Liturgical Colors & Vestment Seasons

A codified system in which the liturgical colour of vestments, altar cloths, and hangings (white, red, green, violet/purple, black, and rose) changes according to the season or feast day, visually signalling the character of the celebration to the congregation. Innocent III's scheme spread across Latin-rite dioceses through the 13th century; regional variants (Sarum, Cologne, Dominican) persisted until Pius V's 1570 Missal imposed the Roman sequence on most of the Western church. Lutheran and Anglican reformers retained color symbolism in modified form from the 16th century; a Common Lectionary color table adopted by Protestant denominations in the 20th century largely mirrors the Roman sequence.