dearmer/handbook/1899/chapter03.html |via=anglicanhistory.org}}</ref>

While the Sarum use was influential, different dioceses, including Salisbury, used a variety of coloured vestments.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bates |first1=J. Barrington |year=2003 |title=Am I blue? Some historical evidence for liturgical colors |journal=Studia Liturgica |volume=33 |pages=75–88 |s2cid=193382638 |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/003932070303300106 | doi=10.1177/003932070303300106 }}</ref> "In the Sarum Rite the Advent colour was red, but it could very well have been the red-purple known as murray&nbsp;..."<ref>{{cite web |title=Times and seasons |department=Liturgy & music |publisher=Saint Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church |place=New York |url=https://www.saintignatiusnyc.org/Pages/Liturgy&Music/Times&Seasons.html}}</ref>

The Roman Catholic Church retains the traditional violet.<ref name=GIRM/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 346&nbsp;d.}} Blue is not generally used in Latin Catholicism,<ref name=GIRM/>{{rp|style=ama|pp= 346-347}} and where it does regionally, it has nothing to do with Advent specifically, but with veneration of the [[Blessed Virgin]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Blue liturgical vestments |website=ewtn.com |publisher=Eternal Word Television Network |place=Irondale, AL |url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/liturgy/zlitur315.htm |access-date=21 November 2017}}</ref> However, on some occasions that are heavily associated with Advent, such as the [[Rorate Mass]] (but not on Sundays), white is used.<ref>{{cite web |title=Advent tradition: Rorate mass at Old Saint Mary's |website=Catholic Telegraph (thecatholictelegraph.com) |date=18 December 2017 |url=http://www.thecatholictelegraph.com/advent-tradition-rorate-mass-at-old-saint-marys/47480 |access-date=30 October 2019}}</ref>

During the Nativity Fast, red is used by Eastern Christianity, although gold is an alternative colour.<ref>{{cite web |title=Liturgical vestment colors of the Orthodox Church |website=Aggreen.org |url = http://aggreen.net/vestment/liturgical_colors.html |access-date = 14 December 2009 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091208065929/http://aggreen.net/vestment/liturgical_colors.html |archive-date= 8 December 2009}}</ref>