Vestments come in different colors to mark the distinctive character of the liturgical day we are celebrating. The liturgical calendar is the appointment of specific days of the year to remember the great example of the saints. We can think of these like birthdays or anniversaries – they happen on the same date of each year. Throughout the year there are also seasons to the liturgical calendar.

​The liturgical year starts with season of Advent followed by the season of Christmas. Ordinary time follows for a few weeks, before we begin Lent for a period of 6 weeks. Then the three-day season of the Triduum (latin for “three days”) includes Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Easter begins with the Vigil of the Resurrection on the evening of Holy Saturday. Easter then goes for 7 weeks until Pentecost. Then we resume Ordinary time were we left off before Lent.
 
The vestment colors match the character of the liturgical days and seasons. Below is a list of the colors and the seasons or saints’ feast days for which they are used.

​Since I have been here at St. Joseph, many of you have asked about my vestments and why I wear them. I appreciate these questions, and I am going to be writing regularly to answer them. Over the next several weeks, I will be answering the common questions about vestments and giving a little introduction to the vestments the Priest wears at Mass.
 
The Priest’s use of special garments for liturgical celebrations is actually older than the Church itself. From the time of the Temple worship in the Old Testament, the priestly class would don special garments when they would go to offer sacrifices in the temple. The Priest’s vestments take their origin from these ancient garments, but changed with the new kind of worship that Christ instituted with the New Covenant. After the resurrection amd ascension of Christ into heaven, the disciples would gather to celebrate the ‘breaking of the bread’, or the Eucharist as Christ has instructed when he told them to “do this in memory of me” (Lk. 22:19). The apostles (and first bishops) wore their everyday clothing, but eventually they went to distant lands and adopted the clothing of the people to whom they were proclaiming the Gospel. These styles of clothing became the basis for the garments of different liturgical traditions in various places, what are called ‘Rites’.
 
Our liturgical tradition comes from Rome, which is why we are called Roman Catholics. Our vestments differ from the Byzantine Rite Catholics, Ukrainian Rite Catholics, and the other Eastern Catholic Rites, which are 23 in number (all in union with the Pope in Rome). The vestments we wear are based on the daily dress popular at the time of the apostles who were in Rome in the first and second centuries. Saints Peter and Paul went there and as they began celebrating the liturgy, began wearing their ‘Sunday best’ to celebrate Mass, which were highly decorated variations of the daily clothing styles of the Romans. Vestment styles have adapted and changed slightly over the years, but are still basically the same as these early Roman vestments worn by the Apostles of Rome, Sts. Peter and Paul.